Nabiki was in a state of shock.
She was clinically aware of the circumstance about herself, but it had no real import at this time. She had to finish digging.
Why did she have to dig? Her mind almost pulled up the answer, but then shied and avoided it. It was necessary. That was all.
Then why was she crying?
Ashitare paused as the first ray of morning cut through the gloom of late night, surprised by his opponent's reaction. The demon shrieked, and ran, to Ashitare's utter bewilderment.
Looking around, he found the other demons were also fleeing, moving more rapidly than he could chase them. A faint noise from behind him caught his attention, causing him to turn and look even as he kept a wary eye out for more attacks.
A young woman with black hair, cradling the body of an equally dark-haired young man in her arms, was rocking gently, her voice rising and falling in a quiet hum.
Kodachi knew how she was acting could be deemed insane, her rocking the body that had been her brother, humming tunelessly to it. But it seemed appropriate. Her tears were gone, as was the first flash of grief. She felt sorrow she would never get a chance to know her brother better, but where he was could only be better than here. It was strange, that it would take her brother's sacrafice to clear her mind of the fog of madness.
She gently laid Kuno upon the ground, laying his limbs straight, crossing his hands over the wound in his chest, closing his eyes. A single kiss to his forehead, and Kodachi stood up, finally looking at the one who had been watching her.
She was watching without fear, the calm she had throughout her little rite with the dead man still intact. Ashitare leaned forward, sniffing lightly, his curiosity gleaming bright in his eyes. She didn't move as he took in her scent, his rough self less than an inch from her.
He stalked in a circle around her, looking her over carefully. A soft laugh escaped her lips, and she reached a hand up slowly, carefully, in the direction of his chest.
Ashitare snorted in surprise at the woman's boldness, nearly backing away only to hold himself still by pride alone, his muscles quivering with restrained energy. Words had never been easy for him, but it seemed he should use them now. "Who are you?"
She didn't seem to be surprised that he could speak, just smiled sweetly up at him, her hand still less than an inch from his chest but not touching. "I am Kodachi."
Aulbath sighed, weary from his night-long task. She would live. A deep satisfaction welled up in him from that thought, causing him to frown in concern.
He, the last prince of his kind, should not feel so strongly for a land-walker.
But then, his conscience prompted, she was no longer as much of a land-walker has she had been. Which reminded him he had yet to look at what he had done.
She was beautiful.
Heartbreakingly beautiful.
He had known she was beautiful before, but it had been more of an aesthetic appreciation, like that you would give a statue or painting. Now she was real, very real, to him. A part of his mind noted that the changes physical were small, mostly just the addition of characteristics similiar to his own.
But what a difference they made.
Her face was unchanged, looking gentle and sweet as she slept. Her ears, once pointed and long, now fanned out a little, their shape reminescent of a lionfish's fins, delicate and ethereal. Her bust had shrunk a little, to less interfere with her swimming, but her hips had widened in direct proportion to that. Other changes, such as the lengthening of her toes and the webbing between them, the guide fin-ridges on her calves and lower arms, had not changed the slender beauty she had already held.
He held up one of her hands, comparing it to his larger own. The webbing between her fingers, unlike his own, only came up midway. A soft moan from her broke his fascination, reminding him that he should soon place her among the company that she knew.
After all, she would be back soon.
She would need the water as much as he did.
"D-Deedlit!" Slayn called out as he rushed over to take her from the fish-man's arms. "What have you done to her?!"
Not waiting for an answer, he turned and called over his shoulders for Leylia to come.
"Simply saved her life." The fish man spoke, his voice cold and distant as he pulled back her tunic enough to reveal the angry red scar of the wound she had received last night.
"By changing her?" Slayn's immediate panic faded as he noticed the gentleness which the fish-man treated Deedlit.
"I did not know of any healers among you land-walkers, and I did not dare leave the waters in any case. Doing that by myself last night would have been dangerous enough. By the way, I am Aulbath."
"I am Slayn. And carrying Deedlit, going out of the water would have been suicidal." Slayn mused thoughtfully even as he checked Deedlit over for other wounds and problems.
"Who is Parn?" Slayn blinked, surprised by the question. Not wanting to seem too involved, Aulbath elucidated. "She said his name several times last night."
"Parn is ... was her fiancee."
John sighed, looking up from the dirt at the sky. It would soon be noon.
"What's wrong, John?" Filicia sounded subdued, not at all like her perky self.
"It will soon be noon, and we will have to start looking for somewhere safe for the coming night."
"It'll be a welcome change from digging graves."
"Yes ... but with so many dead, it would be best to not stop until true noon."
Milgazia sighed, brushing his sweat-slicked hair from his face before turning back to his companions and the crude map he had drawn in the dirt. "There is, however, a mesa along that side of the lake, roughly five miles long and a mile wide at it's widest spots. There are quite a few trees, and some have fruit."
He pointed to another place on the map, nearby the large mountain that lay to the north of them. "There is a large cliff here, with a lake that is fed by snowmelt off the top of the mountain. It seems to have as much fish as the lake here."
The others looked at each other, one for every group that had been found, and their decision was unanimous. "We'll go there, at least for tonight."