Feral Mage Book 2: Chapter 28

The silver-tailed kitsune led them into the building. As soon as they were through the door, Janna removed her shoes, grabbing a pair of slippers from a rack by the door. Bryce noticed Sansa wore a similar pair, and he followed suit, removing his boots and taking a pair of slippers that looked his size. They left their shoes by the rack as they followed Sansa.

“So, how did you two meet?” Sansa asked, still wearing the smirk as her three silver tails fluttered about.

“We both went after the same vampire in a frontier town. Teamed up to take out the coven,” Bryce answered.

Sansa stumbled and looked back at them.

“Wait! You seriously became a monster hunter!”

Janna blushed.

“I’m a merc.”

Bryce smiled at her.

“A merc that has fought monsters,” he added.

Sansa stared at Janna for a moment, then turned back around and kept leading them.

“Okay, Sis, you’re going to have to tell us some stories.”

The hallway that Sansa was leading them down was painted with murals showing kitsunes wearing what he guessed was the traditional clothing of the Ember Islands. One mural depicted a kitsune wielding a polearm against a strange warrior with blue skin and horns swinging a massive club.

“That’s an oni,” Janna said when she spotted Bryce staring at the painting.

“Oni?” He asked.

“One of the people from our homeland. However, you won’t find them outside of the Ember Islands. None of their clans joined the rebellion,” Sansa added.

Bryce was even more confused by that, and Janna picked up on it.

“The mural is the story of how our clan and others became wanderers. Long story short, we backed the wrong person in a civil war and were banished from the islands generations ago.”

Bryce stared at the colorful painting depicting a massive battle as they continued down the hallway. He broke his gaze from it when he heard voices engaged in conversation, then Sansa stopped in front of a sliding door. She opened it and stepped inside.

“I have a surprise! Can we set up two more spots?” Sansa said her tails fanning out as if to hide them.

Even through the three silver fluffy tails, Bryce could see a large dining room with three long tables in a U-shape. The tables were low, and instead of chairs, those dining at them sat on the floor. The room held two dozen occupants, all of whom were kitsune.

“That’s Janna!” a voice called out.

“Janna’s back!” another replied. “With a boy!”

That started a whirlwind of conversation and many tails started to swish, but Bryce noticed that seating was based on the number of tails the individual had. The back table was where those with seven, eight, and nine tails sat. Including that silver nine-tails from the performance that Bryce had seen with Isabelle.

Janna’s mother.

“That’s right!” Sansa said as her tails fell away, as if to reveal them. “So make room between the threes and fours for them.”

Sansa then led them to one of the side tables where a group of kitsune had scooted down to create room. Janna sat down first, and Bryce followed her lead. As soon as his legs were under the table, someone placed a plate of grilled fish before him with two wooden sticks. He turned to see that Janna had a similar plate. She carefully removed the gloves, but not her bandages underneath. She then picked up the two sticks in her hand.

Oh, they’re the utensils.

His hand quickly mimicked how Janna held hers. He felt a little embarrassed as he could tell many of the kitsune were watching him, and even his ears picked up a few whispers.

“Janna, you’ve returned to us,” the silver nine-tails said from the head table.

Though Janna’s mother was speaking to her, Bryce saw the woman’s gaze rest on him and the dog tag around his neck. Her eyes narrowed, then looked at the copper one her daughter wore.

“We’re just stopping by. I wanted to talk to you, mother,” Janna said, her hand using the two sticks to pick up a small portion of the grilled fish.

Bryce did the same, taking his first bite of the food.

“Very well, we can talk after our meal,” her mother said, taking a bite from her own plate. “Though I am curious where you’ve been and who this man is with you.”

“Yes. Tell us about your partner, Bryce,” Sansa said as she smirked at them.

Janna looked to him, and Bryce just smiled, giving a slight nod before using the sticks to take another bite of fish.

“Well…” Janna started.

Bryce ate as she recounted their meeting and a few highlights of their journey so far. She avoided topics they wanted to keep secret, like Alice’s true identity and some of the gorier details of some of their fights. Still, she got some gasps from those listening, and Bryce could tell they were listening to every word she said. She hesitated in saying he was a Feral Mage, so Bryce stated it instead. He doubted he would end up in a fight with any of Janna’s family.

He couldn’t help but smile as he watched Janna light up at telling her family about her adventure. Her tails were moving erratically behind her and bumping him more than once.

She held the room’s attention for the entire meal, and when she was done, her mother had to stop the others from flooding Janna with questions.

“Go, you have chores to do! Remember, we are performing in the morning!” Janna’s mother said, shooing away the others.

She turned and looked at them in the dining room, and again, Bryce saw her look him up and down, searching him.

“Bryce,” the silver nine-tails said with a sharp tone. “I would like to speak to my daughter alone. Please, make yourself comfortable in our home.”

Janna’s confident smile during dinner shifted to a nervous one, and she looked at him.

“Go, and remember what I said back in the tavern. Try to patch things up between you two,” he said softly, though given Janna’s mother had the ears of a fox, he was sure she heard him. “I’ll look the mural over some more. I don’t know much about the history of the Horo-kitsune.”

Janna nodded and joined her mother, both of them leaving through the door and moving further down the hallway. Bryce watched them go before heading the opposite way. He was genuinely interested in looking over the mural. If there were people he had never heard of, like the oni on it, then it might depict monsters only known on the Ember Islands.

“Hey, Bryce,” a voice said.

He turned to see several kitsune girls looking at him, their tails waving about. Sansa stood in front of them, a smirk on her face.

Janna

Janna walked into what was her mother’s study. The room was decorated with wall scrolls that depicted the family’s ancestors. Some who had lived on the Ember Islands as Daimyos of their clan, others were those born on this very ship. Incense sticks burned in front of the scrolls, something her mother did to honor them. A tradition even she barely understood, but it was one of the few strands they still clung to that connected them to their homeland and culture.

“The human’s scent is all over you,” her mother said as she moved to a table in the corner of the room with a tea kettle on it. “Are you with kits as well?”

Janna blustered.

“Mother!”

Laughter echoed from the corner as her mother’s silver tails swished with amusement.

“I’m not disapproving, Janna. I’m just wondering if I’ll have grand kits the next time we port in Witchbrook.”

Her mother approached a small table, setting the steaming kettle down along with two cups. Janna knew her mother had used her pyromancy to heat the water in the kettle. She then gestured for Janna to sit.

“Bryce and I are just partners,” Janna said, pushing the thoughts she had in the bath from her mind.

Her mother chuckled as she moved to a corner and knelt, lifting the floorboard.

“So, why did you come to see your mother?”

Janna sighed and removed the bandages from her hand.

“We got ambushed, and I tried to wrestle control of a fireball away from an elemental mage,” Janna stated.

Her mother stood with a strange spear and a large scroll she had removed from under the floorboard. Janna eyed them curiously as her mother came and sat down at the table.

“Magic backlash. I thought as much when I saw those strange gloves you were wearing,” her mother said, examining her hands. “Put the gloves back on.”

Janna did as her mother suggested. When the gloves were on, her mother placed her hands on top of hers, and the mana crystals began glowing bright red. After several seconds, her mother removed her hands.

“I pulled the Fire Magic out and into the mana crystals. A healer should be able to take care of the burns.”

Janna pulled the gloves off and lifted her hand. She focused and let out a laugh as a small flame appeared in her hand.

“Thank you, mother,” she said, looking at the silver-haired kitsune across from her. “I’m sorry about how I left.”

Her mother shrugged.

“I’m the one who’s sorry, my daughter. I thought you’d return to the ship, that it was an act of rebellion. When you didn’t return, I even delayed our departure for two weeks, waiting for you. I feared the worst and cursed myself as a fool.”

Her mother stood and walked around the table, then fell to her knees, wrapping Janna in a hug.

“I’m so glad you are okay,” her mother said.

Janna felt tears streak down her mother’s face as she held her.

“And I’m proud of you, my daughter. You may be walking a path I wouldn’t have chosen for you, but seldom does a mother wish for their child to be a warrior. I’m sorry I laughed, I’m sorry I underestimated you.”

Janna threw her arms around her mother, her own tears streaking her face. The two sat there embracing each other for a time, and when they broke apart, her mother smiled.

“You’ve gained your fourth tail, and it’s fitting that it’s a silver one.”

Her mother stood and walked to the scroll and spear on the floor. She picked up the scroll and unfurled it, hanging it on the wall. It depicted a kitsune man wearing the traditional armor of the Ember Islands and holding the strange spear, but what struck Janna was that he had four black tails and five silver ones.

“Who’s that?” Janna asked.

Her mother lifted the spear next and stared at the wall scroll.

“Daimyo Asahi. The leader of our clan during the rebellion. He was a fierce warrior who wielded both his pyromancy and naginata with deadly effect on the battlefield.”

Janna looked at her mother.

“Naginata?”

Her mother passed the strange spear to her. The blade was almost as long as a sword’s blade.

“It had a given name, but has been lost to us like many things since we’ve fled our home. The blade is crafted with ore found in a Fire Salamander’s stomach, and the wood of the shaft is from a thousand-year-old tree that grew in our family’s graveyard back in the Ember Islands. It’s a weapon strengthened with soul magic and can stand the fires of any pyromancer.”

Janna stared at the weapon in her hand.

“Why haven’t I seen this before, or the scroll of Daiymo Asahi?”

Her mother gave a thin smile.

“Many blame him for us being wanderers, more than a few have wished to burn the wall scroll and cast his weapon into the sea. We’re not warriors anymore, Janna. Just traveling performers,” her mother walked to the wall scroll, taking it down and rolling it up. “It will better serve you than staying hidden here. Use it to keep you and your partner safe, and when he does put kits in you, pass it on to them.”

Janna blushed as her mother handed her the wall scroll.

“Now, have tea with your mother and tell her more about your travels.”