Scene 1 - Chance Meeting

The birds were chirping in the morning, the air was pure, nice and warm. The light faded into the window suggesting that morning had come. The light beams landed on Luna's face poking her awake.

She pouted in bed, she could just move her head and avoid the cursed sun coming down upon her. Begrudgingly instead she got up from her warm soft bed; her hair a mess as a cowlick stood up to defy her.

‘Curses!’, She thought to stare into the mirror her hair was a mess, strand of hair standing up to defy her.

She scanned around the room and noticed everyone was still asleep. Grinning she slowly tiptoed back to her bed trying not to make a sound. She reached under it grabbing a change of clothes and headed for the showers.

‘Ah, the showers!’, A sudden thought picked up Luna’s mood up quite a bit, before cultivating she was a natural heavy sleeper now that she started cultivating she had too much energy to stay in bed.

Now having an annoying amount of energy, she had to find some way to find bliss now that dreams were cut off from her. So the next best thing dawned upon her in her time of need it was…

The bathhouse.

With a huge smile plastered on her face Luna headed towards than in’s huge bath for women, when she first saw how big it was she inwardly yelled with joy.

In haste, Luna dashed straight into the bathhouse with the might of a tiger that was given wings. Opened the door hot air bath where steam gathered, hitting her face refreshingly as she grinned even more widely when the fog cleared to show the bathhouse layout.

The floor was made out of black and white cultured stone with a very earthy impression of yin and yang. The stones were placed in such a way that when someone gazed upon it they would feel a sensation of calmness.

The bathhouse walls were made out of expensive light colored wood that gave off the scent of lilies. A warm light in the ceiling had the perfect light ratio that wasn’t too bright or nor too dark. Luna wondered if the boss owner was filthy rich from the decorations and layout.

Shaking her head she wasn’t here to think how rich he was. She was here for the bath! She took a shower before entering the bath; she remembered how unruly Marley was when they entered without taking one. It left a deep impression on her to never do it again.

She wore a towel wrapped around her waist, testing the water with her small delicate feet and the water was just right. Without another thought jumped slightly into the chest-high water submerging herself from head to toe in the water without hesitating.

Letting the warm water caress her body for a while Len arose from the depths raising her arms wide, “Ah~! This is bliss~ I wish I could enjoy this every day~”

“You think so to eh?”, A charming voice suddenly appeared behind which startled Luna like a rabbit turning around she jumped back into the water holding her towel tightly around herself.

As the steam cleared, Luna got a good look at the voice behind her; and it surprised her who stared back at her. It was a girl with fox ears, short hair that was shaggy that curled into itself. Her tail was swinging left and right in a mesmerizing manner. The color of her fur was black and orange; her fur extended down in a tribal way on top of her small arms with flecks of white.

She was short like Luna, the only difference was she had a bigger chest which made Luna subconsciously touch hers in defeat. That wasn’t the only thing she had noticed about her. The fox girl had scars running up her legs in a very jagged manner.

Luna tried not to stare at them and looked at the fox girl straight in the eyes which were narrow and a type of deep ocean blue.

Then Luna relaxed her shoulders after sensing no hostility from this fox girl, “Hello… Do you wish to join me…? Oh right! Where are my manners my name is Luna and your name is?”

Fox girl blinked her narrow eyes at Luna, “You're not disgusted by me? Don’t you know what my kind is?”

Luna tried thinking hard, yet came up with nothing, “Nope! Can I touch your ears? They look so fluffy!”

The siblings never saw people from the beast race or heard of them; the city they were in before smelled so bad that no beastman would ever settle there.

She laughed the fox girl laughed hard for a good while and Luna was starting to get annoyed.

Finally, the fox girl stopped her laughing, “Ha-ha-ha~ I’m sorry for laughing, it’s been so long since I saw a human with pure eyes besides my grandpa and the Village. My name is Raeki Nyui, but please call me by Taoist name Emberflake.”

EmberFlake jumped into the water like a wild child splashing Luna with a wave of water. She then surfaced shaking her fur; water flew all over the place hitting Luna with even more water.

When EmberFlake was done shaking, she moved towards the clearly agitated Luna, “Hey what's your Taoist name Luna?”

Wiping the water from her face Luna thought about Raeki's question, “What’s a Taoist name?”

Raeki got close to Luna’s face showing a shocked expression, feeling her personal space intruded upon Luna pushed her back a bit, “Too close.”

Raeki wasn’t bothered by the push and instead sat next to Luna in the bath, “You're a cultivator right? I can tell by the energy in your body and you never head of Taoist names? I guess big sis can fill you in on the details since you don’t know.”

Luna was very picky about the thought of age ever since she the eternal battle with Sol about who was older and started bickering to the point that their siblings treated it as white noise.

Luna growled, “Who says you're older?”

EmberFlake proudly puffed out her chest not intimated by Luna in the slightest, “I turned age twelve a month ago.”

Luna felt thoroughly shocked to her core, Raeki was older? She felt total and utter defeat to this fox girl that she didn’t know what to say. EmberFlake grinned knowing she won from Luna’s expression, “Haha~ Little Sister a Taoist title doesn’t mean much at our level of power, It’s just a name you go by in the world of cultivation.”

Luna somewhat understood Emberflake words and nodded her head, “I got it, though I haven’t yet decided on one when I do though I’ll tell you so thank you… Big Sis...”

Those last words made her cringe why must she have another big sister! The heavens are unfair! And she was even more powerful than Luna. She could tell that here cultivation level was higher than hers! Luna felt depressed that she couldn’t see through EmberFlake at all defeating her in all aspects, just who was this fox girl and where did she come from?

For a while, the two made some small talk while bathing blissfully in the bathtub and found that that the two of them had many things in common. Even though Luna hated the idea of calling another girl big sister she begrudgingly had to admit that EmberFlake wasn’t so bad. She just wished she was a bit younger that's all… Maybe by a year or two?

The two got out and dress; saying their goodbyes the two went their separate ways, who knows when they’ll meet again?