"And this, father, is the Envoy of Heaven!"

The gathered servants made voices of surprise, and the king rose his eyebrows in interest. Sayuki's brother, who had been sitting to the side, suddenly proved his awareness of my presence.

"Well, that is a bold claim, my dear daughter." the old man began to say. He was short, with a bluish-white beard. His eyes were calm, and while I expected him to be somewhat like the monarch who imprisoned me, I had the impression I could get along with him. "How do we know he is the man from the legend?"

Sayuki quickly turned to me, as all the other eyes in the room did too. However, while the rest doubted me, her expression was screaming "Show them the thing! The thing!" So, I took a deep breath, feeling if only a bit of stage fright, and clasped my palms together. When I put them apart, a ghostly-looking azure flame sprung from my skin. It vanished just as quickly, and with it, so did the silence.

"It truly is the azure flame! Heavens, now I've lost my bet with the Priestess of the Future's father..."

"That's amazing! How did you find him, Sayuki?" Her younger brother must have been about sixteen years old. With a darker shade of blue in his mane and ears, he reminded me of a small puppy.

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Sayuki turned to me before answering, as if to ask me for permission. I nodded, and she went on to make up a story. I happened to notice, however, that one of the maids present was drop-dead gorgeous, and I zoned out for most of it. I think she made it sound like she had a mystical revelation of sorts.

"Well, this will surely be wonderful news for our people." Sayuki's father said. "It is a pleasure to meet you, young man. This old man is married to the head of the Eastern Foxfolk. The name is Tsukinaga Shirohana."

I heard from Sayuki that the Eastern Foxfolk are a matriarchal society. I suppose her mother is the one in charge of the clan.

"That being said, father." the boy spoke, while waving a spear around. "Doesn't the legend mention that the Envoy of Heaven will come when something bad is soon to happen?"

Wait, what? I didn't know that part of the story. The mood turned grim, and the servants lowered their eyes. Sayuki too paused, not knowing what to say.

"Hey, what's with the long faces?" Old man Shirohana laughed, and slammed his hands on the armrests of his chair. "That prophecy says 'the dusk of mankind is nigh' and last time I checked, the Eastern Foxfolk is but a tiny part of 'mankind'! We'll stockpile a few more weapons and rice, and we'll pull through. Isn't that right?"

Everyone cheered up... and even I felt a bit more confident.

I wasn't wrong about this old man.

Maybe there is a home for me here, after all.