Day 11 - Kitsune Mori (Forests of the Fox)

Kitsune flit from tree to bush, hiding behind the lowered branches and sniffing at the spiced air. Someone has come to the forest, and her passage has stirred them.

Ryosei and her men greet the visitor with hot sake, the finest tea that the forest can create. They kneel with her in the front gardens of Kyuden Kitsune, awaiting her words. Hitomi pauses, unsure in this place of Kami and of human, seeking the path between both.

"The Age of Man is ending," Ryosei begins.

Hitomi shakes her head. "I do not know that it ever existed."

After a pause, the Fox murmurs, "What else do you know, Hitomi-sama, that will show us where the Empire ends?"

"The darkness gathers in the south. Crystal injures it. Light destroys it. These I found beneath the palace. But something more?"

Her companion nods. "We must go to the south to defeat it."

"No." Hitomi sets down her cup with conviction. "Your place is not at Volturnum, Fox daimyo." Ryosei lowers her eyes, narrowing them in surprise and concern, but Hitomi continues. "Your task is to defeat the Shadow where it has stepped within the light. You will know your place when the Sun first rises above the horizon. You will strike then, or not at all."

Around them, the silver spirits of the kitsune howl in tribute, their cries seeking a moon that does not rise above the trees.

Source: posted to www.wizards.com/l5r on 2/1/00