(Hope this isn’t to old, wanted to do a tandem post with this and the vocal disagreement. One challenge to my strength the other to my weakness. They are not in the Warcraft setting because i’m having a hard time writing in wow, but really wanted to post something for the challenge. Feedback would be welcome) (Edit: this also ended up way longer than i thought, sorry about that)
Kyo’cho walked anxiously along the small path through the woods in her true kitsune form. Her fur was black and gray like her fathers, uncommon but not rare or remarkable. She kept her hair in a long braid that went down to her knees and was tied with a red bow. Her ears ended in gray tufts.
Kitsune were often seen as exotic by those not accustomed to seeing them, but even among her kin Kyo stood out, a fact that had caused her problems for most of her life. Nine tails each tipped with gray fanned out behind her, swaying lightly in the breeze, belying her agitation.
Daily since starting her journey, she had doubted the merit of her decision to come here. Now being so close those doubts nagged at her insistently. She tried to focus on the scenery around her to avoid second guessing her choice.
The forest here was old, the trees tall. What light made it through the canopy of the ancient boughs did so as sparse shafts that deepened the shadows and provided sparse illumination. Every surface around her; from the trunks of the towering trees, to the boulders and rocks, were covered in thick moss and lichen. A light mist hung in the cool air, adding a mystical feel to the twilight depths of the forest.
The forest smelled of life; on the cool breeze that meandered casually through the trees, she could smell the moist and earthy scent of decay and renewal. The occasional fleeting smell of animals that heard her approach and moved upwind. The sap dripping down the ancient trunks, and the smell of old rain still making its way down through the trees.
Rustling leaves and creaking branches offered a peaceful background as she walked. Birdsong rang out through the canopy, Kyo knew many of them from books she read in her youth. She listened as they sang songs warning others to stay away. Songs that begged for sex in very blunt ways. Songs that told her they considered her the only threat around, as they warned one another about her presence.
She pondered how the songs lost much of their beauty and magic when you knew what the words meant, seizing on the distraction to take her mind off what lay ahead.
The path was small and poorly maintained, and would have been overgrown if more light reached this far. It was traveled so infrequently that it was barely a depression in the leaf-clutter with the occasional mushroom covered log that needed to be scaled. Kyo’cho followed it for ease rather than any safety it offered.
Few people traveled these woods but Kyo had spent her childhood here. Off the path one way was where she held tea-parties with her dolls using mushrooms of rainwater for cups. Another direction, she had climbed the smaller trees that were growing into a gap in the canopy above, left behind when an older tree had fallen. Still another way she had almost died after being bitten by a snake. Sight, sound, and smell brought memories flooding back to her as she walked, making her more anxious the closer she came to her destination.
As she moved further on the trees eventually thinned and the wind picked up, not yet blunted by the press of trees it was laden with the smell of flowers, grass, and warmth. She stepped out into a clearing, and squinted, her eyes adjusting to the light as the sun warmed her dark fur. Spring was almost over, the flowers and tall prairie grass bent and flowed like waves in the wind, a green lake that crashed upon the shore of the small path. The path wound through the meadow to a house atop a low hill. The years had aged it but it was still familiar.
The house was small, she knew from memory it was only two rooms and a kitchen. Made of logs and mud it had always been very organic but now seemed even more as ivy had crawled its way up most of the walls. The grass was clearly cultivated several yards out from the base but looked as though it was due for work. As she moved further up the path, a small garden came into view, neat rows of plants and vines budding with flowers, fruits, and vegetables ran right up to the house.
Down the hill from the garden a well worn path lead to a small shrine, Kyo’s breathing faltered as she saw it. Without thinking she stepped off the path her, stride leaving a furrow in the knee-high grass. Burrs and hidden sticks scratched at her legs as she walked but she was too focused on the shrine to notice.
It was a simple stone slab, wider than a headstone, with an arched canopy and a stone bowl carved into the dais at its base. Symbols were carved into the dark stone, along with the image of a fox with nine tails. Prayer charms hung loosely from the canopy, spinning and swaying in the breeze. Damp ash sat in the bowl, a sign of recent use. Time and weather had long ago washed it away leaving no trace, but in her minds eye she could still see the blood on the base pooling from the wound in Kazuna’s head, as fresh as the day it happened.
Stray tears traced their way along her muzzle as she looked from the shrine to a nearby patch of ground that looked no different than any other. She had lain there after the blow, confused why it had happened and afraid. Kyo watched her younger self stand and run into the forest, the echo of her mothers voice trailing behind the specter of her mind. Now over twenty years later, confusion had been replaced by understanding; fear, by anger and sadness.
She turned from memories to the object she had seen, but feared acknowledging. A respectful distance from the shrine, was a marble headstone. She expected that it would exist, it was part of why she was here, but its presence still meant confirming and confronting that everything she had guessed was true.
The ground around it was well tended, Iris had been planted on each side and their purple and blue flowers were in full bloom. Kyo stepped towards it slowly, wanting to hold onto that part of her that had always doubted what she knew. With no choice left but to walk away she knelt before the stone letting her tails fan out behind her on the ground humbly, as though she was unworthy to be here. Through eyes blurred with tears she read the inscription upon its marble surface while tracing the letters with her fingers.
Here lies our beloved daughter, lost before her time and without the love she was due.May she find both in the life after, and may those who read this understand that you never appreciate the bounty you have until it is gone.
4711- 4719 AR
K
Kyo stopped reading, she could not hold back the sobbing anymore. Her head hung and her chest heaved as she cried into her hand. She had come seeking closure, to visit the grave she knew would be here. To ask her parents why they had shunned her, even though she knew. Kyo ran her fingers over the rest of the name as she grieved anew, but something was off. What her fingers were telling her did not make sense, she ran them along the name again and it felt the same.
Frantically Kyo tried to dry her eyes, not believing what her fingers told her. Finally clear enough to see her eyes went wide as she read the full name on the grave
Kyo’cho
She blinked, and when her eyes opened it was still there, engraved into something too solid to disbelieve. Hundreds of thoughts went through her mind all at once, all fighting each-other to be registered first. They had cared? Had they forgiven her? If her grave was here, where was Kazuna’s?
Her head whipped towards the house and her eyes went wider. Did Kazuna have one?
Kyo ran up the hill sprinting the short distance and almost crashing into the door. Her heart was thundering in her chest loud enough that it was almost knocking on the door for her.
More questions came, should she knock or just go in? Were they even home? Was this still their home? Doubt came, what if Kazuna was buried elsewhere? With the tiny flame of hope lit once more, did she want to risk dousing it again? Would living without knowing be easier?
Her hand trembled as she raised it to the door, she knocked softly three times. The sound of movement inside made her stop breathing. With seemingly agonizing slowness the door opened the familiar creak of its hinges protesting until the door stood completely open framing a kitsune with auburn fur and a familiar friendly face ready to greet an unexpected guest. Kyo remembered to breath.
sometimes, as writers, we use dialogue as a crutch to progress a tale, so I like this kind of challenge from time to time.![:smiley:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/smiley.png?v=6" ":smiley:")
glad you liked it, i enjoyed writing these. I think i did a better job with this one but i learned a whole lot more from the conversation one.![:slight_smile:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=6" ":slight_smile:")