Danberu searched Avalon for Ichi. The cavern was small enough, he felt like he could find Ichi if he looked, but it turned out to be too big for Danberu to expect to find him. The castle alone had enough twists and turns to get him lost.

As he wandered, he found himself far below ground in the damp recesses of the castle. In two separate cells laid two girls. Danberu walked up to one cage, apprehensive about their dress. What they wore looked like Tengu military attire. Dull golden magic shimmered on them. Danberu knew this type of magic. Any magic dull gold in color affected the rules of the world. Golden magic was commonly used in monetary transactions for appraising the worth of currency in the spirit world. Danberu had heard legends of sacred beasts called 'Dark Angels' who could use it on people as well. He studied the ball and chain as the girl looked up at him.

This application of the magic appeared as a ball and chain on the familiar looking girl's ankle. Danberu couldn't place her face, no matter how much his memory ran.

"Hello." Syon said.

Danberu almost fell back in shock. She knocked him right out of his reverie. The girls strange misty eyes met his, and Danberu could feel it on the tip of tongue. Something familiar.

"Fine day to be a prisoner, isn't it?"

Syon broke the silence again. Danberu stood up straight on impulse. It reminded him of his academy days in the Tengu Empire. He laughed at himself for taking the girl's voice so seriously, and the suffering haunting him returned before he responded.

"Yes. Very fine."

Syon noted Danberu's tone. She wasn't the best at this, which was why she decided to try something new.

"Are you, doing well? Is - the weather, alright?"

It didn't go well. Danberu took it as her suffering from her cell and imprisonment. Syon was safe but didn't know it.

"Weather's fine."

Just raining is all.

"You, your, name?"

Syon squeaked the words out.

"Danberu. Tanuki Lord Danberu. Those clothes, you are with the Tengu Empire?"

"Tengu Empire. Yes. Unfortunately. Very, unfortunately."

Danberu mind flickered to a newspaper he read a long time ago. The cover, the empress of the tengu empire, wife of Dai Tengu, her face flashed into his mind. That face matched perfectly with the girl in front of him. She was clearly younger.

"You... you can't be... are you Dai Tengu's daugther? He said he had no heirs..."

Danberu's maw outran his mind. Syon nodded. It would take a master of perception to understand that in this moment, she was lost. She responded anyways, thinking she might as well go along with the tanuki's line of conversation.

"Dai Tengu had two heirs. Myon, over there, and myself, Syon. He kept this a secret because he wants to maintain power for himself. Throughout the centuries, Dai Tengu has had many heirs, and he has seen them all die before reaching maturity."