Work Text:
Mayumi leaned her back against a wall with decent sight-lines to the main entrance and started rhythmically taping the side of her broach, in time, her mind’s eye flicked between the surveillance haniwa set up around the perimeter of “New Primate Spirit Garden”. The formerly-abandoned neighborhood butted up against the wall of the village and the main path in was wide and clear but every other point of entry was a twisted alleyway, and there where dozens of them. In terms of defensibility, it was a nightmare.
Lady Keiki would say that they had nothing to fear from anyone within the village walls because all humans where their allies. Mayumi could think of at least three exceptions, and besides, the shadowy figures roaming the streets outside of the enclave where clearly not human. This late a night the only signs of life came from visiting youkai and the shops that catered to them. Even the Garden was dark. That was one of the few conditions of the arrangement that was considered inviolable, absolutely no artificial lights after sundown.
At the negotiations Mayumi had a chance to see the shine maiden in something of a new light, or rather, inexplicably the same light. She campaigned for a new home for the human spirits with the same detached, vaguely annoyed, certainty that she had invaded the old one with, and was equally unstoppable. That kind of consistency was commendable, in its own way. For the village’s part, the representatives where cautious but ultimately accommodating. The human spirits would have a place to live and relative autonomy and in return Lady Keiki would lend her power to the village. The only thing that disquieted Mayumi was that she couldn’t pick out a clear leader. The school teacher held both a metaphysical and a political presence, and the child wielded wisdom and authority comedically beyond her years, but they and all of the other “elders” actively avoided ever taking too much of a direct leadership role individually. Some of the Kiketsu behaved like that, when subterfuge is assumed projecting fealty becomes a constant concern.
Perhaps that was an asset. If the true leader was too cautious to show themself in-front of new allies then they certainly wouldn't do something as brazen as attacking those allies unprovoked. Mayumi found her thumb running along the hairline crack on her jaw. A souvenir from the invasion, it was too fine to be seen at any sort of distance and it would take less then no effort to repair, but she kept it as reminder of what had happened when she let herself become complacent. Lady Keiki thought that this was a land of peace, and perhaps it was, but Mayumi refused to be caught off guard again.
She sighed and sunk a little against the wall. The fact was that there where some things bravado simply couldn't solve. When the time came to immigrate the human spirits to Gensokyo the border between the Beast Realm and Hell had become a war zone. While the beast spirits where more or less willing to lose the humans if it meant the haniwa where leaving with them, the Realm was technically under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Right and Wrong and the oni of Hell weren’t about to let any of their charges sneak by into the land of the living. They where in a corner when when the warrior from the netherworld arrived. Apparently she had connections with someone with clout in the Ministry and was able to secure safe passage for them. Unlike the shine maiden, the warrior had no qualms admitting she was trying to take responsibility for her mistakes. Out of all of the invaders, it was easiest to believe that she had truly been tricked. The phrase “Well meaning but too trusting” popped into Mayumi’s head, the child elder had used it to describe Lady Keiki in a conversation she thought was private. The statue smiled to herself, perhaps that wasn’t a bad way to be, as long as you had someone to protect you.
Not that she was the one doing the protecting then. Travailing under the authority of this “ghost princess” made the trek through Hell relatively uneventful as was their arrival to their new home, though that part was intentional. The plan had been to take a few days to settle in and prepare before officially offering their services to the village. That made the nervous family that appeared at the front gate around midday all the more surprising. Their youngest had been born without an arm and Lady Keiki wasted no time in drawing up designs for a prosthetic, something striking and powerful, to match the child’s inner strength. The design was perfect, of course, but the parents might require additional convincing.
The question remained of who had informed the family that they could make that kind of request. Thinking on it now, it must have been the magician. With all of the time she had spent in the old Garden she might be the third foremost expert in Lady Keiki’s technology, second if Mayumi was being honest with herself. In retrospect many of her questions where about whether exactly this sort of thing was possible. She must have had this family in mind from early on, which was itself surprising. Lady Keiki occasionally has trouble expressing herself, especially when it came to the intent behind her creations, and it sometimes takes a special ear to listen to what she says and hear what she means. In any case, Mayumi was grateful, proving the Garden’s usefulness quickly would go a long way in endearing Lady Keiki to the village as well as making the god herself feel more at home.
The magician, the warrior, and the shrine maiden. Marisa, Youmu, and Reimu. They had been destructive and shortsighted, but they had been fighting for their home… and now it was her home too, thanks to them. Mayumi pushed herself off of the wall, finding new energy to burn. Her watch would last for a few hours yet, but then it was going to be a bright new day.