Thump.

Kei could feel the fading edges of an experience beyond her mind's ability to process, slipping away like a dream upon waking. From her studies, she knew that this was something to be grateful for.

After a few seconds, she realised that the sound had been her hitting the ground.

She could feel her entire body rebelling at her treatment of it. Through extraordinary force of will, she managed to make herself not vomit in front of her first summon. Takahashi-sensei said the first time was supposed to be the most difficult, she reminded herself. It would be easier once she was more accustomed to being pulled through a multidimensional cosmic meat grinder by the will of a small mammal.

"That. Was. So. Cool."

Kei looked up at Pandā in disbelief.

"What?" Pandā asked. "It was. It's not like I've ever been summoned or reverse-summoned anyone before. Did you feel the way the aetheric... uhh... thingy stretched as we came in?"

If Kei had, she did not want to remember.

She rose to her feet and took in the view around her. She was on a hilltop. There was grass. It was not some form of tentacular alien grass, merely ordinary green grass of the sort one could find anywhere. The air was breathable and there was a sky above her and ground below. But the sky was not the sky of her world. Above her, it was an eerie metallic brown, shifting in subtle patterns like oil on water, and it visibly changed colour further away, shading into a darker brown ahead of her, and other colours beyond, giving it a patchwork feel. There was light, but she could see no sun or moon.

Beneath this dizzying sky was a forest stretching for endless miles. The trees were huge, enough so that Kei couldn't understand how they could support their own weight, and she could see motion around the trunks. A series of small stone domes littered areas where the trees were less thick, covered with what appeared to be abstract patterns of colour.

Despite her unbearable curiosity, there was a part of Kei's mind that refused to rest until she acknowledged what Pandā had just said.

"The aetheric thingy," she repeated meaningfully.

"What?" Pandā exclaimed. "I'm an anthropologist, not a space-time ninjutsu expert. You want to know something about humans, I'm your pangolin. Fundamental laws of the cosmos? Not so much.

"No, wait," he said after a pause, in a tone of dawning wonder. "I'm not just an anthropologist anymore.

"My parents always said I was throwing my life away. They said I'd be serving fried grubs from some little stall in the slums until I died. They said there was no point hoping for a summoner that would never come. But you know what this means?"

Kei shook her head. It occurred to her a second later that pangolins would likely have a radically different body language, but the anthropologist seemed to understand the meaning.

"It means, as soon as I'm sworn in, I'm officially your military liaison!" Pandā did a little hop. Kei caught herself smiling at the way his tail bounced excitedly in mid-air.

"That's right!" Pandā misinterpreted her expression. "Automatic promotion all the way past the first tier and into the second, as a specialist attached to the diplomatic corps! This changes everything!"

Kei nodded thoughtfully. "So membership in the army is restricted, and considered high-status."

"Hey, you're not as slow as I thought," Pandā said approvingly. "That's right. I didn't make the cut when I had my rite of adulthood, and things have been kind of muddy ever since. But as a specialist, I'm practically guaranteed a breeding license, and then the females will be queueing at my door!"

Kei decided she wasn't quite curious enough to ask whether that was a literal statement.

"So what happens now?" she asked instead.

"Oh, right. I'm supposed to take you to the summoner trial. Y'know, the one that decides whether you live or die. Only I'd really rather you didn't die, or they won't need a military liaison anymore."

Another trial? Kei resisted the urge to sigh. "What do I need to do?"

"It's real simple. I take you to see the Polemarch, Pantsā of the Adamant Scales. He's the head of the Pangolin Clan. If he likes you, great. If he kills you, not so great. I suggest you be polite."

o-o-o-o

Pandā had insisted on taking the long route, weaving through as many of the main paths between the clusters of domes as possible. Kei did not complain, wanting every opportunity to take in her surroundings.

On closer inspection, the domes appeared to be burrow entrances, and the coloured markings on them followed distinct patterns, both in shape and choice of colour. Blue and yellow were prevalent, with occasional dashes of red. She suspected that they were intended to provide information about the residents within. In addition, the movement up above revealed itself to be more pangolins, ones shaped slightly differently from Pandā, and a few of them could be seen climbing in and out of hollows in the trees.

Every pangolin she saw turned and stared at her. Some exchanged hissing noises. It was more than a little intimidating, especially since, while Pandā was shorter than her, the majority of pangolins dwarfed her in size. Many were larger than a full-sized human, and the extraordinary size of some of the domes suggested disconcerting things about pangolin growth potential.

Pandā set a quick pace, scurrying along in an odd hunched posture, forelegs almost but not quite touching the ground, chattering all the while.

"Oh, this is wonderful! You have no idea what it's like, being small and weak and feeling useless all the time, and then somebody unexpected comes along and you suddenly get given a chance to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best! I can't decide if I'm excited or terrified I'm going to mess up somehow!"

Kei chose not to comment.

"So anyway, is it true that humans only reach sexual maturity a quarter of the way into your maximum lifespan? And that you think having no scent makes you more attractive? And that you only have five elements? And you can use the gestalt field without basic training? Oh, and my master told me you burn people's bodies when they die, without keeping any body parts, but he was just knotting my tongue, right?"

Before Kei could address any of this, Pandā screeched to a halt in front of a big rounded slab of carved rock standing in the middle of a public square. Unfamiliar symbols, probably writing, were etched into it in a sharp angular script.

"Gotta check the stone," Pandā muttered, "haven't been this way for nearly a tenday."

He came so close to the stone that his snout was nearly touching it, then scanned it quickly from both sides. "Good, nothing new."

Kei gave him a questioning look.

"One side's updates to law and basic military doctrine. The other's defensive and evacuation procedures. That's just for us unranked, of course." He blinked. "No, wait, I'm not going to be unranked anymore! What a day!"

Pandā did another little hop, then beckoned Kei onwards.

"Anyway, listen, see the tower? That's the Polemarch's fortress under there. Obviously, I've never met him myself, so this is going to be as new to me as it is to you. I'll level with you, I'm pretty nervous. They say he can read minds and make people explode just by looking at 'em. So whatever you do, be polite, be respectful, and don't try to lie to him. And above all, don't hthsshluhl."

"Don't what?"

"Uh," Pandā tapped his underbelly awkwardly, still leading her forward. "Culturally-specific idiom, I guess. I'm still working on those. Like I say, I'm an anthropologist, not an interpreter. Everything I know about inter-species communication ninjutsu? Ninety percent self-taught. For now, just try not to do anything stupid. Here we go."

o-o-o-o

Pantsā of the Adamant Scales was, without question, the biggest living being Kei had ever seen. Actually, he might have been the biggest anything Kei had ever seen, the mountain in Tea excepted. She suspected he was taller than the Mizukage's Office. Each of his scales was inlaid with swirling patterns of steel that glinted in the torchlight—a courtesy for Kei, since pangolins apparently relied on sight as a secondary sense at best. The larger of his claws were probably longer than Kei was tall. If he decided to kill her... Kei dwelled on that image a little too long.

"At your command, Polemarch," Pandā announced in a slightly trembling voice, drawn to a very nearly vertical stance, his claws together and interlaced.

He nudged Kei with his tail. "Your hands! Make the peace sign, you beakface!"

Kei quickly interlaced her fingers.

"At ease, Pandā," came a voice that was surprisingly quiet for something of that size. "I thank you for bringing the summoner candidate to me. You may wait outside."

"Your will, Polemarch," Pandā tapped his tail on the ground, then hurried out. "Don't screw up," Kei heard in a hissing whisper.

A few seconds later, Pantsā's voice came again, deep, measured, and at just the right volume to make it seem as if he were human-sized and standing a few metres away from her. It gave credence to Pandā's implication that she was hearing the results of communication ninjutsu rather than direct speech (which made sense given that pangolins seemed to have very long tongues and no teeth). And however the ninjutsu operated, the Polemarch must have been a master of it, as the unshakeable depths of the voice put Kei in mind of a mountain after all.

"Name yourself, summoner candidate."

"Mori Keiko, Polemarch."

"You are not part of my command structure, Mori Keiko," Pantsā said. "In private, you may address me by my given name."

"Yes, Pantsā."

"Now," Pantsā's voice grew more serious, "I do not know of the Mori Clan. Is it common, in the modern shinobi world, to choose so young a warrior to be the clan's summoner?"

Kei had an ominous feeling about answering this question, but she also remembered Pandā's warning about reading minds. "I am not here on behalf of the Mori Clan," she said.

"No? Do you mean that you are here without your superiors' permission?"

"I am a missing-nin," Kei said slowly, desperately wishing Mari-sensei were here to speak for her. "I was forced to leave my village and my clan by circumstances beyond my control, and now I am an independent agent."

Pantsā's voice did not change, but the cave suddenly felt much smaller, and the air much heavier, and slower to enter her lungs. "I know what a missing-nin is, Mori Keiko. A traitor who defies the leaders they swore allegiance to, and abandons their fellow warriors. Some lesser clans accept such summoners. The Pangolin Clan would sooner see your kind wiped from existence."

Shit.

"However," Pantsā continued, "in my role as keeper of justice, I must grant you a chance to defend yourself. Speak, Mori Keiko. You have this one chance to explain why you deserve life."

Kei breathed deeply. Keep it together, Kei. Keep it together. If she panicked here, it would be the end. She knew that being a missing-nin did not render her inherently dishonourable. She simply had to find, very quickly, some way of convincing Pantsā of the same.

She needed her bloodline. There were too many possible answers and not enough correct ones. She began to sink into the Frozen Skein. In her mind's eye, the future fractured into a crystal with a thousand cracks networked across it, all leading in different directions. Most of them cut off very sharply.

To complain that she had been sent on a suicide mission would be ineffective. A military leader would believe in the necessity of suicide missions. To speak of betrayal by a superior officer would be dangerous. He would ask why she did not seek to return to Mist when she discovered Shinigami-sensei's deception. To argue –

"YOU DARE BRING THAT HERE?!"

Kei's clarity vanished as if it had never been, as something wet lashed out and wrapped around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides, and yanked her sharply upwards. Before she could react, she was being held tight in one of Pantsā's claws, the pressure just barely light enough to allow her to breathe. He lifted her in front of his eyes.

"Your trial is over, Mori Keiko," he said in a heavy voice that lacked some its earlier relaxed majesty. "Your sentence is decided. Make your final prayer to the Pantokrator."

Time to panic. How had Pantsā known she was using the Frozen Skein? How could he, who had never heard of the Mori, even know what it was? Why was he about to kill her?

Instead of her life flashing before her eyes and adding insult to imminent injury, a sudden flash of insight filled Kei's mind. Was Pantsā... afraid of the Mori bloodline?

How... pathetic. He was the same as the others. He feared her, the others feared for her, but it was all the same in the end. All were convinced that she was unworthy to be a true Mori, that her power was too dangerous for her to wield. Now, Pantsā was treating her as if her mere possession of the bloodline made her a threat even to her potential allies.

A cold anger began to burn within Kei. She would be the first to admit that her life was a morass of failure. Never strong enough, never clever enough, never social enough, making only poor decisions—and that was if she managed to make decisions at all instead of clinging to others who would make her choices for her. Most mornings she awakened to wonder why she was still alive, why she should continue to disappoint both herself and those around her, knowing that it was futile to hope for herself to change. And now she was about to disappoint them again. Jiraiya, the living legend who had taken an incredible chance on her. Takahashi-sensei, who had accepted her and worked hard to fan the flames of her hope. Mari-sensei, who had seen the full depths of Kei's weakness and, impossibly, stood by her anyway. They would look at her, if she somehow survived, and they would be kind, and forgiving, and there would be nothing she could say to make them understand how much that hurt.

But for all that, Kei knew, despite every way in which she had failed to live up to everyone's hopes, including her own, one thing was hers.

It did not matter that she was only half-trained in her clan's secret arts. It did not matter that there was only one thing she could do well, only one contribution she could make that somebody else could not do better and faster. This one thing was hers.

And in that moment, Kei did not see the ancient patriarch of a warrior race. She saw only an ignorant accuser with the temerity to question the core of who she was.

"No," Kei said, in a voice filled with ice that was not borrowed but all her own. "I am Mori and I am in control.

"Wherever the other Mori may be. Whatever they may believe of me. I am Mori, and even if you fear my power, I do not, because I am in control."

She looked up at Pantsā defiantly, the anger just strong enough to suppress the absolute terror that her situation deserved.

"Interesting." The danger in Pantsā's voice was softer, with more curiosity and less rejection. "You are a missing-nin, yet you claim loyalty to the clan you left behind?"

That was not quite what Kei had done. It was difficult to speak of loyalty towards people who might desire her death or who might have long since forgiven her, or even both, with no way for Kei to know which. Was her mother praying for her safety, or cursing the day she had been born? Was her ex-ANBU grandfather hoping that she would stay out of the hands of T&I, or wishing he could bring her to them himself? Did Ami hate her now?

No. She could not afford to start spiralling. Her relationship to her family was warped now, a wire puzzle too complex to unravel. But if there was such a thing as loyalty to the Mori ideal, beyond the individuals comprising the clan, then yes, Kei was as loyal as anyone could be.

"I am Mori," Kei said again. "Before anything else. And part of being Mori is mastery of the bloodline. If I have given offence by using it, I apologise. But to think that I would permit it to endanger my allies is offensive in its own turn."

Slowly, carefully, Pantsā lowered his paw to the ground and allowed Kei to step off. For the second time in one hour, Kei could feel her knees about to buckle, but she miraculously kept herself standing.

"Interesting," Pantsā repeated. "You remind me of Sannō Ranka, the summoner before Ui. She had abandoned her clan when they forbade her to marry the man she loved. I believe her exact words to me were 'if you keep sticking that snout of yours into my love life, I will tie it shut with your tongue and set it on fire.' She made an excellent summoner, once she was taught her place."

Kei gritted her teeth and attempted not to look desperately afraid as the anger drained away, leaving only the awareness that she had just rebuked a being vast beyond her comprehension, and one who had already expressed a preference for her death.

"It has been inconvenient for the Pangolin Clan to be without a summoner for so long," Pantsā mused. "Our enemies have been able to manoeuvre unrestrained on the Human Path, and our arts of warfare grow stagnant. Are you an opportunity or a liability, Mori Keiko?"

Without the Frozen Skein, and with adrenaline washing her power for rational thought away like a raging river, Kei did not know how she could make her case.

But Pantsā did not demand an answer.

"You will never call upon what you call your bloodline again while you are on the Seventh Path, the place you call the Summon Realm. On pain of death. Is that understood?"

"Y-Yes, Polemarch."

"Here are the terms of the summon contract. You may negotiate with any of the Pangolin Clan for permission to summon them, should you have the power to do so. We will fight for you with all our skill and all our might, for the honour of our ancestors and the glory of the Pantokrator. In return, you will fulfil any individual agreements you make with my subordinates during those negotiations. You will accept missions to further our goals on the Human Path. You will make no common cause with the clans that oppose us, or their summoners. Is this acceptable to you?"

Calming down now that she anticipated surviving the next few minutes, Kei took time to consider the terms. After the unfortunate events with Takahashi-sensei, she was determined to take greater care this time.

"What do you mean by 'should you have the power'?"

"The more power a pangolin draws from the nature chakra of our world," Pansā explained, "the more difficult it is for them to manifest in yours. Your skill as a summoner, and the human chakra you have to spend, will limit whom you may summon."

"And the missions in the human world?"

"The clan wars are brutal, but they are also subtle. After so long without influence on the Human Path, it will take time to determine how you may best be used. Assassination of enemy summoners is the most likely, sooner or later. Regardless, I do not assign my resources carelessly. Any tasks will be well within your abilities, and will bring their own rewards."

Enemy summoners. Was Kei making common cause with enemy summoners in cooperating with Jiraiya? If so, mentioning the fact could be dangerous. But having it discovered some other way would be worse, and although Pantsā claimed little knowledge of the modern world, he did know what a missing-nin was. What sources of information did he have available to him? Was there in fact such a thing as mind-reading ninjutsu?

"What about Jiraiya, the Toad Summoner? Is he an enemy?"

"Jiraiya?" Pantsā echoed. "Ah, I see. Of course. No, Mori Keiko. The Toad Clan and the Pangolin Clan have long had common foes, which is the strongest bond two clans can possess. If, however, you encounter the summoner of the treacherous Tapir Clan, show them no mercy, and if you discover the lost Condor Clan summoning scroll, cast it into a volcano or drown it in the ocean. For the rest, alliances are as trees, rising and falling in the blink of an eye. When it is necessary, you will be briefed."

Kei nodded. "Can I refuse missions you give to me?"

"If you have compelling reason," Pantsā replied. "Consider it as if you were a mercenary—you are never forced to accept missions, but refuse too many times, or show disloyalty, and your employer will sever ties.

"Know also that if ever you betray the Pangolin Clan, you will be brought here to stand trial no matter how you may try to hide. Do not think us powerless merely because we cannot manifest on the Human Path on our own."

"What if I ever want to withdraw from the contract?" Kei asked.

"You and I may both end the contract at any time, without cost. But know that such a thing is not done lightly. You will never be able to serve as the Pangolin Summoner again, and your actions will be made known to the many clans of the Seventh Path.

"Now, if you have no more questions, I will have your decision."

This was it, then. The moment of truth. Kei was uneasy about entering into a second mercenary arrangement in addition to the one her team had with Jiraiya. And having to face enemy summoners in battle was a frightening thought if any of them were like him. And the idea of having to negotiate for her summons, to have to persuade people—people with alien cultural backgrounds, and mentalities and body language even more mysterious than that of other human beings—was nearly paralysing.

But this was what she had come here for. It had been her decision to seek the summoning scroll. Not Hazō's. Not Mari-sensei's. This was something Mori Keiko chose on her own, a corner of her life in which she could plant a flag and say "this is mine", even more so than the bloodline she had been given by her family. Perhaps, a tiny voice inside her whispered, with enough such flags she might be able to reclaim the self she did not remember losing.

"I accept the contract," she said, feeling a mixture of relief and apprehension as soon as the words were out. She could feel them falling away like a heavy stone into a pool of water, sinking too deep to ever take back and sending countless ripples into the future.

o-o-o-o

Pandā had a much simpler attitude to the outcome of the trial.

"I can't believe it, I really can't! I get to be a summon! Me! The first summon since Ui's Six Scourges! Oh, this is wonderful! Thank you so much for not dying!"

"You know," Kei commented wryly, "no one has ever said that to me before."

She turned to examine the bouncing Pandā. "And you are satisfied with our pact?"

"Of course I am! I get to have my questions about humans answered, and be shown human things, and places, and people, and you get me to fight for you! Well, sort of. I mean, I'm an anthropologist, not a warrior. But I'm still a proud member of the Pangolin Clan, with the greatest weapons and armour on the Seventh Path, and the finest senses. And I'm sure once I've been through basic training, I'll be a complete badass!"

On reflection, Kei thought, perhaps it might have been wiser to seek out a proper fighter as her first summon. But Pandā was so cute when he was excited, and she found herself unable to deny him the happiness he seemed to derive from being her "military liaison".

"So, shall I send you back to the Human Path? It's a shame to let you go, I mean, I still have a thousand questions, but things seemed kinda serious where you were, and I don't want you to get hit with field punishment on my account."

"Actually," Kei said, "could you perhaps do me a small favour?"

o-o-o-o

This time, Kei managed to stay on her feet, which was essential since it appeared that the entirety of the village had gathered to observe her return, with the elders in front-row seats (well, cushions). She felt herself frozen in place by stage fright, but fortunately, she was only there as scenery for this part.

Pandā walked in front of the crowd. "Let it be known," he said with as much gravity as the energetic patter of his voice could provide, "that the human Mori Keiko is hereby accepted as the successor of Ui Isas and the Summoner of the Pangolin Clan. Those who aid her will earn the Pangolin Clan's favour, and those who set themselves against her will suffer the Pangolin Clan's fury."

There was a pause as Pandā tapped his underbelly with one of his claws. Kei was suddenly afraid that he had forgotten his lines.

But after a couple of seconds, Pandā turned to face her. "The Pangolin Clan commands you, Mori Keiko, to leave this place and take the summoning scroll to where it may be used to battle against the clan's enemies, for the honour of our ancestors and the glory of the Pantokrator."

And then he vanished with a loud crack and a puff of smoke.

It took those present a moment to realise that the noise was not in fact an effect of the Summoning Technique, but Inoue Rika's staff of office failing to withstand the white-knuckled pressure being put on its middle.

Takahashi-sensei's eyes narrowed slightly in what Kei suspected might be the closest her summoning master ever came to a smirk.

Aida Rin's face took on a sickly green colour as she leaned more heavily on her walking stick.

Yoshida and Kannagi exchanged meaningful glances, Kannagi's fingers twitching as if he were working an abacus.

Azai Rindō was the only one focused not on Kei but on the crowd behind him, watching for their reaction.

And as Kei's gaze swept over Azai Shūsuke, he returned it with eyes that weren't vacant at all, and gave her a beatific smile.