Day 23

Nov. 23rd, 2010 11:25 pm
foxinthestars: cute drawing of a fox (Default)
[personal profile] foxinthestars
Today my shortfall got bigger, although not by as much as I feared there for awhile. The shopping trip we took today was unreasonably exhausting as the holiday shopping season has pretty much started, and then I have to admit that writing Umiyame's test intimidated me... I did, however, make it over the three-quarter mark.

A few notes on Umiyame: in describing her appearance, I was going for a Mongolian look. How well I will do her justice, I can't yet say, but in my mind she isn't really as nasty as she's acting (hopefully more of that will come out in the next few days). Also, improving research methodologies over the long, sporadic course of this project forced me to change her name not once but twice; early FY guides gave it as "Uramiya," later ones as "Urumiya," and then when I looked up the constellation in non-FY sources (this site linked from Wikipedia, or, for Firefox users, mouse over the Seishi's names with the awesome add-on Rikaichan) they finally gave it as "Umiyame," and, er, I trust the independent sources most... (This stuff also made me update a couple of the Byakko Seishi's names, but only Umiyame had to be changed twice, and of course it had to happen with the Sei of Genbu who plays the biggest role in my story and not, say, one of the five Genbu Seishi we'll never even see...)

37564 ★ 50000 (75.13%)





Her face fell open as she understood, and she let go of Yui to press one hand to her mouth and the other to her belly. “Are... Are you sure?”
“I can see it clearly.”
A joyful laugh blossomed over her face. Yui was infected with it, too, and hugged her. “Congratulations!”
“Is it a boy or a girl?” the princess asked eagerly.
Hikitsu tilted his head. “It’s a bit early to know for certain, but I think it looks more like a boy.”
Umiyame cleared her throat, she alone standing back aloof from the happy scene.
Hikitsu nodded to her, and interrupted Kin’umi’s flutter of delight with a hand on her shoulder. “Now, your Majesty, with this happy news, I must ask you to go.”
“What? Why?” She suddenly clutched Yui’s arm again.
“The Suzaku no Miko cannot rely entirely on others’ aid.”
“She wouldn’t want you here for my test,” Umiyame said.
That seemed to make Kin’umi more intent on staying. “But---”
“We also have words that are for a Miko’s ears alone,” Hikitsu added more gently.
“I’ll be fine,” Yui assured her. “After all, I’m the one Suzaku picked, aren’t I?”
“The people outside are waiting for you; they will also be happy to hear what I’ve told you. Now, please, you must go.”
“Well... If I have to...” But she seized Yui in one more desperate hug.
“It’s all right; I’m sure I can do it,” Yui said.
“Suzaku will help you.” With a final squeeze, Kin’umi at last let her go and withdrew, watching Yui over her shoulder until she had disappeared into the darkness and her footsteps faded into silence.
Yui let out her breath once she had disappeared. She had braced herself for the challenge ahead so many times by now that it seemed pointless to do it again.
“You sound brave all of a sudden,” Umiyame observed.
Yui turned to see her stepping forward as Hikitsu fell back deferentially and replaced his veil. The truth was that she had said those things for Kin’umi’s benefit, but if steeling her nerves all over again was pointless, owning less than total confidence would be no more helpful. “It’s your test I still have to pass, isn’t it?”
“That’s right, and don’t think I’ll be a pushover like Hikitsu. I’ll make you scream before you take away from me what was Takiko’s.”
Yui was taken aback, although she thought she heard more than mere hostile caprice; beneath it was a real jealous passion that was more fearful yet, but she determined to hold her ground. “What are you going to do? I saw through your power earlier.”
Umiyame laughed. “Oh, did you? Maybe if you had paid more attention, you would know to be afraid.”
She turned on her heel. Yui looked over at Hikitsu where he had stepped aside, but he only lowered his head to indicate that he wouldn’t interfere with Umiyame in her challenge any more than she had with him.
Umiyame stepped directly up to the pedestal and lifted the Shinzahou up from it herself, holding it up above her head so that Yui could see it, that great chevron medallion of jewels and golden filligree with its heavy hand-worked chain. She lowered it again and raised the halves of the clasps at the sides of her own neck, where her hair parted toward the bindings at the sides, exposing the nape of her neck. As she fastened the clasp and let it fall, from that patch of bare skin the black light shone forth in the character “Danger,” forming such a corona that it obscured her entire form.
Who is she going to turn herself into? What’s she going to do? Yui already knew that no matter who she looked like, it was only a trick, so what else could be coming that would make it such a fearsome test?
The light faded; a face turned back toward her, the golden necklace jangling below. It wasn’t Umiyame at all.
It was Miaka.
Yui tried desperately to recapture what she had known so certainly only a second before. The Sei of Genbu with the power of disguise had been standing on that spot, about to take on a form that would test her. She was able to think that Miaka would have been a good choice; she was even able to think that it was impossible for Miaka to be here, but every logical argument withered at the sight before her eyes, of her old friend standing there in her two buns and her school uniform.
“Why are you staring at me like that??” Miaka demanded. “I got here first, fair and square!”
Yui staggered back, shaking her head. “No!”
“I passed the tests already,” she gloated. “Hikitsu just didn’t want you to be embarrassed in front of the princess.”
“But how did you get here?”
“The Shogun here helped me; I guess Nakago knows him. They let us in here another way, so...”
Miaka twirled carelessly and started to take a step away, but Yui grabbed her by the arm. “Stop!”
“What are you going to do? Are you going to tear it off of me?”
“If I have to!”
Miaka knocked her back with a swipe of her arm. “Why?? Why can’t you let me win!?”
“I’m trying to stop a war, Miaka! I don’t care who ‘wins,’ I just have to summon Suzaku or people will die!”
“People in a book! They’re more important to you than me!”
In the corner of her eye, Yui just registered Hikitsu’s gasp at Miaka’s words, but she didn’t spare a thought for him. “It’s not a book!”
“Don’t say that!” Miaka cried. “You thought it was real when you set the room on fire and tried to kill me??”
“I wasn’t trying to---”
“You don’t care what happens to me!” Miaka cut her off, shaking angry tears out of her eyes. “You saw the Emperor of Kutou! What do you think he’ll do to me if I lose, if I have to go back and tell him I can’t summon Seiryuu?? What do you think Miboshi will do??”
“Then don’t go back, silly!” Yui said. “Come with us! We won’t let them hurt you!”
“No! No!” Miaka screamed, backing up against the wall. “You didn’t protect me before, why would you now?? You tried to burn me! You want to shame me! You want to drag me in front of them so they can hate me!”
“What?”


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