A Fox's Whisper

9: Ҝ卂乙ㄩ卄卂

"Oh, look, the stars are out!" Haru remarked, pointing up to the vast expanse above us. He used Pochi as a pillow while he lay stretched out before the fire.

I too sat cross-legged by the crackling flames, Haru to my right, Legion to my left. Inari sat far away from us and the firelight as she had when she'd entreated me for help that first night.

I looked up to the sky as Haru continued to chatter about the stars, and sure enough, no clouds blocked out the tiny pinpricks of light shining down on us. I once fancied that playful gods and goddesses had cut holes into the blue-black night sky to allow stars to shine through. The snippets of the sky that they'd cut out would've fallen to the earth and turned into glaze lilies in Liyue, sea ganodermas in Inazuma, and lamp grass in Mondstadt.

Fanciful thinking, to be sure. But when one travels alone and can't sleep at night, one's thoughts tend to wander to all sorts of silly things.

"Kazuha, didn't you know a poem about the stars? You told it to me one time...what was it again?" Haru said, yawning.

I thought for a moment, trying to remember. "Something like...'Meet me where the falling stars live,
Where the constellations sing and dance.
Meet me where the shooting stars die,
Where meteors collide and prance'."

"That was the one," Haru sighed contentedly. "Say, how many stars do you think there are?"

"Certainly too many to be numbered. I tried counting them once," I chuckled. "But I was very small then, and I don't believe I knew any numbers past ninety."

Haru laughed heartily, though I evoked no response from either Inari or Legion.
I glanced over at the kitsune, sitting all by herself on the sand. There was no moonlight, and it was difficult to see her, but she sat rigidly, hands folded in her lap.

I considered joining her but thought better of it. The day had been tiring enough for all of us without me trying to talk to her of things she didn't care about.

"You know, I still don't understand how Legion sleeps like that," Haru murmured, craning his head around the dog's fur to look at the ronin. Legion hadn't moved a singular inch from the time we'd settled at the camp till the sun had set. His sword lay in his lap, and his head was bowed. He showed no signs of either wakefulness or slumber.

"He's...asleep?" I asked.

"Uh-huh. That's how he always is at night, and he doesn't wake up unless there's some sort of danger around. That is to say, our talking won't wake him. But if a twig snaps or a dagger is drawn... he's up in a flash."

I didn't ask under which circumstances Haru had figured that out, and I didn't believe I wanted to know. But there was certainly no doubt about it: Legion was a very dangerous man, whoever he was. Whether his dangerous nature was suited for forces of good or evil...well, it was nigh impossible to tell.

The fire crackled gently, and the calm sweeping noises of ocean waves drifting across the shore created a very relaxed atmosphere. Before long, Haru fell asleep, and his faint snoring added to the nighttime noises.

"Hey," I called softly over to Inari. "It'd be warmer by the fire." I gestured for her to join me, but I didn't expect her to.

For a long moment, she didn't move. Then to my surprise, she slowly stood up and walked over to my side, sitting back down. Her shoulders gradually relaxed, and her lips weren't set in their usual thin, hard line. Faint bruises peppered her arms and legs, and there were a few particularly nasty-looking ones on her face that looked incredibly painful. 

Even so, it was rather pleasant, just sitting beside her and watching the fire. The smarting of the cut along my face had faded to a dull sting, and the warmth from the flames lessened the pain further.