Pilgrim 2, page 43
“Shut up, Usagi,” Jelmay said as he came forward to take the fish. “Unless you want to talk your nonsense while I’m cooking.”
“I’ll gladly talk my nonsense while you prepare a meal. You are just lucky I showed up.” Usagi turned to follow the bakeneko into the monastery. “I wasn’t going to. And the three of you owe me.”
“Bah, you don’t have to come with us,” Jelmay told him.
“I’m already here, aren’t I? It was a good thing I happened to be loitering around your place when I saw a couple people heading up the hill and decided to investigate. Did I say that was a good thing? It could very well be a bad thing for me, considering where we’re going.”
“I don’t like the fact that you were loitering around my place. What did you want?”
“I have business in the forest, you know that.”
“Probably trying to rob me. Well, I can tell you one thing: you are not going to find any kip in there. I’ve hidden it all. There is jerky, though, and that’s not for you.”
“I don’t want your jerky!”
Kudzu sat and tilted her head to the side as she watched the two of them disappear into the monastery. “This is going to be an interesting group to travel with.”
“It will rain soon. My brother was saying it on the way over, and I suspect he’s right.” Eva Yin said, her focus shifting to Danzen. “Dalan’s inside. We’ll escort him to his hermitage, if you don’t mind.”
Kudzu glanced up at the sky again, her nostrils flaring open. “There will definitely be more rain.”
“Yes, as I’ve said. We will stay in my brother’s hermitage tonight, and we will journey to Diyu tomorrow.”
“All of us will stay in the cave?” Kudzu asked.
“Dalan claims there is enough room.”
“It will be tight.”
Eva Yin smiled down at Kudzu. “I’m sure we can make it work. I only wish that I could morph into a fox; it would be much easier to fit into holes in the ground.”
Shodren Ravja stepped out of the monastery, her presence erasing the tension in the air between Eva Yin and Kudzu. “I’m glad to see you have returned,” she told her son. “We can enjoy a meal together before you leave for the mountains. How wonderful.”
.Chapter Two.
There was no rushing through the Panchen Mountains with such a large group. Dalan the hermit led the way, the orange-eyed man walking alongside his sister, Eva Yin, and Abbot Monpo. Danzen and Kudzu were next in the line, followed by Jelmay, who begrudgingly carried Usagi in Danzen’s leather satchel. At the rear of the group was Shedrup, who had yet to say a word.
Danzen didn’t see the three-legged raven circle once above them and fly away.
He was focused now on the back of Dalan’s head, the hermit hunched over just a bit, his body framed by the blood-red expanse that sat over Diyu. He thought of his mother in that moment, and how she had said goodbye to him and wished him luck, Shodren even going as far as to give him a kiss on the cheek when he left.
He still didn’t know what to feel about her, but Kudzu’s suspicions had Danzen wondering if there was more to her appearance in the Valley.
Perhaps the white fox was onto something…
Flung over his shoulder was his burlap sack, his armor inside, as well as his sugawara helmet. Danzen knew he would need all the protection he could get, and didn’t balk at Kudzu’s suggestion he bring his gear.
Various conversations about how they would actually get to Diyu became the topic of the hour. This was mostly led by Dalan, but eventually Jelmay and Usagi headed to the front, the jade rabbit barking something about wanting to kick some sense into the hermit.
“You can’t just walk your way in there,” Jelmay said, Usagi nodding in agreement. “There’s a barrier that prevents it.”
“If his brother wants him to go there, I assume that the barrier will be open for us,” said Dalan, who had already announced to the group over the fish they ate earlier that he wouldn’t be joining them in hell.
“It isn’t going to be that easy,” Usagi said. “If his brother truly wants him to suffer, he’s going to make him come up with a way to get in. They aren’t going to simply leave the gates open.”
“You don’t know that,” Eva Yin told the jade rabbit. “We have yet to arrive at the border.”
“I don’t know that? Even if you are using remnants to cover just how old and frail you are, woman, I have been alive and kicking much longer than you, and I’ve seen some things in my time. One of those things is this: demons are demons because they are demons.”
Jelmay snorted at this comment.
“Ignore the idiotic bakeneko who may not understand what I am trying to tell you here. Actually, a demon and a bakeneko aren’t really that much different. They are tricksters. Even if Nomtoi was raised in whatever societal hierarchy they have in Diyu, he was raised to be a prince of sorts, it is in his nature to be a trickster. A bakeneko is no different.”
“Danzen isn’t a trickster,” Kudzu said, “and he has demon blood.”
“It is the human in him then,” said Usagi. “And don’t interrupt me. Nomtoi will do his best to play games with you. He wants your spot in line when it comes to taking your father’s throne, and he will toy with you in every way he can until he gets what he wants. He may also want to prove himself in your father’s eyes, who will certainly be watching if he doesn’t appear.”
“Hopefully, we do not have to meet the ruler of Diyu,” Eva Yin said, her brother nodding in agreement.
“Hopefully, I will be back in Osul tomorrow asleep in my own bed and glad to no longer have the world close to me teetering on the brink, but that isn't likely the case. Lingering hope reeks of desperation. We need a plan if we’re going to get into Diyu, and—”
“Be a good rabbit and let your favorite bakeneko explain how we’ll get in,” Jelmay said, interrupting Usagi. “I know a way into hell, but getting out will be a little more challenging. We need to go to the tavern at the Edge of the World.”
“I refuse to ever go to that place again,” Shedrup said, the former town drunk joining the conversation. The man had no weapon with him, and the only indication he had prepared for anything were the wrappings along his fists and forearms.
“We’re not going to be able to just march up to the gate, like Usagi and I keep trying to tell all of you. There is another way though, and it involves…” Jelmay grinned. “For those of you that don’t know about the Tavern at the Edge of the World, which I assume you all know about, I will explain it anyway just in case the fox forgot.”
Kudzu shook her head. “I didn’t forget.”
“Consider it a refresher: every night, demonic soul collectors come to the tavern and sweep through the souls, capturing them all and taking them to Diyu. All we have to do is go to the tavern—and of course enjoy a nice meal there because they have the best food in the world, ale too—and simply wait for the soul collectors to come. We fight them, kill all of them except for one, and force that poor soul collector to take us back. At first, they will protest and say that they won’t, but these demons have a very limited amount of time in which they can collect, and if they show up empty-handed, they face certain punishments. They can be bribed, likely with fear of death.”
“How do you know all this?” Kudzu asked.
“There was a point in my life where I stayed at the Tavern for a couple months, mostly because of gastronomic reasons. During this time I became friends with the bartenders there. Of course, they have changed since then, but I learned about the practices at that time.”
“Tell me you would not go all the way to Diyu for food,” Usagi said.
“That, and I was hiding from some people that lost a lot of money in a bet they made with me. I tried to soften the blow by giving them back some of their kip, but you know how that goes, people can’t accept that kind of generosity, so they turned to violence.”
“You likely conned them, just like you did Monobake and me!” Usagi said.
“You say con, I say opportunity,” Jelmay told him with a shrug. The bakeneko purposely rattled Usagi’s satchel by pretending to trip, the jade rabbit cursing up a storm. “Sorry about that. Where was I? Oh yes, the way to get into Diyu is simple. We go to the tavern, we feast until we can feast no more, we wait for the soul collectors to come, and then we kill all except one.”
“And what happens when we get to Diyu? What then?” Kudzu asked. “How do we get back?”
“I don’t have all the answers, just most of them,” Jelmay told her.
“I swore I would never go to that tavern again,” Shedrup said.
“Just like you’ve probably sworn before that you would never have a drink of alcohol again, but you did, and here we are. Too harsh?” the bakeneko asked him. “I’ll try again: just like I swore I would never find myself in a gambler’s den in Tudan enchanted by kip to the point that my friends had to rescue me. My point? We are in an extreme circumstance, and it calls for an extreme measure to see it to conclusion, and by extreme measure, I mean we’ll have to go outside our individual comfort zones.”
“I would feel much better about this plan of yours if we knew how we would be coming back to the world of the living,” Eva Yin said.
“We will return, don’t worry,” Usagi assured her. “I don’t know about the rest of you all, but I’m definitely not ready to die. Once we save the villagers, we will be transferred back to our world. I’m sure of it.”
“Weren’t you the one just moments ago saying that demons are all about trickery?” asked Eva. “How do you know that this is the case now? How do you know that we are being tricked?”
“I have a hunch.”
“And I have a premonition,” Jelmay said, adding to Usagi’s statement. “Nothing I have foreseen has told me anything about getting stuck in hell. Besides, if we do end up stuck for a while, at least we are with friends, right?”
“Speak for yourself,” Shedrup said.
“Ah, poor guy. Are you still mad at Danzen for simply being himself?” Jelmay asked Shedrup. “You do realize that he came to the Valley to get away from the west, that he is not inviting it here, right?”
“He is inviting it merely with his presence.”
“He has a fair point,” Usagi told the bakeneko.
“This way,” Dalan the hermit said, interrupting the conversation. “I know a shortcut here that passes through a ravine. It is the fastest way to my cave. You can, and should, continue your conversation there, but we need to be quiet and make our way through the ravine first. Our voices will echo there, and it may draw attention to our group.”
****
The space inside Dalan’s hermitage certainly wasn’t large enough for everyone, but they made do, Shedrup staying outside, Eva Yin taking up a corner where she sat on a silk blanket. Dalan worked on a quick bite to eat with the assistance of Jelmay. Usagi, Abbot Monpo, and Kudzu sat near the entrance of the cave.
“We really don’t need to eat again,” Kudzu said to Jelmay, who, as usual, had spearheaded the group’s collective desire for food.
“Suit yourself,” Jelmay told her, his back to her now as he hunched over a cutting board. The bakeneko was slicing mushrooms, Dalan focused on rinsing out some mountain greens he’d collected along the way, which grew wild in the ravine they’d passed through.
“We can prepare everything and just have a quick breakfast tomorrow,” the hermit suggested.
“What about tonight?” Jelmay asked.
“You’re fat,” said Usagi. “You ate just a few hours ago back at the monastery.”
“Look how many of us there are, and there were only six fish.”
“If I recall, you had two,” Kudzu said.
“Small ones,” Jelmay mumbled.
“I’m not hungry,” Abbot Monpo said.
“Nor am I,” said Eva Yin. “And I’m going to assume Shedrup isn’t hungry either.”
While he had said a few things to them along the way, Shedrup was back to being quiet, Elder Sonders’ nephew seated on a ledge outside meditating.
Rather than listening to them bicker, and hoping to perhaps make peace with Shedrup, Danzen stepped out of the cave.
“Do you mind if I join you?” he asked.
Shedrup didn’t reply.
Danzen sat next to him anyway and looked out over the Panchen Mountains, the waterfall below, peaks in the distance warming in the sun. It was peaceful, as long as one didn’t look to the right and see the foreboding red of Diyu, which always appeared to be on the verge of extending its influence.
“If you think I’m the enemy,” Danzen told Shedrup after a long pause, “why did you come?”
“This isn’t about you; this is about the villagers. That’s why I came.”
“We share a common goal.”
“Everything here was better until you arrived,” Shedrup said, turning to him.
“You really believe that? When I arrived, you were wallowing in horse shit, if I recall.”
“Not true.”
Danzen didn’t press him; he knew his words would do little to convince Shedrup otherwise. He knew what he’d seen, and he knew why Shedrup’s uncle had asked him to intervene and help his nephew.
“You never answered my question: why did you come?”
“I answered your question, for the villagers.”
“Were you close with any of them?”
“Does that matter?” Shedrup asked.
“I would prefer for there not to be any animosity between us,” Danzen said. “Regardless of what happens tomorrow, or whenever we reach Diyu, we are both members of the same community now, and even more importantly, members of the same team. We can continue our dispute after.”
“Your point?”
“I’m simply suggesting that we move on from whatever this is,” Danzen said, gesturing between. “It serves no purpose.”
“Maybe not to you, but I know what you are…”
“What does what I am have anything to do with this? Aside from my brother, what has a being with demon blood ever done to you?”
“The bandits that killed my wife and child…” Shedrup swallowed hard and looked back to the waterfall below. “I believe they were possessed by demons.”
“From someone who has seen the worst in men, I can assure you that they weren’t. People in the kingdom have free will, men, women, and bandit alike. If they did something terrible, it wasn’t because of a demon, it was because of them.”
“How do you know? How do you know your own blood hasn’t led you to do things before?”
“The only time I am not in control is if I get cut,” Danzen said in a steady tone, “which I try to avoid as much as humanly possible. Any of the choices I’ve made aside from those times, are my own, and they have nothing to do with my blood.”
“The bandits were possessed by demons,” Shedrup said. “You don’t know. You weren’t here.”
“In that case, if they were, what does that have to do with me? There are good humans and bad humans, should I hate all humans?”
“I am not having this conversation with you,” Shedrup said as he started to stand.
Danzen placed a hand on his shoulder and forced him back down. “You fought me a few days back when I was weak; I do not think it would be wise for you to attempt that when I’m at full strength,” he told the cultivator, his hand still on his shoulder, Shedrup not flinching.
“So you are threatening me?”
“If it helps you better understand where I’m coming from, sure, I’m threatening you. I don’t want any harm to come to the villagers, same as you. That’s why I’m here, and that’s why I will do whatever it takes to preserve their lives.”
Shedrup tore his shoulder away from Danzen. “Then leave. If that’s what you truly believe, leave Genshin Valley. It is the only way to keep the people here safe.”
Danzen was silent for a moment.
Some part of him knew that Shedrup had a point. His past had a way of following him. It was relentless, never giving up. Aside from Thane’s students, there was also Soko, and likely others at the Brotherhood that were brave enough to take the contract that the teenager named Sumi had put on his head.
Was it selfish for him to stay in the Valley knowing that there would be trouble again in the future? The thought he had earlier, of disappearing from the world and becoming a hermit, was this his only viable solution? How could someone like him ever integrate with society considering his past and his tainted blood?
Danzen sighed. He really didn’t have an argument for what Shedrup had said. If he truly cared about the villagers, if he truly wanted to leave the villagers with hope, to never face turmoil due to his being there, the simplest solution would be to leave.
“You’re silent because you know I’m right.”
“This is my home now,” Danzen finally said.
“Your home? You haven’t even lived here a year.”
Danzen was silent.
“You really like it here that much?” Shedrup asked.
“I do.”
“Why?”
Danzen could have explained what his life had been like before, raised to be an assassin, a trained killer for twenty years, all accumulating to the moment he could finally be free, to be himself. But he wasn’t good at putting these things to words, especially with someone he didn’t know so well.
So Danzen kept things easy. “It suits me. I’ve never loved a place as much as I love living here in the Valley.”
Shedrup finally nodded. “You bring trouble.”
“Not by choice.”
“That doesn’t stop what has happened, nor does it prevent it from happening again.”
Again, Danzen couldn’t argue with this logic. Shedrup was right.
“Let’s just focus on saving the villagers,” Shedrup finally said, surprising him. “We can sort this out after that.”
“Agreed.”
“Food will be ready soon,” Jelmay called out. “Last meal of the night. If that means anything to you, get in here and get a plate!”
“Are you hungry?” Shedrup asked Danzen.
