Chapter 117 - Support of the Red Lion

In the white world, Yuzu took a deep breath as she looked down at the plateau. The patients and doctors who had been praying to her for several hours had reached the limits of their stamina and finished for the day.

During this time Yuzu had targeted the strings of the most seriously infected patients and carefully cleansed them of the blight.

Now seven of the strings which had been covered with the sticky black residue were now shimmering brightly.

The process was simple but slow. Unlike Char Char’s infection, which flaked off with only a bit of interference, the blight was more deeply embedded in the patients’ golden strings. Yuzu had to expend a small amount of spiritual energy as she rubbed out the residue bit by bit, receiving no help from the patient’s weak spirits.

The patients prayed in the standard method common to citizens of Kumin. They knelt down on pillows that they had brought and placed their palms together in front of them. Closing their eyes they silently transmitted their thoughts and wishes to Yuzu.

There were two types of prayers - the first was heavily structured, with common phrases arranged in stanzas. There were many different prayers. Some of them honored the target deity, espousing their benevolence, charity, strength and other qualities. Some of them were requests for guidance, good fortune and health. There was a wide variety to choose from, and Yuzu even knew many of them herself from her own worship of Lord Noga.

The second type of prayer was more casual and conversational. This was a way for the follower to communicate their daily events and worries to the deity. It was not about requesting aid or looking for guidance or assistance, but about establishing a personal connection with the deity.

The majority of the prayers sent to Yuzu were the structured type. This was because she did not have a personal connection to these people. In fact, only Char Char spent most of the time in conversational prayer. Regardless of the type of prayer the intent to pray to the White Maiden was enough to form a connection to the shrine and transmit energy to her.

Yuzu spent the most attention on Char Char’s prayers. This was because the enthusiastic girl spent the entire time going over the events of the past few days, as if she were dictating a diary.

Over the course of the morning Yuzu learned all the details of Char Char’s employment at the Red Lion Security Company. She gained insight into the workings of the Exalted world, the nature of powers and how to properly prepare for and deal with unknown Exalted, and other practical details from Char Char’s training with Firuzeh. Yuzu even knew Char Char’s Exalted path and the powers that she had gained. All of this information had been freely divulged to Yuzu without any prompting.

“They told me that I should be careful, that we can’t be sure what your motives are…” Char Char prayed, “Which from their perspective I understand… But I just know that you have my best interests in mind. I feel like I shouldn’t hide anything from you.”

Char Char believed that these details were trivial to a great entity such as the Maiden. She had no idea how much Yuzu benefited from her ‘loose lips’. Yuzu could only shake her head at her friend’s naievity. It’s a good thing that I’m the White Maiden, otherwise who knows what trouble you’d be getting yourself into.

As the prayers wrapped up the group left the shrine, gathering some distance away to recover their energy before preparing to leave.

Moments later, a black string approached the shrine. A white light rose out of it as the person began praying to her.

“White Maiden, I am Firuzeh Asvadani. I pray to you on behalf of my Lord and benefactor.”

Yuzu recognized the voice. This was the same woman who had accompanied Char Char on the previous day. Char Char had already told Yuzu about her in her prayers, so Yuzu had a basic understanding of her position and role. Firuzeh had not prayed to her the day before. In fact, Yuzu had felt that the woman was extremely guarded towards her. This suited Yuzu, who also avoided interacting with Firuzeh’s black string.

Today this Demonic Exalted was praying directly to her.

“I am a humble servant. If there is any way I can be of service to you, I will do what is within my power to help.” Firuzeh continued, “This is the wish of my Lord, who offers you his cooperation.”

Firuzeh repeated the prayer several times.

Throughout this time Yuzu did not respond to Firuzeh, or even provide any indication that she was listening. She had done the same with the patients, providing no feedback except the action of dispelling the infection. The only person who received direct feedback and direction was Char Char.

Yuzu consciously made this change after her experience the night before. Argus had shrouded their existence in a veil of fog and mystery, preventing Medusa from gaining an accurate picture of their identities and intentions. As a result, the impression that they left on Medusa was many times more powerful and mystical.

Less is more, was Yuzu’s new motto.

She didn’t need to put on shows of grandeur, or reply directly to the gratitude or wishes in the prayers. Doing so would only cheapen her image.

Yes, the more powerful of an impression she could impart on people, the more influence she would have.

Yuzu watched Firuzeh walk away with a reserved expression.

Yesterday a Fuha cultist had bowed to her on behalf of her God. Today yet another organization had come to her. Yuzu didn’t know who Firuzeh represented or what Domain she was from. She only knew from the colour of Firuzeh’s thread that she was from the Demonic Kingdom, and that she had referred to her ‘benefactor’ as ‘my Lord’.

Yuzu only knew of three ‘Lords’ - Lord Noga, the ruler of the Kumin province, Lord Matsuhara, the ruler of the Huan province, and Lord Shah, the ruler of the Banbajan province. Together, these three lords ruled their country, NianXing. All three of these lords came from royal lineages that dated back over a thousand years.

Was Firuzeh’s lord one of those three? Or someone else?

Not knowing any further information Yuzu could only make the assumption that it was someone powerful.

Yuzu frowned. She wanted to ask the question, but doing so would break her image as a mysterious and powerful deity.

This image was something that she had to preserve at all costs.

Firuzeh prayed before the shrine for several minutes. She had expected to receive a response. After all, the day before the Maiden had touched all of them and subtly shown her presence. When her offers of assistance came back with nothing she started to worry.

Was the maiden not interested in speaking to her? Or perhaps she did not need her Lord’s assistance. Worst case, the Maiden might even be insulted by the offer. According to her Lord, the Maiden must have awakened recently. She is looking for followers to strengthen and anchor her to the real world. Therefore, they needed to appeal to that need.

The White Maiden would surely be approached by many interested parties in the coming days, but even though the Red Lion Company was small and lacked many resources, they had one big advantage over those other entities - That was, they were in direct contact with the one person who seemingly had a deep connection with the Maiden. Due to this advantage, they also should be one of the first parties to make contact with the Maiden and offer their services.

“White Maiden, if it would please you, my Lord will offer His support in setting up a secure route for your followers to visit your shrine. In addition, we will support Char Char in whatever capacity we can.” Firuzeh prayed.

Firuzeh received no response, making her feel slightly anxious. A non-response could mean that the Maiden was thinking things through, or it could mean that their offer of assistance was rejected. Firuzeh repeated the prayer three times and promised to return, to give the Maiden time to consider.

After completing her prayers Firuzeh walked over to the group which had gathered and were preparing to descend back to the carriages. After a brief head count, they left the plateau and began the journey back to the city.

When they were sufficiently far away from the plateau, Firuzeh discreetly held onto the crystal amulet hanging from her neck.

“Well?” The voice of her Lord sounded directly in her mind.

“I offered my prayers and presented our offer, however I received no response.” Firuzeh transmitted her thoughts through the amulet.

“That is within my expectations. Very well, make arrangements to return tomorrow and try again.” Came the reply.

Firuzeh released the amulet, cutting off the connection. It looked like she was going to be visiting the shrine a lot in the near future. She sighed, not happy with the assignment.

“Fate…” She mumbled, “What’s so good about that?”

~

With the visitors to the shrine gone Yuzu found herself alone at the shrine. She landed on the ground, the white grass tickling the bottom of her bare feet as she stood in front of the stone structure.

A small narrow table had been set up in front of the shrine for offerings. There were a number of peaches and other fruit in metal bowls, as well as several incense holders that were still smoking and filling the air with a soft woody scent. The area around the shrine had been cleared of detritus and stones, and the shrine itself had been scrubbed down by the patients.

All of these actions and offerings were ways of respecting Yuzu and appeasing her.

Yuzu walked over to the table, picking up one of the spiritually charged fruit. She took a bite of it as she contemplated her next steps.

The most important thing she could do right now was build up a foundation of followers to pray to her and provide the energy she needed to live. She didn’t need a lot. Her intuition told her that if even a dozen people prayed at her shrine each day she would have enough to survive. She wouldn’t even have to use the Life aspected porcelain jar and suffer its side effects.

This was good news since Yuzu cherished her sense of taste.

Yuzu knew that Char Char was attending a ball at her grandfather’s mansion this evening, and that she planned to find official supporters for the shrine at the event. This felt like a straightforward method of achieving her goal, but Yuzu wondered to herself if it was going to be that easy. The city was in crisis and still recovering from the attack, and entry to the woods was banned. Based on this, even with Char Char’s charisma and the results from today’s prayers, Yuzu felt that it would be difficult to find the support she was looking for.

Which was why Yuzu had taken Char Char’s string and tied it to her own.

One simple knot gave Yuzu a personal invitation to the ball, allowing her to take her future into her own hands.

Yuzu lingered at the shrine for a little while longer. Every so often she would check in on the status of her physical body, which was still sitting calmly in her room. Using the strings in the house she could monitor Xiang’s activities and check on the stew which was still simmering on the stove. She’d had to make a few tweaks to keep Xiang in the shop, but it would soon be time for her to return.

Before she did, though, she had one more person to attend to.

A silver line of smoke curled about at the base of the shrine. Its translucent threads were slowly solidifying as the time for the person to approach came near. What peaked Yuzu’s interest about it was that there were a number of other fate threads tied loosely around it. These faint threads were white and gold, belonging to other individuals, but when Yuzu touched the threads to look at their owners, she could only see a hazy darkness.

It felt that these people somehow existed and did not exist at the same time. Yuzu had not encountered this phenomena before, nor did she have a good idea of what it could mean.

A powerful aura radiated off of the silver smoke that held onto those faint threads, making Yuzu hesitant to touch it directly. Thus, she decided to wait for the person to arrive and greet her.

Ten minutes after the carriages with the patients had left, time caught up to the silver thread as it solidified. The air in front of the shrine turned hazy as the silhouette of a man flickered before it. Saturated reds and blues washed over the man’s body as he phased out of the spiritual world.

He landed lightly on the ground, his light brown monk robes flowing in an unseen wind. He had a shaved head and a proud, dignified posture. He stood in front of the shrine directly, raising his hands to form a triangle with his fingers in a firm gesture as he bowed.

“Esteemed White Maiden, Ming Ru of the Heavens Gate Monastery provides his greetings.”