Morning came. It was hard to fall asleep in fear, but Yushia’s eyelids eventually gave out. The same went for Suzaku, who had chosen to stay up with him.

“Wake up,” a voice whispered.

Yushia groaned, jerking in his sleep. “Suzaku?”

Instead of seeing the crimson-haired girl he wielded, his eyes met a robed girl with short green hair and bangs curtaining her eyes. She sat on her knees, and upon seeing her, Yushia screamed.

Lei-Lei put a finger to her lips and pointed at the kids sleeping. Danei and Kuei had already left.

Yushia’s words slipped through his teeth. “It wasn’t—”

“I know it’s not you,” Lei-Lei whispered. “Remnants of malicious ether were left on Mrei’s wounds.” She put her finger on Yushia’s heart. “Your ether burns passionately. Not malicious.”

“What does that mean?” He asked. Until now, he wasn’t sure if he had any ether in him at all.

Aloof as can be, Lei-Lei ignored his question and instead left the house. She came back shortly after with a clay cup of water in hand. “Drink.”

Yushia reluctantly took the cup and sipped from it. Even though Lei-Lei was blind, her silent gaze had seared into him, making him shift with discomfort. He looked away, and when he did, he noticed Suzaku was gone.

“She is tending to the injured,” Lei-Lei reassured him in monotony. “Payuei hates you.” She added.

“I don’t blame him,” Yushia said. “I would blame me too.”

Lei-Lei left the house briefly again and came back shortly after with a vial containing the purple liquid that changed his eye color. “Would you like some?”

“Yes,” Yushia said. He was reminded of the purple liquid Suzaku had splashed in his eyes a few days ago and squinted, ready for another dousing. To his surprise, however, Lei-Lei only brought the opened vial close to his eyes, letting the invisible fumes do the work. She closed the vial and stored it inside the pocket of her robe. The fumes burned, but they weren’t as bad as having the liquid enter directly into his eyes. “That’s all?”

It was silent once again—Lei-Lei's way of saying yes. “I will take you to Suzaku.”

The two walked along the bridges and arrived where the sick kids stayed before heading inside. The kids looked no better than the first time he’d seen them. Seated next to them was Suzaku, who wetted a towel, and in the corner of the room asleep on a rocking chair was Payuei. A sense of relief washed over Yushia when he saw his unconscious state.

“You have risen,” Suzaku whispered. Seeing that her wielder was unharmed and standing beside Lei-Lei, she smirked. All that hopeless talk from last night, and yet he remained unscathed. “It worked out, right? You should have put your trust in my greatness.”

“I suppose so,” Yushia said. “Lei-Lei saw something I couldn’t.”

She ignored him again and lifted the drapes to leave. “When you are finished, Suzaku, I would like you to visit Mrei and return him to Inanis.”

Suzaku nodded. “Understood.”

With that, Lei-Lei left Yushia and Suzaku on their own. Once Suzaku had finished tending to the kids, she and her wielder went down the village’s steps and to where Mrei’s body lay. His body, already rotting and soft like paper, would be impossible to retrieve and bury elsewhere and was thus left alone for Suzaku to take care of. When she arrived, she placed a hand on his forehead and engulfed him in flames.

There was a moment of silence for the boy. Even though their relationship had been strained, the loss of such a young life saddened Yushia.

Crick—

Yushia’s head whipped to the sound of a branch snapping. “Someone’s here.”

A small, white and furry creature the size of a pup left its cover from behind a tree and stared at the Cerulean before it with eyes as large as the moon. Its tongue hung as if expecting a treat, panting with greed. Mud covered the little pup, so it licked itself clean.

“A Silverwolf cub?” Yushia said as he bent down in front it. Finding a Silverwolf so young and alone was a rarity. “You poor thing. You shouldn’t be alone out here.”

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The little Silverwolf flashed its small, underdeveloped fangs and growled adorably. But once the Cerulean’s hand touched its head, it submitted to his soft and pleasant touch, nuzzling into his palm. The sight made Suzaku jealous.

“Oh Inanis, to birth a creature this adorable should be forbidden!” She squealed and squatted down to pet the cub. It took turns nuzzling into both her and her wielder’s hands, grinning delightfully.

In the corner of his eyes, Yushia spotted a dark orb wrapped in the Silverwolf’s bushy tail. He reached for it and remembered its hollow, almost etherless weight before looking back at Suzaku with wide eyes. “It’s Mrei’s Shijin orb...”

Her eyes widened as well. Only she, her wielder, and the Four Guardians could see Shijin Orbs. She snagged it from her wielder’s hand. “It should not be possible for it to be carrying this...”

It was only right that they set the young Jiuli’s Shijin Orb beside his body, and so they did. As they traveled back to the village, the Silverwolf followed from behind.

“It keeps following us!” Suzaku grumbled to her wielder.

Having noticed this too, Yushia turned back and leveled himself in front of the innocent creature. “Where’s your mother?”

It looked at him confused and sniffed his scent.

Reluctantly, the two of them allowed the Silverwolf’s company and continued their trek back to the village. When the three climbed up the steps, they found that a crowd had formed surrounding Lei-Lei and Fei’s home.

The curious Silverwolf ran off, its wide leaps covering great distances across the bridge network, howling when it saw the mass of people. It dashed through the drapes of Lei-Lei's house, its howls silenced when the Cerulean suddenly grabbed and forced its muzzle shut.

“Behave will you!?” he grumbled, wrestling with the cub. He glanced up and saw Lei-Lei standing in front of a shrine that greatly resembled Suzaku’s. She stood there idly before slamming a Silverwolf canine on the ground.

Fei brought half her body inside and dragged Yushia and the cub out. “Get out of there!” She took them behind the house and stared at the furball in his arms. “Goodness, bringing a Silverwolf into the village is one thing, but interrupting Lei-Lei's spirit calling is another!”

Suzaku caught up and stood behind Fei. Her arms crossed as she glared down at her wielder. “Tell my greatness if you are going to do something as sporadic as that again. She nearly felt her own Shijin Orb jump out of her.” She sat down beside her wielder, bowing her head in Fei’s direction to apologize

Fei’s eyes rested on the cub. “Are you going to return it to its mother?”

“I don’t think it has one,” Yushia said.

“My greatness agrees,” Suzaku added. “The mud on its body has dried, and Silverwolves are clean animals. Its mother would have cleaned it by now, but it has not. Its mother has likely passed.”

“That makes sense,” Fei said. “We don’t mind you keeping it, but it’s your responsibility to take care of.”

The two nodded. “What’s Lei-Lei doing?” Yushia asked Fei.

“Spirit calling,” she replied.

“That’s when they offer parts of beasts to the spirits of Inanis, correct?” Suzaku asked.

“Ah, so you know already!” Fei’s said, excited. “It’s a practice our ancestors have preached to us, but the method is, well, slowly fading. Only Lei-Lei knows how to do it now, so she uses it to learn spells and protect all of us.”

A smug expression appeared on Suzaku’s face as she looked at her wielder as if to say ‘I told you so.’ “When will she be done?”

A shadow loomed over her greatness.

Suzaku shrieked suddenly as she turned around, finding Lei-Lei towering over her. “Young lady! Your silence is quite disturbing sometimes!

Yushia turned around too and met Lei-Lei's straight gaze. “Good morning again. I’m sorry if I disturbed your soul calling.”

“I was not distubred,” Lei-Lei said in monotony. Her voice had a hint of anger. “Stand. There are things to discuss.”

The three of them—four including the Silverwolf cub—followed her inside. The interior, like the other houses, was furnished with minimal furniture. The sisters shared a bed with a small table beside it, and a rug sat in the center. Beyond that, it was just another empty room.

The three sat together on a rug and faced Lei-Lei with anticipation.

“Prior to the incident, before you were all awake yesterday, I had sought the knowledge of the spirits,” she said. “I asked if they knew anything of the man in the white suit. They did. He was the one who killed Mrei, and is a supposed demon.” Her voice became stern. “Yushia, do you have ties with this demon?”

Yushia’s eyes squinted. “What?”

“Of course he does not!” Suzaku interjected, slamming the table with a fist. Her ether leaked, burning a faint imprint of her fist on it. “How dare you accuse him of siding with a demon!”

Lei-Lei sat quietly for a few seconds. “Pardon me, Yushia, Suzaku. I misspoke. To clarify, the spirits have felt the ether of the man firsthand for the first time. They’ve described it to me as a long, motherly yearning for lost children. I only asked if you had ties with it due to the ether I felt within you back in the Erkling cave. It matched the description.”

A sigh of relief exited Yushia’s mouth. “You had me in a panic thinking I might have... But no, I have absolutely no ties.”

“The man in the white suit is a demon?” Fei mumbled anxiously. Her sister nodded yes and she asked again. “Do the spirits know where he is?”

“They do not know his location. They only know that he can appear and disappear all in the blink of an eye. It would be in our best interest to stay on guard and have more eyes on the children tonight. I suspect that motherly yearning will take another one of them.”

“You should watch the kids then, Lei-Lei!” Fei suggested. “I don’t know anyone more powerful than you!”

“My ether requires time to cast,” Lei-Lei said. “Someone agile and quick on their feet is better for the job.” Her index and middle finger struck out at Yushia and Suzaku. “They will do it.”