Paul was quite out of breath by the time he’d sprinted up the steps to the temple. He was also fairly sure he’d broken possibly more than a few traffic regulations on the way back. Not that the loaner car was really capable of speeding, not as such, but it was small, and maneuverable and Paul had used that advantage recklessly.
Shoko-san was waiting for him by the final Torii gate at the head of the steps. Paul stopped, bent over panting, and held up a fore-finger as Shoko opened her mouth to speak. Catching half a breath, Paul gasped out.
“Head.. did you.. find it?”
Shoko shook her head.
“Nuh-uh. I looked, but I don’t know where it went. Maybe she didn’t have one?”
Standing up straight Paul took several deep breaths, held one, and let it go slowly.
“Ok, now I can talk. People would notice a headless biker in broad daylight. She had to have at least had a helmet on. Did you find one of those?”
Shoko shook her head slowly. Paul sighed.
“Ok, first things first. Let’s take a look at what we’ve got shall we.”
The woman’s body was tied to a heavy stone lantern by a rope around her ankle. She sat, her legs drawn up, her arms around her knees. She was wearing a rather scuffed black leather duster or tail coat over a shirt in maroon. The chunky biker boots were laced up over a deep maroon pair of leather biker trousers, and the whole ensemble was finished off by black leather fingerless gloves.
Physically, she was slim, almost androgynous in her biker leathers. Not overtly muscular, but toned. It was hard to guess, but Paul estimated her age around early to mid twenties maybe, assuming she wasn’t some kind of immortal.
She was also not Asian.
Even from a short distance away, Paul could see her skin was pale enough to be near translucent, and a smattering of freckles in the bare half inch of skin between her collar and where her neck just… ended…
Paul blinked.
From the neck down, she didn’t look all that unusual. Certainly she could pass for human. From the neck up however… Where a head should be flickered something that at first glance, looked like green fire. Paul frowned, watching the coiling, roiling mass, and decided it was more like mist or smoke lit from within by a green-ish yellow light.
“Hoi, Shoko-san. You didn’t mention the green fire.”
“It wasn’t there before!”
Paul blinked, and turned to look down at where Shoko stood behind him, peering round at the headless woman.
“Huh? Really?! I wonder if that’s new, or if she has to be conscious for it to be present? But then, you saw her stumbling around before..”
Shoko shrugged.
“Maybe I didn’t see it? I mean, she’s taller than me, standing, and when she was lying down the weird green fire thing wasn’t there.”
“Oh… I guess that’s possible. So what did her neck look like when you found her?”
Shoko shrugged.
“It was a neck. I thought it was all bloody at first but I can see that’s just a bad scrape now.”
Paul glanced back, and now that Shoko mentioned it, he could see where blood had trickled down the sides of the woman’s neck.
“Huh, bit more than a scrape, but that would explain why Kiko freaked out. How is she by the way?”
Shoko grinned.
“Taking tea with Inari, except I don’t think she’s realised who she is.”
Paul smiled.
“Well, when she’s not putting on a show, Inari looks pretty much the same as the rest of us mortals now, and I don’t think Kiko got much of a look at her before anyway.”
Looking back at the woman he sighed.
“Ok, so. Maybe not a zombie then. I’m going to see if I can talk to her.”
“How? She can’t hear or see you, can she?!”
“Doesn’t seem so. I don’t see how she could. But I know a little touch signing, I just hope she does.”
Paul walked over to where the woman sat dejectedly. She evidently couldn’t unpick the knot in the rope loop around her ankle. But Paul supposed it would be hard to do by touch alone.
He knelt down in front of her, and tapped the backs of her hands. The woman jerked, scooting backwards on her butt a little. Paul gently took hold of her hands and turned them palm upwards, and then using using the tips of his fingers to touch each finger, or stroke across the palms of her hands depending on the sign, tried ‘talking’ to her.
After a moment, she began to sign back.
Moments later Paul called out,
“Hey Shoko, is there a stream near where she came off the road?”
“Yeah, some way into the forest. Why?”
“Her head is lying near running water. She can hear it but she’s face down in the mud, so she can’t see anything. Her head is still in her helmet which is why she hasn’t suffocated, but she’s scared she might be slowly sinking. Please go look for her head Shoko, you can get there faster. The helmet is black, so it won’t be easy to find.”
“Ok! I’m going!”
Shoko took off in blur, leaping over the wall rather than bothering with the gate. Again Paul shook his head, wondering at how so much energy could fit in such a small package.
He turned his attention back to the woman, trying to reassure her despite his limited vocabulary.
He knew the moment Shoko found her head, her whole demeanor changed; she almost sagged in relief, then made a little fist-pump in the air gesture. Then she swayed and grabbed hold of him, as if dizzy. Paul guessed that Shoko was on her way back just as quickly, which would probably be enough to give anyone vertigo.
Shoko came dashing through the gate way, yelling at the top of her lungs.
“Found her, it.. her head!”
“I guessed. She just about passed out you were swinging her around so much.”
“Oh, oops!”
Shoko ran, albeit not at quite such a pace as before, and plunked the mud-caked helmet down in the woman’s lap. Paul noticed that there was a sort of rubber cup or sleeve protruding from the bottom of the helmet, and guessed that fitted over the body’s neck to hold it all together. It struck him as cumbersome.
The woman quickly cleared the mud away from the helmet’s visor and flipped it up.
“Oh thank you God! Fresh air!”
She spoke English with a pronounced, softly lilting Irish accent.
“Hi, I’m Paul. Sorry about the confusion. One doesn’t meet headless bodies every day, at least not ones that are still alive.”
“You don’t seem to be too bothered now.”
Paul pulled a wry face.
“Believe it or not, you are not the strangest thing I’ve seen, not even this week.”
“The devil you say! And what else is round here then?”
“Oh, assorted mythological creatures, ghosts, goddesses and so on. Although I would ask what manner of ‘Other’ are you?”
“Other?”
“Fae, to use a term you might know.”
“That I do now. Well, since you’ve seen I’m not human there’s no harm in telling you. I’m a dullahan. A headless rider. We’re an ancient Irish Fae.”
Paul raised an eyebrow.
“I can see why people might think you lack a head. So what’s a nice fae like you doing in place like this?”
The dullahan snorted in laughter. She’d been easing her head out of the helmet as she talked, and it finally came free with a protracted, sucking sound. Free of the carbon-fibre and padding confines, she proved to have a rather freckled face, with bright green eyes and sandy, almost ginger, coloured hair that was shaved short on the sides and longer on top, where it was spiked due to sweat. She had a bright emerald stud as a nose piercing.
“Well now you get points for originality, not many now, you going to ask if I give good head next?”
“Nope, so not going there! Although I am curious as to what an Irish fae is doing in Japan. Although I suppose even the fae need a vacation now and again..”
“Ha! I wish I was now! But no, this is more of a business trip you might say, or a quest. The last Seeress of Ireland laid a geas upon me and me sisters. We have to return something that rightfully belongs here, to it’s proper home.”
“What? Here specifically?”
“Oh no, the wording was, take it home to the land of the Rising Sun, and there find the shrine from whence it came.”
Paul grimaced.
“That does indeed sound like something a seeress would say. Masterfully imprecise and vague to the point of meaningless.”
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“That it is now. We were told we’d know which shrine when we found it. But are you having any idea how many damn shrines there are in this country now?!”
“Thirty four thousand, give or take a few hundred, last I checked. But that’s just Inari shrines. There’s probably about an equal number of shrines dedicated to other gods and goddesses.”
The dullahan looked at him, her head on her lap, and then sighed, covering her eyes with her hand.
“That’s too damn many. I’ve been at this task for a year now, almost to the day. Since I’m the Warden of the East, my sisters let me go first.”
“Warden of the East?”
“Old title, means I stand at the Eastern cardinal point when we cast the circle, which is like going to Church on Sundays for us.”
“Oh right, witchcraft, or the old religion I suppose, that sort of thing right?”
“Close enough. I’m Warden of the East, Rowan is Warden of the West, Thorn is to the North and Willow to the South.”
“I think I see a pattern of names. Let me guess, you’re either Oak or Ash?”
“Ash, Oak’s me Da. I see now you know your Holy Trees! That’s uncommon in this day and age.”
Paul grinned.
“I’ve been told my mind is a warehouse of trivial information. I’m a writer, murder mysteries usually, and I did some research on ancient Celtic mythology and beliefs a while back for a story.”
“Did you now?”
“Yeah… I was told to my face by someone claiming to be a ‘true inherited witch’ that my information was mostly accurate, and that I was cursed for that. Of course, she also believed she was a reincarnated Atlantean princess. So add as much salt as you like there.”
Ash snorted in laughter.
“There always one…”
“So, anyway, since your journey seems to have been rather derailed, anything I can do to help? Come to think of it, how were you supposed to find this shrine anyway?”
Ash shrugged.
“I don’t know. We were told now that we’d know it when we found it. There would be a sign. I wonder if a firework going off in me face counts?”
“Um… a firework?”
“Aye. Some daft fool let one off right above the road. Proper blinded me it did, that’s why I lost control and came off.
“Oh. Crap! Sorry, I’m afraid that was me. Although it wasn’t a firework.”
Ash glared at him, one hand on her hip, the other arm holding her head tucked against her side.
“It was, was it? And what was it then, if it wasn’t that?”
Paul hesitated, untangling what she’d just said, and then sighed.
“Long story but the short answer is an experiment that misfired. Long answer is rather more complicated but involves finding ways to generate magic artificially and thus mitigating the decline of the natural magical field.”
“Good luck to you now!”
Paul snorted with laughter.
“Ok, ok. I know that sounds like mad science, but I’ve actually got one method that works. I was trying to figure out another. One that’ll produce a quick massive burst of power. Like... like a nitrous shot to an engine, rather than a turbo charger.”
Ash grinned, pointing at him with finger ‘guns’.
“Now you’re talking my language man! Speaking of which, what happened to me bike?”
Paul frowned.
“Huh. I don’t know… Shoko!”
Shoko dashed up, skidding to a halt a few feet away, and Yuri and Yuko thundered up not far behind her. Paul blinked, and then realised that Ash and he had been talking in English and the little kitsune had no idea what they’d been saying.
“Tsk, Yuri, Yuko, stand down. There’s no danger. Shoko, what happened to her bike?”
“Ahh… it was damaged, and in the road. Yuri carried it to the workshop.”
Paul nodded.
“Ok, well done. Shoko, Kobe-sensei’s room is still aired out and fit to use isn’t it?”
“Yes, Paul-sama. Is the… the..”
“She’s a dullahan, an ancient Irish fae, or sort of Other. Her name is Ash, like the tree.”
Shoko-san nodded once in acknowledgement.
“Is Ash to be our guest then?”
“Rather, yes. She’s been in an accident. And knocked unconscious, I want to keep an eye on her in case of concussion. Although who knows what we’ll do if she needs medical attention.”
“Ok! I’ll go make the room fit for her”
“Good girl, swing by and tell Inari what’s going on please.”
“Ok! I go now!”
Shoko shot off, and turned back to Ash.
“Your bike is..”
“In the workshop, I know. I do speak Japanese you see. Been here a year now.”
“Ah, oops! Sorry. I guess you followed the rest too.”
“Some, the wee girl speaks fast enough I can’t follow her too well.”
“That’s Shoko, she’s a Kitsune… and someone fed her coffee recently which was NOT a good idea.”
“You don’t say…?!”
Paul just shook his head.
“Yeah, welcome to the madhouse. Anyway, I’ll show you to your room, you can rest, get cleaned up and then we’ll take a look at your bike and see what needs fixing, Hopefully it’s nothing a lick of paint won’t fix, but if it needs more, well, the workshop is pretty comprehensively tooled up, and we can probably get you back on the road. Although it might be an idea to have a chat with Inari first, see if this is the shrine you’re supposed to be looking for or not.”
“That’s fair of you, and who might Inari be?”
“The Goddess Inari.”
Ash stared at Paul in silence for a moment… long enough for him to begin to wonder if perhaps he’d made a mistake telling her the truth.
“A goddess is she now?”
Paul nodded.
“Yes… I know, that’s sounds just a touch like I’m bonkers but she really and truly is. Although she’s currently wearing a human body, but that’s a new thing… and now that I say that I realise just how crazy I sound. I guess you had to be there.”
Ash stared up at him from where her head sat nestled securely between her thighs, with a somewhat sardonic look.
“You’re talking to someone who’s sitting here with her head in her lap. You think that sounds daft to me?”
Paul grinned wryly
“Heh, sorry. I think my calibration on what’s ‘normal’ is a bit off nowadays. I guess… honestly, I don’t think it had quite sunk in how far off the beaten track I’ve gotten until now. I’ve just been so caught up in the rush.”
“Don’t worry about it… although I think I might stay a day or two, just to enjoy the sensation of not being the weirdest thing around.”
“Heh, yeah… I’m not even sure you’d make the top ten honestly. Anyway, like I was saying, have a talk with Inari. She’s been around for a few thousand years, so she might know what the heck you’re talking about. I mean, if this thing, whatever it is, was removed less then a few hundred years ago, she might’ve heard about it. If not, she might be able to give you some pointers as to where to start looking.”
Ash nodded. Which Paul was amused to note involved both her body inclining in the more or less usual way, and her using her hands to move her head, rotating it a bit at the same time as she dipped her neck and shoulders.
Paul left Ash at the guest house, getting a shower. There were a huge number of questions he had regarding how she managed daily life with a detached head… and none that he felt he could ask politely.
Deciding to ignore the frustration by waving another shiny distraction at his inner cat-like curiosity, he went to find Kiko Kobe and Inari-sama.
He found them sitting in the small living room of a guest house, with both shōji, or traditional wood&paper screen doors, wide open. Inari was sitting, kneeling with her legs under her and back straight, with her head bowed, dressed in a traditional Miko or shrine maiden’s costume. There was a traditional Japanese tea set between her and Kiko, who was holding a small tea-bowl with a far-away look on her face.
Paul paused at the far side of the small zen garden in front of the guest house, not wanting to interrupt. As he watched, Kiko picked up an ink brush with one hand, and began to write something on a slip of paper that was pinned down to the table with small rocks.
Paul waited until she laid her brush down, to walk over the tiny arched bridge that crossed the koi pond which, he noted absently, needed weeding. Once across the bridge he rang the small bell on the rope that hung from a post at the far end.
Kiko looked up, and waved; Paul held up a hand in acknowledgement and came over. Kiko rose and bowed slightly, which Paul returned.
“I came to see how you are now, and to apologise.”
“There is no need for an apology, you were not to blame.”
Paul shook his head.
“Technically true, but since I’m acting as your host, the responsibility for your well-being is mine. Besides, I promised your uncle to look after you. A scare of that magnitude on your first morning is not a good start! So, I sincerely apologise for the upset.”
Paul bowed, as Kiko inclined her head.
“Apology accepted, think nothing further of it. Will you sit and take tea with us?”
“If it’s not an imposition on your tranquillity, then yes please.”
Kiko turned slightly to address Inari.
“Mistress Uke, if you would please.”
“Of course Miss Kiko.”
Paul raised an eyebrow at Inari, or Mistress Uke, over Kiko’s shoulder. Inari’s face remained perfectly composed, but he could see the laughter dancing in her eyes and the most subtle of hints at a smile lurking in the corner of her mouth.
“I take it Mistress Uke has been helping you regain your composure then?”
“She has, and she was right, a tea ceremony was the perfect antidote to encountering that… that… what was that?!”
“A dullahan, a type of Irish fae or Other. Probably the origin of the myths about headless horsemen, even though she does actually have a head. Just not one attached to her body.”
“Really?! But when I saw it… her...”
“She has a sort of rubber sleeve thing attached to her helmet, that holds it and her head inside the helmet, on her neck. It popped off when she crashed, sending her head flying into the forest knocking her unconscious for a while.”
“But… there was blood...”
Paul shrugged.
“The force of it tore some skin, it looked worse than it was. Ash seems ok now.”
“Ash?”
“Her name, after the tree. She has sisters called Rowan, Thorn and Willow; her parents went with a tree theme when naming their children.”
“Oh.. it.. it feels odd, taking about it having parents.”
“Kiko… the Others are just as much people as we are. They have families, people who love them and who they love. Their feelings are not significantly different from humans in my experience. Ash was terrified to find herself awake in a strange place, her body and head separated and no way of knowing where either was. She found herself lying face down in the mud, in her helmet, with a very real risk of being suffocated, while her body was restrained by she knew not whom.”
“Oh! I.. I had no idea…!”
“Me neither, actually. Thankfully my guess that she might know touch signing in case something like this happened, was correct, and we managed to find her head with her help.”
“I don’t know how you can be so..so...”
Paul grinned.
“Calm? Accepting? Yeahhhh…. mostly that’s because I have a really good poker face. Inside my head it’s a whole lot of screaming and flailing at times. I just don’t let it show. But even while about 90% of me is going wibble, there’s that little bit that’s sitting back, observing and making notes. It’s a writer thing I think. We observe, analyse and squirrel it all away for future use. Does mean that after a bit, it’s hard not to realise that the ‘rampaging monster’ is just another scared person..”
“You sound a bit like my uncle, when he’s talking about being a priest.”
“I do? Huh, yeah. Good point. I suppose there are parallels in what we do. I certainly get asked often enough if I am one.”
Paul took a sip of the green tea that ‘Mistress Uke’ had quietly placed in front of him. He blinked.
“Hmm.. this is good. I’m not normally a fan of green tea but I could get used to this rather. Thank you Mistress Uke.”
Paul was surprised to see Inari blush and duck her head. Kiko spoke.
“Ah, Paul-san. One does not normally directly address the Teishu unless one is the principle guest or Shokyaku.”
“Oh, my apologies. Please forgive the ignorant Gaijin his mistake.”
Kiko smiled slightly.
“Although, Mistress Uke is not really a Teishu and this is only an informal gathering, and you do know her from before, so I suppose it is permissible.”
Paul shrugged.
“Probably better to learn good habits where mistakes don’t count though. Thank you for your instruction. I shall try to do better.”
Inari giggled.
“Forgive me, but now you sound like a young man learning from his sensei, back when mistakes could get you beheaded.”
“Well, certain personages have described words as being my tools, or like weapons in my hands. So it’s apt to take instruction regarding etiquette as one would instruction in fighting. After all, if words are weapons then society and it’s etiquette are the battlefield.”
Inari’s eyes widened, startled she blurted out.
“You’ve read Takeshi Yokoyama?”
“Who?”
“Oh… a great man. A philosopher, a poet, a samurai who nearly because a Shogun, and gave it up to become a simple priest. Many, many centuries ago. But... I thought his works were lost?!”
Paul shook his head.
“No, I haven’t heard of him. It’s just something that came to me.”
Inari gave Paul a long, measuring look…
“Paul-sama...”
“Not a priest! Not in this life or any other… as far as I know.”
“As far as you know...”
Paul shook his head.
“Please, lets not drag reincarnation into this. I’ve got enough of a headache as it is, without finding out I’m someone you knew from long ago.”
Inari sighed.
“A pity. There are those I do look for, wanting to see them again. But I’ve never yet met someone I recognised. Still, one cannot help but hope to see old friends return, someday.”
Paul nodded, then glanced sideways at Kiko.
“Hey ‘Mistress Uke’. I think you blew your cover.”
Kiko was staring frozen in wide-eyed wonder and terror at Inari. As Inari turned to study her, Kiko prostrated herself, practically flinging her body to the ground.
“F..f..f.forgive me Inari-sama!!”
“Why? You did no wrong. I deceived you after all.”
“B.b..but..”
“Kiko, please. This is why I didn’t reveal who I was, truly. I didn’t want you to treat me with over awed reverence. I like us being just friends.”
Kiko lifted her head, her cheeks wet. Inari leaned forward and, taking a cloth out from her sleeve, dabbed at Kiko’s tears.
“Truly, even goddesses get tired of being worshiped. It’s not wrong, is it Kiko, to want to just be someone ordinary, with no responsibilities or cares beyond this moment’s simple needs?”
Kiko sat up straighter, her eyes, her whole face, lighting up with dawning realisation.
“Yes! I.. I understand! I feel the same way, being a Miko from such an old line of priests and Mikos. Being the youngest to graduate and upholding my parents honour as Scholars. I..I feel the same way Inari-sama! Truly! Sometimes… sometimes all I want to do is just.. just… be an ordinary young girl, with friends, and to enjoy an ordinary life.”
Inari knelt by Kiko and pulled her gently into a hug. Paul got up quietly and went to stare into the koi pond, idly wondering if there were still fish in it, but mostly giving the two some private space.
Some time later Kiko and Inari came to join him Paul, where he sat on a rock, his shoes next to him and his bare feet in the cool water.
Paul glanced over his shoulder at Kiko.
“Now do you understand about Others being the same as us?”
“I do Paul-sama, I do.”
Kiko smiled shyly at Inari, her new friend.