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Akari ducked inside the community center and found the toilet in short order. She relieved herself, and then took the opportunity to wash her face and brush her hair. Even tonight, she eschewed makeup to rely on her plentiful natural beauty.[1] After one last check in the mirror, she was ready for more Halloween. Tonight had she had met so many amazing people and amazing costumes, it reminded her of nothing less than Carnivale in Neo Venezia.
Outside the bathroom door, a white cat was waiting for her. "Hi President Aria. Oh, what do you have there?"
President Aria showed Akari two paper cards made of fine linen paper, embossed with a gold border. And right in the middle of each card was a single large pawprint. It wasn't quite a cat print, since the claws' impression were continuous from the end of each digit. A cat would retract his claws, or otherwise make shredded paper.
"We've been invited... to another party?"
"Nyuu!" he confirmed.
Her heart started to race at the excitement. "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" The pink-haired girl jumped from excitement, making her sheer arabesque costume billow and wave.
Her excitement began to wane as Aria led her out of the apartment complex, across Hamilton Street, and into Hawthorne Park, a stand of woods that hid the back yards of the houses on nearby Woodbridge Street from view. A Martian cat was perhaps not the safest escort for a woman walking alone in a strange town, but Akari was never one to trade adventure for safety. Eventually he led her through the trees to the edge of Mile Run, a merrily bubbling stream running the length of the narrow park.
They climbed down to the creek bed, and began walking alongside the trickle of water. Akari hopped from rock to rock, while Aria laboriously climbed over the stones he couldn't squeeze past. Under the shade of the great trees, the city seemed less and less present, and the light of the stars came into focus.
Halloween was once known as Samhain, a night when fey, fairies, and monsters could cross between the worlds, to cause mischief and occasionally terror on our side. It is a day when the boundary is weak, and all manner of creatures could cross to another realm.
And so it was that Akari and Aria passed through a crack between the worlds, walking downstream into the land of the Sidhe. The trees became thicker around her, as the stream meandered its way through the hardwood forest. And even as the path grew more windy and overgrown, actually traversing it felt easier, as if the clean air were giving them strength. The creek straightened out, and the trees parted, revealing a field of tall grass on the edge of a still, deep blue lake.
Aside from the silver moon and stars of the Milky Way, the only light in the vicinity came from a bonfire on the lakeshore.
"Oh, that must be it!" Akari said. "Let's go see."
It didn't seem like much of a party to Akari, as she could only make out a couple of people in the area:[2] one sitting by the fire, and another a little ways away playing a flute. There were a few cats moving about, and maybe some other animals.
But somehow, Akari felt like she was being watched. As they were about to crest a small rise, a beast jumped out of the grass and blocked their path, his chest puffed out to look even more imposing. "Kyaa!"
However, Aria was nonplussed by the brown-coated animal with the white-tipped tail. He walked towards the canine who towered over him, and presented the invitations.
The coyote sniffed them for a second, then relaxed, and began to wag his tail a tiny bit.
"Puunyu," noted the cat.
"I guess he's going to let us in, Aria."
"Of course he is, because he invited you!" said Coyote.
"He talks!"
"Of course I talk! I've been talking since before the People came into this world!"
"It's just that... Cat Sìth never spoke to me."
Coyote chuckled, "Oh, that guy. He's not much of a talker. And speaking of the devil–" He called out to the figure walking up through the grove. "Well well, look at what drag the cat is in?"
It was black cat the size of a male human, ambling towards the gathering on two legs. Coyote had a point about his dress; Akari thought that Tomoyo would really like the frilly cravat bursting out of his red velvet jacket.
"Cat Sìth old buddy old pal, how's it going? It's been a long time since I saw you at one of my Samhain parties. You know I always throw the best party."
Cat Sìth remained aloof, playing the cool cat. The façade didn't last long, as Akari ran halfway across the field to embrace Cat Sìth.
"I've wanted to see you again so much!" She nuzzled her face in his fur for a while, then said, "I don't know why you brought me back to this time, but everything is working out okay. I'm staying with other people from different universes, and they're some of the sweetest girls."
Coyote trotted up behind them. "Oh, so you're from another World? So that's what you've been up to, Cat."
Cat Sìth stuck out his tongue. Coyote opened his mouth wide, curled his tongue into a roll, and held one paw to his face to stretch open his eye. And pudgy President Aria finally caught up to the rest of the group.
"Oh right, this guy has been keeping me company. What was your name again?"
"I am Coyote, my dear Water Sprite Girl."
"You're Coyote? The Coyote?" Akari asked.
"In the fur!" He shook his whole body, as if drying himself, just for emphasis.
"Wow, that's so amazing."
"Come now, let's join the party. You should really show off that costume to all of the dancers!"
Akari was confused, "All of what dancers?"
"Over–hmmm... Let me take a look." Coyote slunk around her, pacing as he looked Akari over up and down. Akari started to wonder if this was a predator looking over his prey. And then he stopped to sniff her butt, "Oh, I see, very interesting. I bet those tacos tasted really good."
"Puuunyu!"
"C'mon, really?"
Coyote's yips sounded an awful lot like laughter. "Humans never follow their noses, but there's a whole world of smell out there. Just ask Pan about the smell of beet blossoms!"[3] He laughed at his own private joke. The canine with mottled brown fur stood up on his hind legs, and focused his big ears directly at Akari. "But your nose isn't the issue, it's your sight. Your third eye is almost closed, Water Sprite Girl!"
"Hahi?" Akari stood agape.
"What a calamity!" Coyote cried. "Hey, now your other eyes are almost closed too."
A tall, rail-thin woman sitting by the fire set down a scarf she was knitting, and scurried over to investigate the pink-haired girl. The woman was dressed in the finest black embroidered dress Akari had ever seen.[4]
"Oh, you poor dear, let me take a look." She bent down to look at Akari's forehead, and Akari got a good look in return. The woman looked old, but kindly, with almost invisible strands of white amongst her long black hair. "I can see the threads across her forehead. It looks like someone has woven a curse across her third eye, and the strands get tighter and tighter as she grows into the bindings. It's a wonder she can even see us. Such an ingenious curse! Do you know who cursed you, undine-child?"
"No? Cat Sìth, is this true?"
The huge black cat's ears dropped back, and his golden eyes looked down at her feet.
"No, it's not your fault. So how long before this curse takes hold?" Akari looked at the sadness in his face, "We can't meet again?"
He patted her head with his left paw.[5]
"Hold up just a minute! There is no curse in the world so tricky that Coyote is not even trickier!"
"You can cure me?"
"You have but to ask."
"You would do that for me?"
"You are one of us, Water Sprite Girl! All I ask is to hear an excellent tale in return. Preferably a tale with me in it."
Akari laughed, "I don't know any of those. But I think I can come up with something."
He asked the woman in black, "Grandmother Spider, do you happen to have some fairy ointment[6] on you?"
She searched her beautiful handwoven purse, and removed a small shell. "I do indeed."
"Then all we need is a little medicine: for vision, for healing, and for strength. Set a pot on the fire, and I'll go fetch the ingredients."
Coyote wandered off into the grove for a few minutes, sniffing at the ground in the moonlight. Which for some reason seemed a little too bright—should she really be able to keep track of him so easily? She took the opportunity to listen to the hunchbacked flautist by the fire, whose repertoire crossed from soothing to lively to haunting. She sat on a log, petting Aria, and leaning into Cat Sìth's warm fur as if she were his date to a concert. She swore she could make out a heartbeat drum, playing along with him.
There was always something about her that could just go with the flow. Perhaps it was just the craft of the Undine, something she had learned from Alicia. But even after the past few minutes, she could lose her self and live in the smooth melody and the crackling bonfire and the sweet smell of the wood smoke.
She lost track of Coyote, who had finally tracked a small round cactus, and dug the it out of the soil with his front feet. He took the peyote, and added it to Grandmother Spider's pot. After that, he trotted up to a willow tree and tore off a hunk of its bark. This too, he put into Grandmother Spider's pot.
Then Coyote gave a giant leap, and plucked a scaly fruit right off an Osage orange tree! But accidentally he bit it open with his powerful claws, so he spit it out right away. "Yuck!" he cried. "These things taste so terrible on the outside!" After he spit out the latex, he cracked the fruit, took the edible green flesh from inside, and added it to the pot. And then, after it had stewed on the fire for just the right amount of time, Coyote declared it done.
They all regathered a small distance from the bonfire, where a small stream flowed into the placid lake.
Grandmother Spider said, "I think we're ready to begin."
Coyote explained, "You should be able handle to this part, Claws. You need to cut the edge of the eyelid, without scratching the third eye itself."
Cat Sìth stared back a bit disturbed at the idea of cutting into his friend's face.
"Or is that too hard for a cat?"
He lifted up his paw, and a single claw emerged.
Akari's face turned blank, and her jaw opened automatically. "Uhm, is this gonna hurt?"
The old woman said, "Yes, at first, but the medicine will make it all better."
It was hard for Akari to trust all of these animal spirits, but Cat Sìth, she trusted him. Even if he couldn't entirely put aside the eternal Feline-Canine struggle, he trusted Coyote enough now. Akari smiled, "Okay, you can begin," and laid back in the thick green grass.
First, the old woman took the Fairy Ointment from the shell, and rubbed it in the middle of Akari's forehead. It tingled a little, but it almost didn't feel like it was her skin tingling, but somewhere else entirely.
Then Cat Sìth, with a single sharp claw, sliced an arc across Akari's forehead, and then another one to match. She yelped a little in pain, as blood started to trickle out of the wounds.
Finally Coyote came beside her and offered her a cup. "Here, drink all of this, and the curse will be broken."
Her face was really starting to hurt, so she drank the entire potion as fast as she could. It tasted terrible—it was the most bitter thing Akari had ever tasted.
But she did start to feel better. And a little weird too. It was hard to explain what she was feeling, so she just lay there staring at the moon, and the stars, and wondering if they would seem any brighter now that she had a third eye.
Time seemed to pass slowly, her hand on Cat Sìth's paw; for how long Akari wasn't really sure. And then she felt a sudden gurgle in her stomach, and waves of gastric distress built up quickly. She pushed herself up on her hands and knees, and proceeded to vomit.[7]
Coyote cheered, "Oh good, it's working!"
Akari thought: Leave it to a canine to think that medicine was something you threw up. She crawled over to the stream, and filled her mouth with cool, fresh water. It was really only then that she started to feel better.
And she heard the sounds of the drums. And the feel of the water, flowing past her hands. She smelled the sage. And then the undine looked around, and saw a crowd dancing to the music. A crowd of animals and fairies and beasts, chatting and feasting on a buffet.
The wound on Akari's forehead had already sealed. So while the casual observer couldn't see her third eye, her two ordinary eyes were open just as wide. "Wooooow."
Coyote said, "I told you I throw the best Samhain parties."
"Wow," Akari reiterated.
Aria took the moment to smell Akari's vomit, but quickly turned his nose away, declaring "Pii-nyuu!"
"Okay, I don't want to be a bad host, so I've got to mingle. Make sure to tell me a story by the fire later."
"Okay!"
Cat Sìth faced Akari, and licked her face with his big tongue.
"Hehe, that tickles. I feel okay now, really. And your breath smells like milk. How much milk did you have today?"
His cat smile wide, he rolled his eyes then licked is chops.
"I guess everyone gets to splurge a little on Halloween. Shall we join the party?"
The perfect gentleman, in a suit without pants, he offered her his arm. She entwined it with his, and they strolled into the action. The dance floor she had seen before as a lone man playing a flute for some cats, was now teeming with hundreds of animals and spirits.
A circle of bison played the drums and stamped the beat with their heavy hooves. And they granted the rhythm that a crowd of animals danced to – she saw frogs, cats, coyote, lizards, and even a couple cougars. And that wasn't even the weird part. There were some guys with colorful boxy heads that didn't quite look like people. There was a guy over by the drinks table who had a normal human torso, but it looked like furry goat legs were attached below. A woman walked up straight out of the lake, who looked like she was wearing seal-skin clothing.
All at once, it was too much for Akari to take in. But if everyone else was having a good time, so would she. She made her way over to the drum circle, and joined in a dance of maidens, all waving flashy colorful clothes. It took her a minute to pick up the simple step dance they were doing, but it didn't take long before she was in the spirit. She stepped forward in time, waving the colorful veils of her Scheherazade costume, twirling a vibrant pattern around and around on the soft grass.
Cat Sìth watched her from the sidelines, lapping up the show like offerings of Samhain milk. Akari might not be the best dancer out there, but she sure made him feel like a sultan tonight.
She waved to him at the end of the dance, kind of like a kid showing off to her parents. But in another way, not a kid at all. He came over as the next dance began, kind of a folk dance for couples. They cut a dashing pose, the feline gentleman with his costumed odalisque. Sure she couldn't quite get the hand-offs right – how do you grab a white-tailed deer by the hands, anyway? – but she was joyous and gay. Sure, she couldn't quite do-si-do with a doe, but she cut a great figure and looked great doing it, and at a Samhain party, that's what really matters.
After the dance, someone from the crowd called out. "Oi. ¿'Sup Gato?" shouted Armadillo, a short fellow with a long snout who looked like he was wearing leather samurai armor.
Cat Sìth looked at Armadillo, the looked back towards Akari.
"It's okay if you want to mingle. I need to make new friends too." Akari smiled.
Akari wandered around the party some more, and realized that she had forgotten to look up. For among the fireflies and bats were honest-to-God fairies floating around, having their own dances.
One of them descended down to her level. It wasn't a petite young maiden, but a tiny old man with a long Gandalf beard. "I was wondering when you were going to notice us, newcomer."
Akari's eyes got wide once again. "Oh wow. A fairy!"
The man wore an impeccable white suit, with large blue snowflake patterned on one half. "More specifically, a Season Fairy. I'm Sage, nice to meet you," he extended his hand.
Akari raised her pinky finger in return and shook. "I'm Akari! This is my first time at one of these parties, so please take care of me."
"I can't quite figure you out my dear. What are you, exactly?"
She thought for a moment, then answered logically, "I'm an undine of Venice."
"Oh, that makes sense," Sage concluded. "No wonder you had such good flow in the dance floor."
"That's training, every day!" Akari laughed.
Akari looked around a little more, and wandered towards the banquet tables. Standing beside them, was a small brown-furred cat with a striking pattern on her head. "Maya, is that you?"
The cat tried to pretend she hadn't heard.
"Maya! Did you... sneak into the party?"
Feline death glare.
Akari pleaded, "I won't tell anyone, promise!"
"Mew." And with that, Maya leapt off towards the dance floor.
It was just another reminder that the denizens of this party were truly wild. They were all friends for tonight, but the teeth and claws weren't for show.
Even Sakaki's pet Maya, she had a certain wildness to her that couldn't be tamed. Akari concluded that Maya must have had a hard life before Sakaki adopted her, because she was nothing like the sophistication of Aria, or Hime, or even that little savage Maa. That wildness was present in Cat Sìth too, but when Akari was in laying in his arms, she didn't feel anything but comfort and warmth.
She could have lost him that day. Lost him forever. The very thought made her heart throb, her chest tighten. An unknown curse was one thing, but losing Cat Sìth would be like losing a part of herself.
She could have lost herself in that train of thought, but a pang of hunger started to hit from below. Her stomach had finally calmed down from Coyote's medicine, and it being her second party of the night, Akari started to run really low on energy.
She looked at the tables of food, full of all kinds of fantastic foods: pancakes, meats, grasshoppers, fruits, fairy floss, cupcakes, and beer. It was enough to make her mouth water. And down at one end, Akari saw President Aria leaning over to get a drink, losing balance, and managing to fall all the way into the punchbowl.
"Oh, President Aria, there you are!" She hefted him up and back onto the grass.
"Munyuu."
"Don't worry, that will wash right off!" But a curious thing happened; the red punch swiftly evaporated, leaving a perfectly white Aria, still dressed in his goofy fruit hat.
He brushed himself off, licked a couple of the hairs still out of place, and looked back to Akari with a smile.
"Aria, when I couldn't see with my eye, I could see the rocks and the trees, and the medicine Coyote made. But I never saw this banquet."
"Puuuu..." he reflected.
"May I have some of the fruit from your hat?" Akari asked, hoping this idea would go better for her than it had for Tomo.
Aria broke a banana off his hat and handed it to the girl.
"Thanks!" She peeled the skin back, and took a bite.
"Hi-hi-hii! Clever girl!" interjected Coyote. "Eat well and recover your strength." And then he trotted off to the next table.
She decided to sit down and eat for a bit by the fire using Carmen Meowranda's hat fruit bowl. Next to her was a woman with long black hair, with a white robe and a violet kimono, warming herself by the fire.
"Are you a snow woman?" Akari asked.
The yuki-onna replied, "Why yes, I am."
"I'm from Japan too! What brings you here?"
"I'm on a bit of a vacation," she said. "Actually, I tend to prefer the tropical climates, it's so much easier to keep warm!"
"Yeah, I bet!"
"But the season's just about over. As soon as the party's over, I need to head back to my mountain, to start looking for travelers."
"Uh... good luck, I guess," Akari offered lamely. Akari decided to return to the dance floor, before the conversation turned to freezing people to death.[8]
As they returned, the dance music had taken on more of a tropical beat. Aria, now with a much shorter fruit hat, decided to take a chance on the limbo contest, but fell down in the late rounds, ultimately losing to another cat.
The band took five, leaving the music to the drum circle for now. Walking over to the drinks table, Akari saw a black man with white paint around his eyes, and feathers tied into his hair. He would have been tall, if he were not so hunchbacked, but there was something cool about him, bare-chested with leather pants. Akari went to greet the musician, but he spoke first, "Hey girl, what's going on?"
"Oh um, hi Mr. Musician!"
"Now that won't do, babe. All my friends call me Kokopelli. What's your name?"
"Me, I'm Akari. Akari Mizunashi. Pleased to meet you!"
"The pleasure is all mine," he said smoothly.
"You play the flute really well, Mr. Kokopelli."
He replied, "Thanks a lot. I bet you could play the flute pretty well, if it was the right kind."[9]
"No way!" she laughed.
"I can tell these kinds of things. This is my band, you know."
"Really! You play the most amazing songs. I've never heard music like this before if my life!"
"Well, Akari, I can teach you lots of things."
She smiled innocently.
"Why don't we get to know each other a little better over there?" he pointed to a little glade on the edge of the party. "We can make some beautiful music."
Akari was about to ask why, when she noticed the obvious bulge in his pants. "Um, I think I'll stay here."
"C'mon girl, I can show you a really good time, promise." He took her hand, and started to pull her away.
"But I–"
"Come on! It'll be—" Kokopelli was interrupted by a furry tap on his shoulder. "Oh, hey there, we're a little busy."
"Cat Sìth!" Akari identified the very unamused looking two and a half meter cat.
Kokopelli let go of her immediately "Oh hey, sorry brother. I didn't realize she was with you."
He growled.
"It's cool, it's cool. I'll go. Best of luck to you two!" The hunchbacked black man faded back into the crowd.
"Thank you so much! I didn't know he was like that, and I don't know what I'd do without you."[10]
The cat said nary a word, but hugged her in response. They just stayed there like that, for a couple minutes.
Kokopelli, by way of apology, led his band in a slow melodic tune. And, as he knew it would, it prompted the right response from Akari.
"Shall we dance?"
She didn't have a lot of practice dancing, but the moves just flowed out of her body as she followed Cat Sìth's lead. As the song played on, it increased in tempo, turning into a passionate tango, but somehow, they kept pace. They were so in tune with each other it was like they were enchanted by the melody, which perhaps they were.
One moment she was staring into his golden eyes, and the next she was leaned so far back that her pink hair touched the grass. The tall cat in a red velvet stood ramrod straight, while the svelte girl set her blue and red veils flying like streamers. It wasn't as if Akari's steps were correct for the dance, but they were so correctly her that it was like a fluid movement of joy and love, reacting to her partner's practiced paws.
It was only at the end of the song, when they fell back into that initial embrace, that they realized they had attracted something of an audience, who began applauding. Akari blushed a little as her jaw dropped, while Cat Sìth held his gaze high and aloof.
Coyote came over to talk, "My, aren't you full of surprises, Water Sprite Girl!"
"It's nothing, really. I just followed his lead."
Cat Sìth's expression assured observers that he was a cat of culture.
"Are you enjoying my party?"
"It's a great time! I mean, it was crazy at the beginning with the curse, and all, but everything turned out well in the end. But some of the people at the party are a little dangerous," Akari complained.
"Really? Skinwalker and Chupacabra always take the opportunity to spend time on the other side today, so I don't know who it could be."
Akari let it go. "It's fine now, really." She smiled at Cat Sìth.
Coyote asked, "So, as a stranger to this world, what do you think about these lands?"
"That's a really interesting question. So many things are different, but under it all, people in all times have the same hearts and the same dreams. It's such a fascinating place to explore. Actually, we're going on a trip tomorrow, to the cross the Great Plains and then explore the desert."
"Oh, I like journeys. Where are you going?"
"Well, we're going to start in Chicago at Lake Michigan, and cross the prairies. We'll see Carlsbad Caverns, and the painted desert, and Vegas. But really, I can't wait to see the Grand Canyon! I hear it's even more majestic than the Valles Marineris."
Coyote thought it appropriate that she would be enraptured to see the power of water. "Oh, then I think it's time to tell the story of how I created the Grand Canyon!"
"You made the Grand Canyon?" she exclaimed.
"One of my many feats."
"But I thought it was made by water cutting the rocks–"
His tail went straight up. "No, don't give away the ending![11] It must be told properly."
Coyote waited for a gap between songs, before he called out to the crowd, "Come, gather around the fire. It is time for the telling of tales!"
A number of creatures filtered over the to the fire. Akari and Cat Sìth found their seat on a log, and Akari leaned into his side once again.
"Water Sprite Girl doesn't know the story of how I created the Grand Canyon, so I will regale you all with my amazing tale!"
Cat Sìth put his paws over his ears in protest.
Akari poked him, "Be nice, you."
Coyote began:[12]
"Long long ago, back when I was still called Coyotl, there lived a vain and petty ruler of the People of the South. It was the middle of a scorching summer day when the Tlatoani surveyed his land, and saw the snow-capped mountains in the distance, enticing them with the promise of coolness. If I can only get some of that ice, I could be cool and comfortable, and not look like all of those sweaty laborers. So Tlatoani ordered the shamans to bring him back some ice. The shamans, too wanted to be cool, so they ordered the field laborers to bring it back enough ice for them too. And so the laborers set out with a giant sled, so that everyone could have enough ice to be cool.
They struggled up the hill pulling their weight, until they finally reached the cool ice on the hill. Yet to gather the ice, they worked too hard to even enjoy the cool air. Then down came the ice, and the longer they dragged the ice sled through the fields, the more melted away into the hot soil. Even the shamans never got their share, as they thought it would be safer to give such a small amount entirely to their Tlatoani.
It was on that day that Tezcatlipoca the Mocker, the Enemy on Both Sides, came to visit the great city of People of the South, and the strolled into the Tlatoani's palace. Sorry everyone – I'm not in this part – but I promise you it gets better later.
Tlatoani tried to hide the ice he had so preciously desired, but Tezcatlipoca the Magician was wise, and had seen it in the field. He said, 'Can I have that ice you have procured? It is such a hot day, and I desire it now.'
'What ice?' said the Tlatoani, 'We have no ice here.'
'Then how is the cool water dripping out of that reed box, I wonder?'
The Great Tlatoani got on his knees and begged Tezcatlipoca, 'Please sir, my people have labored greatly so that I may have that ice, so I can look like a proper ruler and not a sweaty farmer.'
Tezcatlipoca bellowed, 'So you care about your appearance, Speaker? Give me the ice, and I will give you something to show you the proper appearance of a ruler, something that will keep you cool always.' So the Tlatoani, thinking himself wise enough to have negotiated a boon, had the box of ice placed upon Tezcatlipoca's altar.
But the Magician had other ideas. He took the ice, and bound it into obsidian using his magic, creating a large polished mirror, inky and cold to the touch. And this mirror was a terrible device, for it reflected everything in the worst possible light. Everything in this mirror that was good shrank to nothing, and every flaw exaggerated. It is because of this mirror that Tezcatlipoca earned the name Smoking Mirror.
Tezcatlipoca presented his gift in return to the Tlatoani proclaiming, 'See, I bring you a gift. This is a mirror of great power, as it reflects the hidden hearts of those who would do you wrong.'
The Tlatoani, vain and proud, looked at his own reflection, and he truly was chilled to the bone. For there he saw an aging man, with thinning hair, weighed down by impure gold, standing in a tiny, decaying city and groveling before the great Tezcatlipoca. 'Who is this?' he asked, but the magic of the mirror made the Tlatoani believe that this was his own true self.
'O Tlatoani, you are only a pale reflection of my splendor to rule in my stead. But things are not so bad; turn the mirror on your subjects.' And the shamans were shown to be greedy, power-hungry, backstabbing men, the lot of them. When the laborers were seen in the mirror, all knew that they were mere sacrifices, dancing to the desires of their Tlatoani and the Powers. 'They are all subject to your whims, but no matter what you do, they will eventually hate you. So seize your destiny while you can, Great Tlatoani! Hohohoho!'
So the People of the South took the mirror with them everywhere, and set their foes low by its twisted magic, war drums, atlatls, and bloodshed.
One day, the warriors ventured into Quetzalcoatl's shrine, and the turned the mirror on the Feathered Serpent himself. But he would have no part of his rival's sorcery. Before anyone saw him in the mirror, the Feathered Serpent blew up a great wind that shattered the mirror into thousands of pieces, which blew all around the world. But his magic was not strong enough to destroy the mirror. Some hunks of mirror were large enough for the shamans to use in their dark fortune-telling, while others were small enough to slip into your body like an icy splinter. But to all who came in contact with a shard, misfortune followed.
Many, many years later, Coyote (that's me!) wandered through a village of the People. They started telling me of their woes. For the river had dried up, and they had no fish to eat, and no water for their crops. "Our milpas our withering," they told me. 'The corn, beans, and squash are drying out. Even the watering holes are drying up.' It was really bad!
So I set out to investigate this disaster. I walked onward and upward, my nose to the riverbed. But as the desert gave way into the hills, and there was still no water. I went further on into the forest, but there was still no water in the river.
But I noticed something else: it was getting colder and colder as I followed the riverbed, and this was the middle of summer! Eventually I walked to a place where there was snow on the ground, but it did not melt. This made old Coyote even more curious.
I finally turned a corner and what I saw shocked even me! It was a giant wall of ice making a dam across the river. But this dam, it was so tall, it stretched from mountain to mountain, made of piles and piles of icicles and snow. I climbed up to the top of the ice dam, so I could see what was the cause. And behind the ice dam was a giant lake, so large it looked like an ocean! It filled the valley with miles and miles of frigid water ringed with snow-capped mountains and pine trees poking up from below.
It was then that I saw my old friend Beaver working on the dam. He could breathe out and his breath instantly froze into an icicle, it was that cold. Then he added the icicle onto his dam. At last, I had found the culprit!
'Beaver!' I called out. 'Old friend!'
'Oh, it's you,' he sneered. 'What do you want?'
'Beaver, why do you build such a tall dam? You are keeping all of the water from the People, who need it to grow crops, and the deer and the rabbit need it to drink.'
'They are none of my concern,' Beaver said. 'You are keeping me from my work.'
'Why do you need a house this big?'
Beaver said, 'Isn't it beautiful? This is not a house, it is a palace, to show how magnificent I am. Far more important than the People's crops.'
I could tell then that Beaver's heart had been frozen solid. I thought of the Ice Mirror of Tezcatlipoca, and I realized that he must have swallowed a shard of it, and the shard was lodged next to his heart! I'm so smart!'"
At this line, Cat Sìth yawned impatiently. But Coyote continued his tale:
"So I try to approach him to see what can be done, but he just jumped into the lake. He slapped his flat tail on the water, and a big cloud of freezing water fell all over Coyote. It was so cold! And Ice Beaver disappeared, now safe in his dam palace.
I was at a bit of a loss for a while, until I looked around. All of the mountaintops were covered with snow from Beaver's magic – all except for one, which smoked on the top and only had a little ring of snow. So I walked across the Gobrin Ice, and leapt across the Helcaraxë, until I made my way to the volcano. I climbed until I came to an opening in the side, and I saw a few yellow jackets. "Long time, no see!"
'Buzz off!' they cried.
'Don't you want to see your friend Coyote?'
'Last time we saw you, you smoked us along with the salmon!'[13]
'And now you possess the fire in your tails. So let bygones be bygones,' I said, "For we have a big tragedy to face! Beaver has been possessed by a shard of the Ice Mirror, and keeps all of the water to himself, so the People can't grow crops.'
'So what?' they buzzed.
'Well, if there's no water in the river, then there is no salmon to eat.'
There was a cacophony of buzzing, and the yellow jackets said, 'How can we help?'
'I need the fire in your stingers to break the ice dam. Once we break that, the river will flow.' So the yellow jackets declared Bygones and accompanied me back to the dam. I brought some reeds too, telling yellow jackets that we would need them for a fire, which was technically true, hahahaha!
When we got to the dam, the yellow jackets tried to sting the dam, but the ice was too solid, so we went to the top. When I got there, I called out, 'Beaver, let me help you build this beautiful palace!'
'Oh, so you understand now? How can you help?' Beaver sounded pleased, but there was no warmth in his voice.
'I brought these reeds to help you build.'
'I do not use such common materials now.'
'But let me show you how amazing reeds can be!' As Beaver approached, I grabbed a yellow jacket, and stuffed it inside the reed. And then I pointed the reed at Beaver's chest, and blew with all my might!
The yellow jacket's stinger pierced Beaver in the heart, and injected it with pure volcanic fire. This melted the ice, and melted the obsidian shard in Beaver's heart into nothing.
'Coyote, friend, what have I been doing?'
'You have built a palace to yourself, and kept all the water the People need, but I have broken your curse.'
And then, the ice started to crack all at once! One minute we were standing atop the dam, and the next I found myself fighting for my life in the flood waters. But Beaver is a great swimmer, and he grabbed me by the neck up onto a raft made of wood. 'What we sit on, this was my house,' he said, 'Buried under that palace, it is the small home that saves us both.'
But the flood waters kept going and going. There was so much water that once there was a flat mesa, the water kept cutting and cutting through the rock, until there was a Grand Canyon.[14] 'Beaver,' I said as we rafted through, 'We've made a beautiful palace after all!'
'Not for me. I've had enough grand places for a lifetime.'
Eventually, our raft washed up on the shore of the People's village, and they greeted us with cheers, and held a giant feast in our honor. And that, my friends, is the story of how Coyote made the Grand Canyon!"
There were an assortment of claps and cheers, but Akari just said "Wow."
"So what about your story, Water Sprite Girl?"
"My story? How do I follow that?"
"I've got a story!" Armadillo piped up.
Coyote groaned, "I'm already worried."
"I saw you talking with Cat Sìth earlier." Akari inquired, "Are the two of you friends?"
"Oh yeah, me an' Old Gato go way back. Waaay back, chica."
Cat Sìth was already shaking his head in the negative.
"Yeah, back in the old days, we hear about this Kachina's house where he kept these magic arrowheads that can hit any creature, including fey. But that sounds scary, right?
"So me and Gato, we creep in in the dead of night and steal the arrowheads. Gato leaps up on the table, throws down the arrowheads, and I sneak them out in my shell, all fifteen of them.
"Now, the arrowheads were made of pure silver, so we figured we might as well melt them down and sell it to the People. But we both thought that we deserved the silver more than the other ése.
"So Gato here challenges me to a race – whoever wins gets to keep all of the arrow points. But since he thinks I'm going to lose anyway on my stubby little legs, he lets me pick the course. So I choose a race to the bottom of a hill – and I rolled down the entire way on my shell! Just like a log!
"And that's the story of how I beat Gato, and got his 15 Silver Points!"[15]
A chorus of bats floating above the group started shrieking in something that sounded like laughter, "Hi hi hi hi hi!"
Coyote on the other hand stood with his white-tipped tail straight out, booing.
"Now wasn't that fun?"
The resulting animal noises expressed cheering, disapproval, and just bewilderment, and Akari fell square in the latter camp.
"That's more than enough, Armadillo!" Coyote growled.
"I'll be here all week!"
After this goofiness, Akari had gathered her courage. She stood up to tell her tale, deeply personal as it was, for it was the only tale she had:
"Once upon a time, I was just an ordinary girl, living an ordinary life in a huge city with the People. Well, almost ordinary. I could get anything I wanted from the touch of a button, any food or toy or tool I needed from a machine.
"But I was a girl who was never happy.[16] Now that I look back, what I really wanted was to feel the wind in my face, and the water beneath my feet. To live under my own power, just a little bit. But I don't have to tell you, sometimes the cities the People build now are more cages than homes."
There were a lot of grumbles of agreement from her audience.
"One day, I heard a tale of a beautiful place, far far away, where the People lived in a beautiful city of water and stone. A city maintained by Salamanders, and Sylphs, and Gnomes, and Undines.
"And when I heard of the Undines, the women who guide people through the waters, it stuck with me. I knew I had to get to this place, called Neo Venezia. I just knew in my heart I could be an Undine."
"There was only one problem: Neo Venezia was up in the stars, on planet Aqua." She pointed to a bright red dot in the southwestern sky. "How could I possibly reach there?
"I sent a message off to Neo Venezia, but it was really more of a prayer into the heavens. And to my surprise, an Undine answered my prayers – she told me to come to Aqua, and she would make a place for me.
"So I said goodbye to the people who were taking care of me, and stepped into my destiny. I got in a giant metal ship, and then they lit the biggest fire you've ever seen right underneath! It was such a big fire, it pushed us right into the heavens!"
Coyote whooped in approval at this idea. "Did it turn your tail white?"
A few people laughed, but Spider Grandmother hushed him, "Calm down. You're not in this story, Coyote."
"When we landed on Aqua, it was like a whole world I had never seen before, with tile, and buildings made of earth, and between them flowed a pure clear water. Even after the long trip, I felt reinvigorated, and so excited.
"And the first person I met on arrival was a certain white cat." Akari gestured towards Aria.
"Puinyuu?"
"Yes, you."
Coyote interrupted, "How come he gets to be in the story?"
Cat Sìth let out a deep growl.
"Oh fine!" Coyote yielded.
Akari giggled before she continued. "We shared our lunch together, and then as I was about to leave, he fell off the land and right into a boat!"
Aria tried to deny this claim, "Nyu Nyu Nyu!" He frantically waved his paws in front of his face, which was just enough to lose his balance atop the log. He fell ass over teakettle onto the ground.
So then, everyone laughed.
"Yeah, exactly like that! So I'm thinking, I've got to save him! So I jump in the boat right after to save this poor kitty! But of course, Aria's had been in boats longer than me. We ended up in Mr. Postman's boat, and he even let me pilot the gondola! I didn't really know what I was doing, but it was so fun, and free.
"In fact, I had so much I completely forgot about my interview to become an Undine! Mr. Postman delivered me to the company, late, and I was so worried I ruined everything. But then, it turned out that Aria here was the company president all along!"
The crowd started murmuring in excitement – one of them was a company president? Aria, back on the log, stood up proudly, as if to say, "How do you like me now?"
"So of course Aria and his human Alicia hired me, and I started training to be a true Undine of Neo Venezia. A girl like me had found her calling on another world. I started making beautiful friends, and learning the aquamarine waters.
"Everything was going well, until one morning, when I woke up, I saw the water started rising up into my house! But... that's a story for another night!"
"Such a tease, Scheherazade!" Coyote cried.
Laughter gave way to cheers as Akari bowed, and sat back down in her place along the fire.
After the tales were over, the party kicked back up, but Akari and Cat Sìth remained by the fire. It had been a busy day, since she had met so many people and goddesses, went trick-or-treating, went to two parties, and even had a sort of magical surgery. The big cat himself had visited plenty of dairies earlier that night, to collect his annual offering of milk.
Grandmother Spider strolled up to the pair, still sitting on a log and staring into the roaring flames. "That dress really is exquisite," she asked. "May I ask who made it?"
"Oh this is just a costume made by my friend Tomoyo. I'm playing Scheherazade for Halloween!"
"It's truly fine regalia, fluid in exactly the way you are. How long have you known this Tomoyo?" she pressed.[17]
"Just a few weeks. She just arrived in this world, too. It must be so hard to change your whole life when you're young like Tomoyo, but she's a really strong kid."
Grandmother Spider's face softened. "You shine so bright, Akari, that you really do attract the best friends."
She nodded, causing her pink pigtails to bounce. "Thank you!"
Grandmother Spider began rummaging through her purse, and pulled a bolt of delicate-looking white cloth that probably shouldn't have been able to fit inside her purse in the first place. She held it out to Akari, "I would like for you to take this..."
"Oh no, I couldn't! You've been too kind to me already."
"It is not for you, undine-child. I would like for you to take this, and to give it to your friend Tomoyo for me. She'll know what to do with it."
"Hahi!"
"I hope to see you again soon, undine-child. Happy Halloween!"
"You too!"
The pair remained there, watching the crackling fire. Fatigue finally set in in earnest, and despite all of the noise of the party, Akari and Cat Sìth fell asleep right in each other's arms.
Akari woke up the next morning on a park bench, embracing Aria. Sunlight was filtering down through the trees, so she rolled over, gently keeping Aria in her caress. Rolling onto one of the bench's rivets only woke her up more, so she was fully awake in about a minute, as was her cat.
Akari woke up the next morning in a ravine, embracing Aria. Sunlight was filtering down through the trees, so she rolled over. Rolling onto a rock only woke her up more, so she was fully awake in about a minute, as was her cat.
"What a dream I had, President Aria."
"Punyuu?"
Sitting up, she realized her pillow had been a bolt of pure white cloth. "Some things can be real, and still be a wonderful dream." She looked around her, and saw she was in the park across the street from Douglass Gardens. In fact, Akari was on the very same bench where a different pink-haired girl and her off-world cat had awoken they day before yesterday, though she knew it not.
She stood up and stretched, then brushed the dirt off her costume. In the process, she discovered a single white blossom in her hair. She removed the jasmine bloom, and inhaled its scent deeply, her lips forming a secret smile.
"C'mon President Aria! We have a delivery to make."
"Nyuu!"
- ↑ BL: Akari is a little unfair on things like this, which is to say she is quite fair. Like maybe so fair you'd call her a fair person, or call a collection of people like her fair folk.
- ↑ BL: So with the curse, she can really only see the most powerful spirits present: in this case, Coyote, Cat Sìth, Kokopelli, and Grandmother Spider.
- ↑ BL: This is a reference to Jitterbug Perfume, which is impossible to really explain without reading the whole book. Otherwise, I'm sure I'd lose you somewhere between the Bandaloop doctors and Mardi Gras.
- ↑ BL: Spider Grandmother's appearance here is inspired by Atoko from Haiyore! Nyaruko-san (a fujoshi from planet Atlach-Nacha) and also a cellar spider Brent saw trying to capture a crane fly while he was writing the passage. (Both animals are nicknamed daddy longlegs, despite their closest relationship being at the phylum level.)
- ↑ BL: Cat Sìth is a southpaw. Didn't want to ruin the mood with puns though.
- ↑ BL: Fairy ointment, and the process to make it with magic, is described in great detail in The Ancient Magus' Bride (Mahou Tsukai no Yome) volume 5. Applied to the eyelid, it can make a mundane see fey. Fairies also anoint their children with it.
- ↑ BL: I'm not sure how much peyote there was in there, but it was certainly enough to make Akari throw up. Perhaps fairy realm peyote works a little differently, but it's still Medicine. Willow bark provides a chemical close to aspirin. And I didn't know this until after I wrote, but according to some book Comanche used Osage orange root as eye medicine. But I think I liked the concept of medicine from the roots, trunk, and branches too much to switch the recipe. The wood from the Osage orange tree is among the world's strongest, which is why I picked it.
- ↑ BL: Have you ever been to a party where you meet someone, and then after talking a bit you realize they are totes cray cray and you need to get away?
- ↑ BL: He means the skin flute. Pretty much all of the pre-contact depictions of Kokopelli include the penis pretty obviously. In my version, he's a master of the tango both vertically and horizontally.
- ↑ BL:
"There is no honest woman with an uncorrupted heart whom a man is not sure of conquering by dint of gratitude. It is one of the surest and shortest means."
—Giacomo Casanova"A cat is fine, too"
—4chan - ↑ BL: Coyote hates spoilers. His personality is at least somewhat inspired by Gunnerkrigg Court but he doesn't look like all black and colored like that like a totem animal. Coyote here just looks like a big, occasionally bipedal coyote.
- ↑ BL: Coyote's tale here is not traditional, and incorporates a lot of different traditions. There are some echoes of The Snow Queen, Hopi, Shasta, Mojave, and Mexica stories and culture. Aztec political thought is pretty alien to modern folk.
- ↑ BL: Yellow jackets really freaking like salmon, even when you're trying to eat it *grumble*. The particular backstory the yellow jackets are referring to Mount Shasta's Eruption.
- ↑ BL: Incidentally the Grand Canyon was not caused by a massive glacial lake outburst flood, but uplift of the Colorado plateau and long term erosion. On the other hand, the Channeled Scablands of the Columbia basin were most definitely caused by an ice dam failure. But the primordial flood stories have a tendency to blend together.
- ↑ BL: If you're clueless here, it's a reference to Chrono Trigger. Gato is a cat robot you can fight for Millennium Fair merch points... and he has a song. Gato, of course, is Spanish for "cat". And if you don't think armadillos can roll, check this YouTube out.
- ↑ BL: I must have written these words almost in a dream, because I woke up the next day and thought, "Really? For Akari?" But there's a difference between a cheery demeanor and self-actualized happiness.
- ↑ BL: Tomoyo seems to be very good with cloth and Akari had a sewing-related curse. Statistics show that 95% of curses are inflicted by people that are known to the victim. But Tomoyo has an excellent alibi.