Kisaki wasn’t a girl easily given over to fear. Despite her sheltered existence, she’d seen a great many wondrous things, and her favorite part of her studies had always revolved around wars and battles.

Nevertheless, she cried out in shock as the room faded away in a flash of light, to be replaced by somewhere much larger. As her eyes adjusted, she realized the floor, the walls, everything that had been around her mere moments earlier, was gone.

The hard floor had been replaced by something white and with much more give to it. Off to one side she saw trees, but much larger and more numerous than in the two walled gardens she was allowed to visit.

In front of her was an impossible sight: water, sapphire blue, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Is that an ocean?

Kisaki’s shock gave way to wonder as she took in the sights, but that wasn’t all. The air was warm, and she could smell the clean scent of the salt water. She dared a glance up and saw a clear blue sky with a yellow sun smiling down at her.

It’s an illusion. It has to be.

Surely that was the purpose of the room she’d stumbled upon. Though she didn’t fully understand illusion magic, she’d learned the basics and could perform a few tricks. Nothing like this, though. If anything, this was the work of true masters of the craft.

A properly conjured illusion could fool the senses, but she’d never experienced anything on this level before. The few so-called advanced spells Shitoro had demonstrated to her in the past were child’s play in comparison.

But how?

Then Kisaki remembered. She’d been daydreaming while in the center of the marvelous crystal room, thinking about the high seas, about Earth. That had to have been it. The view around her certainly resembled some of what she’d studied, if only vaguely. Her books were filled with stories of war, but this appeared to be a place of peace. Also, the weather was clear, whereas in many of the scrolls she’d read, there was always a storm taking place during a pivotal battle.

Perhaps if she concentrated harder, the magic of the room would show her something a bit more visceral.

She hesitated doing so, however, enjoying the tranquility of what was before her. What would it hurt to stay and enjoy this for a few minutes longer?

I could be caught, that’s what could happen.

Any second now, the illusion could be dispersed and she’d turn to find the disapproving gaze of Shitoro or, worse, her mother glaring at her.

But so far, she’d gone undiscovered and, after a few moments, Kisaki found her feet moving, almost of their own accord, toward the water.

Further out, past the shallows, she could see waves breaking. Here, though, closer to the ... beach? Yes, that was what this place was called. And what she was walking on was sand. Suddenly, Shitoro’s never-ending lessons didn’t seem so foolish, even if she’d never tell him that aloud.

She reached the very edge of the vast ocean and then kept going, curious to see what would happen. Her slippers, feet, and the bottom of her kimono all became wet as she stepped into the water. Despite this, she laughed. Truly a marvelous illusion! Oh, if only the demon who had conjured this was her teacher. If she could learn to do magic like this, then she might never need to leave her chambers again.

She might explore all manner of...

Kisaki stopped and turned around, noting her footsteps in the sand and how far she’d seemingly come. It wasn’t a great distance, but unless she was mistaken – which she didn’t believe to be the case – she’d walked further than the radius of the room should have allowed. As real as this illusion appeared, she should have bumped into the wall a good ten paces back.

She was contemplating what this all meant when she was startled from her reverie by sounds.

No, not just sounds ... voices.

♦ ♦ ♦

Despite the myriad creatures that served her mother in all of their different forms and visages, Kisaki was well aware that she looked different than most of them. She resembled her mother in some ways, although not nearly as stunningly beautiful, but in others did not. For instance, their hair and skin colors differed. In addition, Kisaki lacked the fine row of regal horns that rested upon her mother’s head, something she always rued.

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If anything, based on the many images she’d seen during her countless hours of study, she most closely resembled humans in appearance. Or at least she thought so. The truth was, most of the humans depicted in her lessons had been male warriors. Though their features were similar, their bodies were typically much broader and muscular than her lithe form.

The beings approaching her, chattering away in a strange language, looked vaguely like the humans she’d seen in her studies. However, these creatures were dressed very different from the armored forms she expected. Their body shapes varied, too. One of them was quite rotund, whereas three were thin, even thinner than she.

They noticed her and approached, pointing in her direction.

All at once, Kisaki grew fearful again. The distance she’d crossed, and now creatures – humans – approaching her, having apparently seen her?

This was like no illusion she’d ever heard of.

And then, in the back of her mind, she asked herself something she’d been subconsciously avoiding since arriving. What if this isn’t an illusion?

The newcomers kept approaching, continuing to chatter away as they pointed at her. They stopped while still on the beach. Truly their dress was strange. Not regal finery by any means, and certainly not armor, but unlike any peasant garb Kisaki had ever seen – flimsy pants that stopped at their knees and simple but colorful tunics upon their upper bodies. One, with long black hair, wore slippers upon its feet similar to Kisaki’s, but missing the front so that its toes showed through. This one was different from the others, more closely resembling Kisaki than them. A human female, perhaps?

The other three – males, she concluded – wore short, white boots upon their feet.

They continued to point and chatter at her. Kisaki briefly considered the quill within her robes. It was currently useless, but if it was once a sword, then perhaps it could become one again ... if she could figure out how to do so. But then, quite suddenly, the humans’ chatter changed to laughter, something she understood.

If they were laughing, then maybe they didn’t mean her harm after all. If anything, they seemed to be enjoying themselves. After a few moments, Kisaki realized it was contagious and she joined in, which caused them to start talking among themselves again.

And that’s when something strange happened. As she listened to their chatter, utterly unintelligible mere moments earlier, she began to understand them.

“...water...”

“Look ... her...”

“Why is ... laughing...?”

“... she’s ... stupid.”

“She has to be.”

“Yeah, look at her ... standing there in the water like some dummy.”

“Look at the way she’s dressed.”

“Is she getting married?”

“She probably escaped from a circus.”

Kisaki couldn’t believe her ears. Their tone aside, she understood what they were saying. One moment, their language had been utterly alien to her, the next she had near perfect clarity. She decided to test it out with her own tongue. “Can ... you understand me?”

“Hey,” the rotund one said. “The freak can speak!”

“Ask her if she ran out of detergent,” another of the males said.

“You just did, stupid.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“Detergent?” Kisaki asked. Though she seemed to understand the basics of their language now, it appeared she didn’t have perfect comprehension over the nuances.

“Yeah, it’s what you use to do your laundry, freak, instead of wading into the ocean wearing it.” That caused the humans to all start laughing again.

Kisaki wasn’t stupid. She knew she was being made fun of for some reason. Still, unlike the ferret youkai she’d met before, at least these creatures weren’t running from her.

“What, haven’t you ever seen water before?” the girl asked.

“Water, yes, but not the ocean,” Kisaki replied.

“She’s a freak and a liar,” the large one said, causing the other males to chuckle.

“I am no liar. My name is Kisaki. My mother is...”

“Awww, are you gonna cry for your mommy now?”

“Cry?” She was feeling a lot of emotions right at that moment, but the urge to weep wasn’t one of them. Such strange creatures, these humans. Even stranger than Shitoro had made them out to be.

Kisaki began to walk back toward the beach, but the four humans moved to the edge of the water to block her. As she approached them, she realized they were all a good head shorter than she. Were these human cubs ... children?

“Please allow me to pass, I...”

“You can’t leave,” the round one said. “You’re not finished with your laundry yet.” He stepped forward and gave Kisaki a shove. She hadn’t been expecting it and, as a result, lost her balance and fell backward into the water.

More annoyed than hurt by this creature’s impudence, she glared up at him from where she sat, the water drenching her robes.

“Let’s dunk her!” one of the other males said, much to his friends’ approval.

As the large one started forward again, another strange thing happened. For a brief moment, the world greyed out around her, and she saw someone else standing before her ... a strange ghost-like image superimposed upon the reality in front of her. Another person, a much larger human male, was standing where the human boy was. All at once, she saw what appeared to be her own leg kick out, striking the ghost image in the side of the knee and knocking him down.

The odd vision ended just as quickly as it had appeared. Before Kisaki was even really aware what she was doing, she mimicked the move, kicking out from her prone position. She knocked the rotund boy’s legs out from under him, causing him to topple into another of his friends. They both fell into the water beside her.

As they cried out with indignation, Kisaki felt a stab of heat at her side, as if something were jabbing her. It was coming from where she’d hidden the sword turned quill. Almost as if it were...

“Hey! What are you doing? Leave her alone!”