Yumi
She stared down the man in front of her, tea long since finished. At some point the plate of cookies had found its way in front of her, and that too was nearly empty.
"So you're dying," Yumi summarized, looking down at the cookie in her hands, "And you want to use me to... not die?"
"That's the short of it," Ikuto answered.
She looked over at Shin, "And when you were sent to invade the Moon tribe, you found out there was a saintess there and kept me alive to, in turn, keep him alive."
"Yep," Shin answered.
"And you're brothers."
"Yes." "Observant."
She turned to Valdeer, "And you..."
"Just want to see my wife," he muttered miserably.
"Right."
She ran a hand down her face, unsure of what to say next. The crown prince of the Crane tribe, who had just decimated everyone she had ever known, had some mysterious ailment that caused his mana to overload almost every time it was used. And he couldn't control when his mana was used. And they refused to tell her what happens when one of these attacks is triggered.
Yumi's experience with the mana of others was mediocre at best, but she had lived long enough that she could still sense the ebb and flow when given the chance. She studied Ikuto, who sat with the rigid posture she'd have expected royalty to have, and noticed things she hadn't looked for before then – thin wrists, the hint of exhaustion under his eyes. It wasn't dissimilar to her own state, though where her features could be blamed on malnutrition his felt like bone-deep fatigue.
"Show me, then." She said, "If you want me to help you during your episodes, then I should know what I'm working with."
Ikuto glanced quickly over at Shin and then back to her, "I can't exactly control when they take place, and attempting to force it to happen is…"
"Won't end well," Shin confirmed, likely speaking from experience.
Yumi reached her hand toward Ikuto, palm up. "Then at least let me try and get the lay of you. It would help for me to react quicker if I am already used to the presence of your mana."
The crown prince hesitated, then nodded. "Very well. You do have a point."
As he reached out towards her, palm over palm, his mana attempted to cling to her skin like static. It reminded her of the weight of the air before a particularly bad storm – charged and heavy.
When their skin touched, Yumi nearly pulled away. The mana that flowed between them was immense and concentrated, lashing out through her pathways almost immediately as if they had been there before and already had the lay of her.
This alone made her stomach drop with the recognition. Unmistakably, this was the mana of a saint.
But it certainly did not belong to the body it was in.
If she had understood more about what it meant to be a saint herself, could she dig deeper? Thrust her own mana back into his body and probe and poke the way his mana – but not his mana – so easily did?
She closed her eyes momentarily to feel the texture of it. The mana itself felt… almost angry. That wasn't quite the right word for it, she realized, some combination of forlorn and furious and distraught all tugged at her as she tried to place the frequency of the writhing energy.
She opened her eyes and glanced over at Shin who was studying his tea with false interest, as if he did not want to meet her gaze despite what was surely a torrent of mana flooding the area. Even Valdeer couldn't hide his rapt attention. It was enough to confirm the budding recognition.
The saintly mana that coursed through Ikuto wasn't his. It was Shin's.
She pulled her hand away and Ikuto seemed none the wiser to what he had inadvertently revealed to her.
"I apologize that I did not warn you that I am a saint as well," he said, rubbing his own wrist as if the contact had hurt him. "I know the flow of such immense energy can be quite overwhelming."
Yumi was sure the confusion showed on her face, but she quickly attempted to school it. Whatever secret those two were keeping, clearly they didn't intend for her to know. "It's volatile," she confirmed, "It must hurt you quite a bit."
Both brothers stiffened at that, as if neither wanted to confirm a source of weakness. There was no hiding it from her, though. Mana, at least, never lies.
"I can't promise that I can help you," she continued, imagining the situation as a ribbon she couldn't quite undo the knot of, "I'll have to try during one of your attacks to really know for sure. Have you not tried to balance your mana normally? Any Devora would do for that."
There was an awkward pause between the three of them, before Shin filled in the silence, "the Prince's condition is a closely kept secret. Only the people in this room know the extent of it," and it will stay that way, his expression seemed to warn.
"I understand. That leaves two Devora that know, then. What about you? Or Valdeer?"
"We're dealing with a situation that we don't particularly understand the nuances of, ourselves," Ikuto tapped his finger on the table as if thinking back on previous conversations, "If I were to ask the vice captain to balance my mana, there's a chance that it will permeate and he'd walk around radiating the residuals. The… implications of that may be difficult to explain. As for Shin, he is unable to use mana and therefore would be unable to balance my mana at all."
At this, Shin finally looked at her, leveling a look at her with a plea for silence. The night before at the lake where Shin balanced her mana and the fact he was able to sense her overload at all became another puzzle piece without a puzzle to complete it. Shin, she knew from experience, could definitely use mana.
"I see."
Finally, a secret with some leverage. She tucked it away in the back of her brain and moved on with grace, though the satisfied look on her face couldn't be hidden.
She gave Shin a measured look, "I was never taught how to balance mana," she reminded him.
"A minor setback," he said simply. "You're a saintess. It's instinctual."
She took a few moments to break eye contact with him, turning then to the crown prince.
"I'm not stupid. There's a lot that I don't know but I do know enough to know the situation I'm in. You can talk nice, but you're not giving me a choice."
"That's not entirely true," Shin said, "you can say no, you just likely won't live a long life afterwards."
"Brother," Ikuto chided, rubbing his temples. "My lady, a concubine is as good as a wife. No harm will come to you as long as you are in my care, regardless of what you choose."
The words that weren't spoken were the loudest. If he died, that too wouldn't last long.
"Think on it," Ikuto urged, "I have full confidence you'll come to enjoy it here. Maybe even consider it a home."
Two different attendants led Yumi to another building, through the other side of an ornate set of gardens, pointing out various plants that she'd never seen.
"The gardens are known throughout our layer," an attendant said proudly, "Several of these flowers originally came from the human world."
She eyed those particular plants with interest -- she had some knowledge about the human world, mostly through the veil of lightly touched Devorian history. Devora were, as the tales went, descendants of human psychics who remained in the demon world after the worlds layered. Their human cousins were a mystery to her, who only knew that their lack of mana lowered their life spans to just blinks in the vast scale of existence.
The palace gardens were massive and intricate, laid out with ornate care that had Yumi momentarily forgetting that she was a prisoner. In her already lengthy life, she hadn't seen anything quite like it. She wondered if she'd be able to look over the vast garden from whatever room she'd be tossed into next.
One of the attendants, with long dark hair and equally dark eyes, slid open the door to a building at the back end of the gardens as the other attendant left – there were signs of overgrowth from beneath the porch it was attached to, and it was clear that it hadn't been upkept as much as the pieces of the palace Yumi had already seen.
"Prince Ikuto hasn't taken a wife or concubine before," she said with some friendliness, "so these rooms are quite empty. I'm sure you'll be able to decorate them as the years pass," she took a look around, brushing away some cobwebs that had gathered at the door. "For now, I ask that you forgive the dust due to the short notice."
Yumi glanced around the space – the room itself they were in was rather small, with a short table and cushions as a seating area and empty shelves that looked as though whatever dusty tomes had been placed there before were hastily removed. The displacement of the dust where they had rested remained, though the vase that graced the top of the shelf looked new, as did the brightly colored flowers inside it.
She didn't see any space for a bed. Perhaps the cushions were meant to double as her sleeping arrangements? It was still far better than she had expected as a prisoner. "A little dust is the least of my worries," her reply was more of a mutter, but she was sure the attendant heard her regardless.
If Yumi's nonchalance made the attendant uncomfortable, she was professional enough not to let it show. "It's likely that Prince Ikuto will be given more concubines now that he's accepted one," she pulled the rope to a curtain back, letting in some light even though the sun was beginning to set. "I'm sure there are other tribes plotting grand entrances with gifts piled like mountains."
She wondered if this news was supposed to somehow upset her, the materialization of some phantom love rivals in a relationship she was forced to be in not even a few hours ago. If anything, the idea gave her some relief – at least there was the potential chance that some suitor will sweep the prince off his feet and she'd be able to avoid his attention at all.
Though that would depend on if she could help him with his attacks. If the crown prince randomly fell into fits of mana overload, it would explain why he hadn't taken a concubine or wife until now – not the easiest thing to explain if you suddenly need to excuse yourself often.
The attendant moved to the back of the room, tugging on the side of the paper wall with some force. "This darn thing," she muttered, and then apologized. "It has been some time since this building has seen regular use, it will just need to be worked in I'm sure –" with some straining she slid what turned out to be a door open, revealing a much larger room behind it.
Yumi found herself surprised as she took in the wide space – she peered over the attendant's shoulder before she moved aside to let her through. The room itself was rather bare despite its size, a large futon on a carved and raised alcove on the far wall was definitely the eye piece of the room, followed closely by the doors that were slid open on the adjoining wall to let the light and air in. She could tell from where she stood there was a walled off section adjoining the porch, likely the reason these particular rooms were given to her – she wouldn't be able to easily scale them and escape.
"Like I said, with time I'm sure it'll fill out," the attendant looked around the room as if cataloging the items inside it already. "The bathing room is attached through the hall," she gestured at an adjoining wall with a closed door, "if you wanted to take your meals in here instead of the sitting room I can have a table brought in, though it may take a few days."
Finally, the attendant turned to face her, placing her hands on her hips with decided determination. "I'm Renma." As if remembering her manners, she quickly bowed, "I am looking forward to being your attendant, my lady."
When Yumi said nothing in response, the girl looked up at her from her bowing position with some hesitance. With a sigh, Yumi addressed her, "thank you," she said simply, expecting Renma to resume her posture.
A few beats passed awkwardly, and Renma cleared her throat. "I do hope I am not speaking out of turn, my lady, as I do not know the standards for Moon tribe nobility such as yourself. However, I am to remain in this position until you give me leave to do otherwise."
"Why?" Yumi asked, tilting her head to the side. The girl did not rise still, "You can … relax."
Renma did so, examining the saintess with curiosity. Thankfully for both of them, she was quick to catch on. "Within the Crane tribe, there are few who retain a status above you. The royal family, perhaps," there was some hesitation there that Yumi would need to pry into later, "as such, even though I come from a noble house myself it is my duty to serve beneath you."
Yumi thought of her attendants at the temple, those who came and went with regularity. Some treated her with respect, most not so much. She expected Renma to end up similarly, despite her words. "I'd prefer to nip this in the bud, then. I don't expect we'll know each other for long so just… act normally."
Renma gave her a confused look and then bowed deeply again, "I do apologize if I've upset you in some way, if your wish is to dismiss me I can ensure a replacement swiftly."
"I'm not –" Yumi ran a hand through her bangs, noting with some frustration she must have picked the habit up in the few days she had spent with the advance guard. To dismiss one of the priestesses that attended her in the Moon Temple was basically the same as sentencing them to death. How could this attendant be so calm at that? "This place makes no sense," she said to herself, shaking her head. "Do whatever you want."
Renma gave Yumi a smile with eyes that glinted with a bit of triumph – for a moment she could imagine her personality behind the trained attendant. "Thank you, my lady. If I may ask for one request then before I prepare your meal and bath?"
Yumi nodded at her.
"Although most meals can take place in your private quarters, there will be times and events where you'll need to attend in the hall. I would like to know how to announce you…?"
For a moment Yumi was confused and then realized the simplicity of the request – she was asking for her name.
"Ah," she said, an unexpected knot forming in her throat. How long had it been since she had actually introduced herself to another person? She wasn't even sure the priest that had spent so many years abusing her knew it. "…My name is Yumi."
Renma nodded, completely unaware of the emotional chaos she had just caused the saintess. "A wonderful name Lady Yumi, I will be sure to remember it."