“I have not the slightest clue how we shifted,” Ilsa answers Gregor honestly, giving the poor man a wry smile when he just sighs at her answer; she really wishes she had an answer, but right now she has nothing but guesses, and none of them very good guesses either.
It’s obvious that the white wolf — Snowball, Amaterasu, whatever her name truly is — did something, but what that ‘something’ is, is… a bit beyond Ilsa at the moment. She’s not Erich with his careful research and hard-earned experience, nor is she Briar with his natural instincts and sharp mind, she’s just Ilsa, just a proud member of the pack. She has her own strengths, of course, but figuring out weirdness like this is definitely not one of them.
Gregor grumbles something too soft for her to catch even with her moon-sharp hearing — he’s getting better about that — then shakes his head and ducks around a low-hanging tree branch. “I guess we’ll have to see what Erich says about… all of this, then,” he eventually settles on.
On Gregor’s other side, Kai huffs a laugh. “I bet he has plenty to say about it,” is Kai’s input on the topic.
“I’m not taking that bet. I know better than that,” Gregor mutters, making Kai laugh.
Ilsa smirks, detours slightly to peer down a slope at the stream below — likely the same stream that runs near their new home — then hums and bounds after the little group before she gets left behind; they’re entering an area of the woods that their pack didn’t explore the night before, which means she doesn’t have any reference points just yet. Though apparently Erich and Alexis decided to wander this way after the rest of them went home, which is something she finds a bit curious.
Those two aren’t usually ones to wander unknown territory without backup, but…
She pauses. Reaches out-out-out with her senses, and—
There. A wisp of… something. Life-strength-brilliance just on the edge of sensing.
(If this is what her pack leaders sensed last night, no wonder they were drawn towards it!)
“Ilsa?” Kai asks, shaking her from the seductive call of the unknown power.
“Just wondering what pulled those two so far from home,” she half-answers, making sure to pull her awareness back before she can be caught by the whatever-it-is a second time. “Though I think I figured it out.” Ahead of her, Briar pauses to cast a questioning look back at her, and she answers his silent question with, “There’s something odd out here,” and a pointed glance at Ren’s back.
Briar hums and gives a tiny nod, understanding the unspoken part of her words—
“Oh, can you sense Konohana?” Ren asks before any of them can continue the oblique conversation. “That certainly makes sense with why Shadow and Silver were pulled towards our village if that’s the case.”
“Konohana?” Briar repeats warily.
Ren takes a moment, clearly considering their words as they keep moving through the forest, and then slowly answers, “Konohana is the sacred tree of our village, and guards us from harm so long as we care for it. Most of us in the village can sense its power, since we’ve lived beneath it for so many generations, and as it has grown in power, so too have we adapted to it.”
Ilsa exchanges a look with Kai at that revelation; settling next to an entire village of spiritually active, non-Quincy people seems like a bit more than a ‘coincidence’. Even at the height of the Great War, when Hollows ran rampant and the fronts were saturated with their power, it was a rare human who woke spiritual powers. To have an entire village of naturally awoken humans right on their new doorstep…
Just where exactly did Erich and Alexis settle them?
“This is also Amaterasu’s time to visit, so her strength was more noticeable than usual last night as she approached,” Ren continues as they detour around a fallen tree and closer to the edge of the forest. “I imagine the combination is a bit overpowering if you aren’t used to it.”
“Forgive me for asking, but… what exactly is that white wolf that was with you?” Briar asks for all of them.
Ren pauses and turns towards them, surprise in their gaze as they sweep a glance over each of them in turn. It only takes a moment for understanding to rise in place of surprise, though, and Ren smiles tired-wry-worn and muses softly, “No, I suppose you wouldn’t know, would you? You have a good grasp of the language, but your accent isn’t one I’ve ever heard before.” They purse their lips for a moment, clearly debating their next words, then say, “That white wolf is the current incarnation of the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu.”
Ilsa narrows her eyes at Ren, searching for any hint of deception in them, then trades a sidelong look with Kai and Gregor; the idea that a plain white wolf, no matter how intelligent, is some sort of goddess is… well. She doesn’t have any issue with other religions or belief systems, but still. That wolf? The one that was prancing around them? The one that came bounding up with Ren on their back and immediately tossed their passenger free in order to investigate them?
Well, okay, no normal wolf can carry a full grown human like Amaterasu did, but… a goddess?
“What in the world have we gotten involved with this time?” Gregor murmurs at the two of them, then rolls his eyes when all Ilsa does is shrug. “You are the pinnacle of help, I swear,” he tells her, one corner of his mouth quirked up in a wry smile.
“I live to please,” Ilsa says haughtily, then snickers when Gregor rolls his eyes a second time; for all he’s a regular human instead of a Quincy, Gregor fits in with their Clan quite well.
(Erich made a good choice when he brought Gregor into the Clan.)
(Really, only the stick-in-the-mud elders dislike the man, and that’s certainly saying something!)
“That’s a bold claim,” Briar says after a moment. “But suppose for a moment I believe you— why a white wolf? And why…” he hesitates, then gestures at the forest around them, “Why come here?”
“Because this is where Orochi fell to earth centuries ago,” Ren answers immediately, then reaches up and taps the hilt of the odd, wooden great-sword slung across their back. “My ancestor Nagi fought alongside Shiranui to save his beloved, and together they sealed the great demon. Then Susano, Nagi’s descendant and another of my ancestors, fought alongside Amaterasu to destroy Orochi for good. Amaterasu always starts her yearly patrol from Kamiki Village because of that.”
Ilsa stares at Ren in disbelief, wondering who would even believe such a story—
“Well,” Gregor starts, with all the fake innocence of a man too inured to weird things to really care anymore, “That’s no more unbelievable than a bunch of ancestors getting together and creating a ritual to tie all their lineages to the moon forever after, so I’ll believe it.”
“That’s not even close to the same thing,” Kai protests in exasperation. “You’ve seen us change shape every full moon for years now! What evidence do you have of anything they just said?”
Gregor shrugs, clasps his hands behind his back, and levels Kai with a neutral look as he says, “Absolutely none, just like I have absolutely no proof of anything in your stories either. For all we know, the story about the ritual came after the change began to manifest, as a manner of explaining where it came from.”
Kai makes an aggrieved noise while Ren covers their mouth with a hand, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.
“I’m sure Erich will have plenty of things to say about that,” Briar deadpans.
“Well, you’ll all have plenty of time to discover the truth,” Ren says a moment later, their eyes sparkling with laughter and a pleased little smirk curling the corners of their lips. “Whether or not you believe me, Snowball isn’t going to care. She considers you interesting now, so you’re not escaping her so easily.”
“Wonderful,” Gregor says, tone dry as dust. “Just what I always wanted, more overly curious wolves making a nuisance of themselves.”
“This wolf has access to celestial abilities, in case you’ve forgotten the impromptu shift your three companions experienced,” Ren points out, clearly having fun. “She gets into, and causes, a lot more trouble than your average being does.”
Ilsa sighs and tips her head back to stare at the tree canopy overhead, wondering exactly what sort of mess they’ve managed to walk themselves into this time. She’s pretty sure this wasn’t part of the plan when they decided to retreat somewhere nice and remote to escape the building war, but then again, they really didn’t have much of a plan besides go hide somewhere no one will look for them.
(Well, at least their new home isn’t going to be boring.)
(Now to decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…)
(Oh dear…)