Jia and Eui followed the monk to the mountain and climbed a stone staircase that seemed to go on forever. It wasn’t much of an obstacle for Jia now, but before her awakening she would have definitely struggled to make the ascent in a single trip. The staircase led to a shrine gate at the peak of the mountain, and Jia could sense the power contained within the structure—a powerful ward that blocked even her domain from intruding on the sanctity of the temple beyond. She felt a tingle as she passed through the gate, but once beyond it her domain was able to spread out through the temple and beyond—the barrier was one-way.

The temple sat on an artificial plateau with a stone path leading up to the main structure. The building was large and ornate, with more than enough space to house the dozen or so monks and shrine maidens within the area, each and every one of them an unawakened mortal. Sitting front and center before a wooden altar, being fussed over by half a dozen shrine maidens, was the purpose of their visit.

The woman was unmistakable—her fair complexion stood out among the more tanned locals, and her light blonde hair and large blue eyes stood out as a rare combination even back in Goryeo. She was dressed in a fine dress robe in the same ‘kimono’ style that Jia and Eui wore, and adorned with enough jewelry to have made Yan Yue flush with envy. What stood out most to Jia, however, was the faintly glowing blue orb nestled between her brows, radiating power. She was strong! Jia didn’t sense a domain, but in terms of pure essence the Lady Tennin had more than a typical third-stage cultivator would.

As soon as the woman met their eyes, her face lit up in a brilliant smile and Jia could feel the emotions coming off of her—she was ecstatic to see them.

“Welcome to Urayama shrine! It’s so nice to finally meet you both! I am called Lady Tennin, but you may address me in any way that comforts you. Might I know the names of our precious saviors?”

Jia and Eui exchanged confused glances before Jia turned back to introduce them.

“Um, my name is Lee Jia and this is my partner, An Eui.”

An Eui gave a curt nod.

“Hi.”

If Lady Tennin was bothered by Eui’s abruptness she didn’t show it. Jia carried on, long accustomed to her girlfriend's antisocial nature.

“Lady Tennin, if I might be so bold—why did you call us ‘saviors?' This is the first time we’ve ever visited this place, and I think I would recall meeting someone as striking as yourself. Also how did you know we were here?”

The lady covered her mouth with a sleeve and let out a tinkling peal of laughter.

“It was hard to miss your approach! I witnessed your battle against that horrible monster. Had it come this way, I am not sure if even I would have been enough to protect my precious village. As soon as I sensed your power against the wards I knew you must have come to visit and sent for you right away! I hope that you can forgive any rudeness you might have experienced—the villagers are very protective of me.”

Eui frowned, glancing around at the lady’s mortal attendants. Between Lady Tennin’s elaborate outfit and the robes of the priesthood, nearly the entire village’s wealth was probably concentrated on top of the mountain.

“Isn’t that backwards? You should be the one protecting them.”

Lady Tennin nodded enthusiastically, unperturbed by Eui’s accusatory tone.

“Yes, yes! I keep telling them that! I am here to be their guardian, yet as I protect them from youkai and kami, they insist that they must return the favor by protecting me from unsavory mortals who might seek to take advantage of me.”

Jia thought that sounded like the same excuse the gangs back home used to excuse their rackets, but something felt off.

“So you’re not just holding the town hostage and forcing them to give up all their wealth?”

The atmosphere instantly changed as soon as the words left Jia’s lips. The Lady Tennin herself wasn’t offended—at most, she seemed shocked by the very idea—but her attendants were all glaring daggers at Jia. Lady Tennin shook her head vigorously.

“No, of course not! I’ve tried to return their offerings time and again, but they always refuse. I need little—the occasional core from an unfriendly youkai is more than enough! Yet the villagers even insist on offering me their ki!”

The priest that had led them to the temple blanched.

“Lady Tennin, that’s—”

The Lady cut him off with a huff.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Shinji! They already know what I am, and I would rather die than see another child of this village leave to join the army, never to return!”

Jia inhaled sharply. There it was—the thing that had been bothering her. The pervasive sense of strangeness that had been nagging at her vanished as she understood what she was seeing for the first time. Even in her moment of willfulness, Lady Tennin hadn’t expressed anything resembling anger or annoyance. Even as she fretted over the villagers, there was no sorrow there—only love and compassion. Lady Tennin was what Jia might have become without Eui to balance her out—a creature of pure, unbridled selflessness. Jia understood now why the villagers would want to protect her from outsiders.

“Lady Tennin, if you don’t mind me asking, why did you want to speak to us?”

The lady gave Jia a dazzling smile and clapped her hands together joyfully, her fretting from a moment ago completely forgotten.

“I wanted to thank you, of course! If there’s anything I can do for you, please name it! But also, I felt a sense of kinship. You are like me, aren’t you?”

The attendants eyed Jia with a mix of curiosity and wariness. The one that had brought them here—presumably the head priest or something—just sighed wearily. No doubt this wasn’t the first time their lady had insisted on doing favors for strangers without asking anything in return.

“We just have a few questions, if you don’t mind answering them.”

The head priest relaxed a bit as Jia hedged her words carefully. Lady Tennin simply beamed happily.

“Of course!”

“First of all—what did you mean by ‘kinship’. Is it because we’re demons? How could you tell?”

The attendants—including the head priest—all stiffened at that, and Lee Jia belatedly realized that might not have been the wisest thing to say. Lady Tennin, in her typical manner, didn’t seem to notice or be bothered by it.

“‘Demons’, ‘Oni’, I don’t like those words very much. It’s too easy to think that anybody who develops a core will become a ruthless killer, but that’s not true! I’m not an oni, and neither are you. The villagers call me Tennin, so that is what I am, but you’re not really that either, are you? You both exist somewhere between, each balancing the other out—it’s so beautiful!”

Jia blushed at the praise, but Eui pushed on.

“You didn’t answer the question. How did you know? Aside from Jia’s legendary loudmouth, that is.”

Jia stared at her feet in shame, cursing her inability to keep a secret. Lady Tennin covered a giggle before answering.

“It’s hard to explain. A faint, subtle feeling. When I sensed your power, it had a sort of familiarity to it—now that I see you in person, it’s unmistakable.”

The sense that she was describing was something Jia could relate to. It was similar to her own intuition and the impression that she was getting from Lady Tennin.

“Lady Tennin, how did you become...a tennin? Sorry, is that a name or a title? I’m kind of confused.”

Lady Tennin smiled kindly before answering.

“It’s both. When I became Tennin, I relinquished all that I was before.”

“I see. And...how did that happen? We’ve never met another with the same kind of core as me, and I sort of made mine on purpose.”

“So did I! I doubt it could be done any other way. This village was not always as prosperous as it is now, being so far from the coast, and so close to the wilderness. I was a shrine maiden here, when the village was nearly destroyed by a swarm of youkai. I lamented the death and destruction, and I begged the kami enshrined here to save us, offering my own life in exchange.

“The kami, in its way, granted my wish. It gave itself to me, its love for our village compounding with my own. I was a reasonably skilled martial artist even then, but my body could not handle the power of the kami’s ki. I was nearly overwhelmed by the power before forming it into a crystal core.”

Lady Tennin tapped the visible core on her forehead.

“Now I feel neither grief nor sorrow, and I have the power to protect those that I love. In exchange, the shrine maiden I was died that day, leaving only Lady Tennin.”

Eui furrowed her brow in confusion.

“You said you’d rather die than let villagers get drafted—isn’t that grief?”

The attendants lowered their heads sadly, but Lady Tennin’s smile didn’t even falter.

“No. I do not protect the village for my own self-gratification, I feel no sense of loss over the villagers that leave and never come back, yet I would still die for them. That is the love that I feel for this place. I would die if it meant that I could prevent even a single child from tripping and scraping their knee. I am no fool, though. I know such decisions would be harmful in the end, so it’s not my decision to make. I live to serve the village, and the village chooses to protect me not only from others, but also myself.”

It was a strange and confusing mindset, yet not entirely alien to Jia. Even before she’d had her own core, Jia had tried to sacrifice her own life to save Eui’s. She could understand that all-consuming sense of love and compassion, and knew that Lady Tennin’s path was one that she might have ended up on herself, if not for Eui. As if sensing her thoughts, Eui reached over to grasp Jia’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

“Thank you for your insight, Lady Tennin. It has been an invaluable lesson.”

Lady Tennin inclined her head in acknowledgement.

“I’m pleased to have been of service. Please feel free to stay in this village as long as you like, and don’t hesitate to ask if there is anything else you need.”

From anyone else, that might have sounded like a dismissal, but Jia paused.

“Actually...there’s something else. We weren’t, um, entirely honest with Suzu—er, Miss Ito about our origins. We’re new to Yamato, but if it’s possible, we’d like help finding some of our friends here.”

Lady Tennin’s face lit up as she practically glowed with happiness at the idea of being able to do a favor of actual substance.

“Of course! Just name them and I will see what I can do. We are quite far from the nearest city, however. Even the provincial capital is weeks away for mortal travellers—though I expect the two of you could make much better time.”

Jia nodded.

“Um, Takeda Rika—probably from the Ienaga province. Kasai Hanako or Satou Ryuuji—I’m not sure where they live, though. Let me see...Fujino Eiji, Minami Yuuko, Ishihara Nao, Harada Jun, Fujikawa Ayumi, or Izumi Makoto. Any of those names...”

The Lady Tennin tapped a finger against her lips as she thought.

“Some of those are fairly well known families, and of course Ienaga’s land is still quite well established as the former capital. If you are willing to stay a few months I should be able to get word of them by then.”

Jia chewed on her lower lip as she considered it. That felt like a long time, but it had been nearly two years already—as Jianmo repeatedly reminded them, what was time to an immortal? Jia turned to Eui and projected her thoughts.

“What do you think?”

Eui shrugged.

“I don’t see any reason not to. The better question is, why haven’t you asked about Hayakawa or Master Ienaga? We probably wouldn’t even have to wait for news about them.”

Jia grimaced, but Eui had a point. She still had mixed feelings about Hayakawa, but it would be good to know what she was up to, and the last time she’d seen her former mentor Ienaga, she’d been walking into the middle of a battle with otherworldly forces. Jia returned her gaze to Lady Tennin, who had been waiting patiently for a response.

“Actually, there are a couple of other associates we’d like to know about as well. Lady Hayakawa Kaede, and Master Ienaga Yumi.”

The attendants gasped in shock as they heard the names, but Lady Tennin simply nodded sagely.

“Ah, that makes sense. You are from the former academy, then? I would caution you against mentioning that in the future—especially to those who are aware of your unusual nature. Since its fall, the oni have taken up residence there, and Qin has been using that as an excuse to hunt down former students.

“To your actual question—Master Ienaga has been almost single-handedly holding the border against the Empire. Something has emboldened them lately, and though they haven’t declared all out war yet, they’ve been growing increasingly aggressive. Last I heard of Lady Hayakawa, she was preparing an envoy to your homeland.”

Jia stepped forward excitedly.

“Hayakawa is going to Goryeo? Why?”

“To establish an alliance, I would imagine. She should already be on route as far as I know, but I may be able to find out more within a few days.”

“Please do! If you can tell us where to find her that would be perfect.”

Lady Tennin nodded.

“Very well. I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, please feel free to enjoy the hospitality of our village.”

Yoshika tried to still her beating hearts. She had been right—asking about Hayakawa had been the right move. If they could find her, she’d probably be able to tell them everything about the others. Perhaps more importantly, if Hayakawa was travelling to Goryeo as a foreign envoy, maybe it would be possible to get Eui in by joining her.

Yoshika hadn’t forgotten the goals that she’d sworn to accomplish once she had the power to execute them. She would see her families again, one way or another.