”Elder.” Razark greeted the kitsune, his smile fading. “I would like to give you the chance to elaborate on your words. I would however encourage you to be careful with how you talk about my disciple.”

The kitsune scoffed. “Your disciple? Why you would take something as unnatural as her as your disciple is beyond me. There are many tribes of kitsune, but all of them are pure representatives of our race. Even when procreating with other races our children are either full members of our or our partner’s race.” She pointed at Dee. “She should not exist.”

A deep growl of a dragon caused the air to rumble, and a certain weight seemed to settle on everyone’s shoulders. The weight was more emotional, a pressure borne out of fear, than any physical weight. “The first one I gave you for free fox, but my patience towards lesser beings is limited. Watch how you address your betters.” Dee growled out, the draconic pride within her taking hold once again.

The eyes of the kitsune elder narrowed. “Lesser beings, is it?” She said with a displeased tone. She was unable to determine the level of Dee’s strength as it was hidden by the Authority, but as Razark’s disciple it seemed unlikely that Dee had no ability to back up her words. Still, the kitsune had their own pride. “I doubt a mixed blood mutt like you is in any position to talk to us like that.” She revealed her teeth in a feral growl.

Suddenly a much heavier weight dropped on all of them, including Dee. Everyone except Razark was forced to struggle to stay up, while the weaker people fell to the ground. The pressure seemed to be different for each person, somehow adjusted for their level of strength. Otherwise a weight that felt heavy for Dee would’ve crushed the others. This weight was much more physical than the earlier one and felt like the gravity around them had increased.

“I think that’s about enough posturing from both of you. Dee, you will not pick a fight with them without my permission. Elder, you will keep your remarks to yourself, or I will take your head myself for disrespecting my disciple. We are here for some answers. Elder, you will provide those answers because you owe me. Now am I making myself clear, or will I have to keep the pressure on for the rest of the day?” Razark demanded with a firm voice, punctuating his point with a slight increase in the pressure.

‘What do you think Croestia? Is this an ability provided by his totem, or something else?’ Dee asked quietly.

‘I would wager a guess that it has something to do with his totem. It could be a Domain as well, though that seems much more unlikely as those are supposed to be exceedingly rare. If the pressure wasn’t so heavy it could be something similar to your dragon aura.’ Croestia replied. Some powerful beings had a presence that exerted great pressure on their surroundings. It could be something like the fear and terror caused by the aura of dragons or the burning heat radiating from a phoenix.

Meanwhile the kitsune elder growled her agreement. Dee entertained a thought for a moment about making a flippant comment, but decided against it and simply nodded. Now was not the time. “Good then. Take us inside elder.” Razark said, while withdrawing the pressure.

The insides of the temple were rather ascetic. The central room held a shrine for whatever deity the kitsune worshipped, while the walls had several doors that lead to storehouses and living quarters. The kitsune elder led them though one of the doors into a garden courtyard surrounded by the temple on all four sides. There was a clear blue flame burning in the air, apparently staying afloat on its own power. The flame was not large, but Dee could tell it wasn’t a simple flame either. The flame felt as if was alive.

The kitsune elder led them to simple stone seats close to the flame. “Well? What brings you here? I doubt you would bring…her here without a good reason.”

Razark frowned at the implied insult. “You noted her kitsune heritage. Kitsune are creatures of fire, yet her flames don’t seem to work properly. We need to know why.”

The kitsune elder’s mouth twitched. “Are you sure it’s not just a side effect of her…unique heritage? It could be her kitsune blood is simply too thin.”

Dee laughed. “I seem to have more fox demon in me than any of you. If anything, my blood is even more concentrated.” There was a slight mocking tone in her voice. She wasn’t entirely wrong either. Whoever had made her had used the purest form of all the heritages that made the clusterfuck of races that she was. That was also partly shown by the inherited memories that came the first time the heritage activated, as scant and spotted as those memories were.

The elder harrumphed displeased, but couldn’t entirely refute the claim either. Dee had more fox in her appearance, though for other reasons. “What is the level of your flames at the moment? If there’s absolutely nothing there, then there’s something wrong with your heritage and there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Dee concentrated for a moment and a small ball of normal flames appeared on her palm. It was as if she had tried to cast a very feeble fireball spell. “This is about it. I can light a campfire, but that’s about it.”

The elder’s eyes narrowed in slight realization. This was comparable to the flames of the children of the kitsune tribe. “Let me check something.” She said as she got up and walked right up to Dee, laying a finger on Dee’s chest, just below her throat. The two remained like that for several minutes, until the kitsune elder opened her eyes and walked back to her seat.

“Well?” Razark prompted.

“The kitsune all have their own flames. They aren’t exactly unique, but they differ from person to person. Some people’s flames are stronger than others, some flames carry additional effects, while some just burn hotter. Some flames are extremely powerful and dangerous. However, it would be problematic if children had access to such dangerous flames. Because of that the flames only awaken later on in life. Until then, us kitsune only have access to the generic feeble flames that you just saw her produce. Some flames are awakened by age, usually being awakened upon reaching maturity, while most are awakened by the owner’s level of power. The conditions vary from person to person, and usually the more powerful the flame, the more stringent the conditions.

“Her flames have not awakened yet, most likely because the flames have been influenced by her other heritages. Thus I have no idea if they are still dormant because of their level of power, or just because her heritages are causing a delay. I also have no idea what the conditions for awakening her flames might be. If I had to make a guess based on what I felt, it is tied to her level of power.” The elder finished her explanation.

“How uncommon is it that someone at the eighth rank has not awakened their flames?” Razark asked the obvious question.

“Very rare, bordering on unheard of. Not being able to control our flames is a very large reduction of power for us kitsune. It doesn’t matter how powerful your flames are if you never get to use them. Few kitsune even reach the eighth rank. There’s a reason we are often called the nine-tailed foxes, as that is usually the highest rank we can reach. What would be the point of flames that only awakened at that rank? The kitsune would never be able to reach that rank without her flames in the first place. Normal flames are awakened around ranks two and three, strong flames around ranks four and five and really powerful ones around sixth rank. I’ve heard of two that were awakened at rank seven.” The elder explained.

“You said bordering on unheard of.” Dee prompted after a moment of silence. “That implies that you’ve heard of one before.”

“Well, not exactly but close. There was this one male kitsune that didn’t awaken his flames when he reached rank seven. It sometimes happens that a person’s kitsune blood becomes so thin that their flames don’t awaken at all, even if they have their own flames in theory. This male kitsune was assumed to be one of them. People with such weak blood are usually driven out of the tribe to prevent further dilution of the bloodlines. He was hard working and gifted with magic though, as you might assume from his rank, so he had been allowed to stay in the hopes that his flames would still awaken. Finally he was driven out.” The elder explained with sadness in her voice. Dee wasn’t surprised at the treatment that kitsune had received, as she had only been here for an hour and already she felt hated and discriminated against. Living among them as someone deemed ‘defective’ must have been a real pain.

The elder continued the story. “As it turned out, his flames were extremely strong and further twisted by the treatment he and his family had received. His parents had been traitors and had been put to death as punishment. His treatment at childhood was pretty awful due to the victims of his parent’s crimes taking their resentment out on him. That treatment only got worse as it became clear that his flames were not going to awaken. Finally they did awaken while he was in exile and had reached the eighth rank. He used those flames of resentment to take revenge and killed everyone that had wronged him, which happened to be most of his old tribe.”

“Can’t say I blame him.” Dee said rather callously, which elicited a disapproving hiss from the elder. “What happened to him in the end?”

The elder shrugged. “Nothing. He was too strong to be handled by what was left of his tribe, and the other tribes didn’t care enough to risk their own. Last I heard he became immortal and joined one of the high ranking communities in Night city. Who knows what happened to him after that. Most likely he met a violent end considering the nature of Night city power politics.”

Razark interjected at this point. “What I’m gathering from this is that Dee’s flames should be extremely strong, and they will awaken in time. Am I missing something?”

“Well, like I said, her flames have been influenced by her…unique heritage. It might not signal anything beyond the flames being slow to wake up. Or they might be tied to her age. I can’t tell how old she is. Usually the flames would wake up when one reaches maturity, but what that means for her is not clear to me. Or she might turn out like one of those I mentioned, whose flames never awaken.” The elder’s voice made it clear she thought the last option most likely and the preferred option.

Razark looked at the elder judgmentally. They weren’t friends exactly, as the elder rarely took part in the celebrations Razark took part in with the other kitsune. They were acquaintances though, and he was sorely disappointed in her. “You seem to be walking down the same path as the tribe that was destroyed.”

The elder scoffed. “Unlikely. That man was an anomaly, and I’ve never heard of anything similar before or after. Your little disciple would have to be an even bigger anomaly seeing as she is already at the eighth rank. No kitsune has ever awakened their flames on reaching the status of a nine-tail. We are the matriarchs of our race.”

Razark gave a cold smile. “One thing I’ve learned in my years with Dee, is to never underestimate her. Overestimate and then triple that estimation. That way you might be close to reality. You will see. You will not see me again however. Next time one of your tribe members is kidnapped, you can ask the other scouts for help. They might oblige, or they might not depending on how they feel.” Razark’s implication was clear. He controlled the scouts and they would decide on whether to help depending on his word.

“Then so be it. There are others capable of helping. The freelancer’s guild works on payment not on principles. We might not be the strongest tribe around these parts but we are not poor.” The elder replied coldly. She was willing to cut this relation to keep the unnatural one away.

Razark gave a small mirthless laugh as he and Dee stood up. “Perhaps. The problem with mercenaries is that they might decide selling all of you to be more lucrative than whatever you’re willing to pay. Dee, no need to walk out. You can make your portal back to the gathering point right here.”

“Yes sir.” Dee replied with a grin. Some of the spells of the forest prevented portals. As it happened, those spells did jack against her travel method of going through the Astral Plane, as that path circumvented the spells. She was glad to show off how little the spells affected her. The normal portal opened in the middle of the garden, and the two left the miffed and stunned kitsune elder behind.

----------

“Well that went great.” Dee commented as they finally reached the scout gathering point.

Razark sighed. “My apologies on subjecting you to that. I had no idea they would react like that, though I suppose that is not a very good excuse.”

“Eh, I’ll live.” Dee replied with a shrug. “It’s not like I was planning on living with them. I’m somewhat used to not having a people to call my own.”

“You have the scouts. Or you will at least when they get to know you.” Razark pointed out.

“Well, I wonder about that. Possibly due to your influence the scouts are a little less gung-ho about all the order and law stuff than the rest of the order. However, the Scarlet Witch that came to meet us had a point. The Radiant Sun is dedicated to order and light, and I’m definitely not. I don’t mind extending a helping hand like the scouts do on occasion, but it’s not really my thing either. And I certainly don’t share their principles. What happens when I will be forced to uphold those principles, when they clash with my own? You’ve had experience with that. I can see you’re not happy to be part of the order. You stay because you consider the scouts a surrogate family.” Dee pointed out.

Razark was quiet for a long time as they walked. Finally he replied. “You’re right, unfortunately. Still, you’re somewhat stuck with us for now. Do you have plans for the future?”

“Hard to say. I have plans but so much depends on how my powers develop. I have some debts to pay, chief among them to a certain captain of the order who I could almost call a sister, and a certain psion teacher whose community I’ll have to join for a while at least. Speaking of future plans, what happens next?” Dee asked, eager to change the subject.

“Before that, your reaction to her instigation was worrying. It’s not really in your nature to rise up to an obvious bait like that, and doing so will get you in trouble. Something you should be smart enough to avoid. What happened? Was it the dragon heritage rising up again?” Razark was aware of Dee’s sudden swings, and knew the reason behind them. It had happened a couple of times before, though sometimes Dee could at least temper the urge somewhat. This time had been different.

“Your guess is right. I need to find a way to get a hold of myself. I thought that satiating the hunger would do the trick, but that seems to help only to an extent.” Due to all the new souls she had consumed, although unknowingly, she was now more satiated than she had ever been since the hunger had awakened.

“Any ideas?” Razark inquired with a worried tone.

“I have one idea about finding a lead. I don’t know if it will pay off though, or what the price will be.” Dee replied not pleased with the prospect.

“Let me guess. Threads of Fate?” The same idea had occurred to Razark as well.

“That's the one. I already owe them one favor though, and I’m not sure I want to add to that tally. So they’ll be the last resort in case we can’t come up with anything else.” Dee said with slight resignation in her voice. “So, back to the real topic. What happens now?”

“Now? Now we have some missions to perform, and you’re coming with me.” Razark replied simply.

“Missions?” Dee prompted him to continue.

“Yes. You’ve already had dealings with Tuatha Dé Danann. That little civil conflict is reaching the status of turning into a proper civil war. The only thing stopping it so far has been that the Autumn court and Winter court have their military tied on the borders, dealing with the enemies of the empire. It seems the two courts have decided to risk it, as they are pulling their forces out of the border forts and into the forest proper. We have been sent out to check on the reactions of their neighbors.” He explained.

“Why do we care again? I mean I get that a large number of the order’s recruits come from the empire, but this makes it seem like we’re meddling quite a bit. And on which side are we meddling?” Dee asked.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I think the grandmaster has some larger plan, but so far he has given no indication on which side he would pick. I’m pretty sure he is picking a side though. As to why we might care personally, well there are a lot of cities that are usually protected by the two courts. The elves don’t station troops inside those cities, but just their presence in the vicinity keeps marauding forces at bay. The plains on the west side of the forest are economically important to a large portion of the Day city, and there are a lot of neutral cities in the area. A large chunk of the meat eaten in Day city comes from the cattle grazing those grasslands. The mountains in the north are less important economy-wise, but are strategically important. They are also housing the main portion of the Sidhe of the Winter Court. Unlike their cousins in the other courts, Unseelie aren’t the biggest fans of forests.” Razark explained with a frown. “Come to think of it, neither are the elves of the Autumn court. I wonder why they stay.”

“So we are to go out there and see if the competitors of the elven empire are planning on taking advantage of the missing Winter and Autumn court armies? Are we supposed to take part in defending those locations if those enemies do move?” Dee made sure she got the parameters of the mission right.

“We were not instructed either way, so apparently it’s up to us.” Razark said with a sniff. The whole mission stank of a set-up.

“That’s pretty vague. Wouldn’t our choice affect the whole strategy of the grandmaster?” Dee pointed out the obvious.

“I believe it would. If my guess is correct, we’re supposed to run into trouble. And our reaction won’t matter for some reason.” Razark concluded his thoughts.

“Well. Shit. This is one of the most obvious traps I’ve ever seen.” Dee said with a feral grin. “Sounds like fun.”