Mountain of The Suns • Book 2

Chapter 20

I sat with my back against the bath behind me. I looked at Rin as we had met in his chambers once again with the promise of more answers. No others were in the room and it was just him and I. Not that it really mattered but he had always been accompanied by Han or my father or even Yami at times. Now it was just he and I.

The sounds of the fountain behind me were a soft noise, but ever present in my ear. I was sat crossing my arms looking to Rin who just sat down with a sigh of relief. He wore a soft but devilish smile.

"I want to know your plan." I said bluntly.

"I'm surprised you can't piece it together yourself." He said shaking his head.

"I know you plan to attack Yabune first. That much is obvious. It's a weak spot thanks to Yami's work and Daigo passing away." I said flatly.

"Very true, their current Meishu is no stronger  than Daigo at his weakest. It's a cheap shot but it's the easiest to obtain." He said with a shrug.

"Who's their Meishu now?" I asked because I didn't stay long enough to find out.

"Uba, she's a sweet lady. I assume you've met." He said and my ears perked up.

"We have." I stated but I was beyond confused. Why would they have Uba take over for Daigo, she was already so frail and weak. Frankly the transition to becoming a Meishu was an intense process so how she could even take that at her age is beyond me. "So what you want to me to break their fountain? Disconnect them from the gods. Bold of you to assume I know how to do that."

"Break their fountain? No. The contents of a fountain is an extension of the gods as you know, but that's only one end of the connection. I see that Yabune hadn't taught you all." He said with a snicker.

"I don't understand." I said getting frustrated.

"The Meishu's only function as the head of temple is not just to see over the students and Masters and assure peace within their region. Their job is to make sure the connection between us and them is maintained. It takes a lot of our energy to keep it maintained because our realms are so far apart." He explained sitting back casually as the torches around us burned.

"Is that why you never leave this chamber?" I asked finally making sense of this all. He went silent as his eyes went from me to the fountain behind me. "Your silence is quite telling Rin."

"A Meishu typically only needs to tend to the connection once every year or so." He explained looking away from me.

"You're not typical." I stated blandly.

He sat back and I saw his face of shock and I had knew I had bested him. I tried to not smile or boast too much because the last thing I needed was him thinking I was trying to betray him. I also didn't want him thinking I was blindly on his side. I wanted him right inbetween.

I wanted him to continue thinking he had to prove himself to win me over. At the same time I also wanted him insecure enough to know he couldn't lie to me. I wanted him to be fighting for my loyalty and scared of me if he didn't get it. He was going to be forced to tell me the truth against his own free will.

"You made a big mess tearing open the fabric between realms, that's why you can't leave this room and why you want me to close it up so badly. It's overflowing." I pointed out.

"Indeed." He said with a sigh accepting he couldn't lie. "It started off needing to be repaired every season, then every month, and now it's gotten to be a bi-weekly occurrence. We used to struggle to keep it connected and now I'm trying to stop it from overflowing into this realm."

"What happens if it's left to overflow?" I asked.

"Our reality and theirs would collapse in on each other killing everyone. Something me nor my enemy wants." He said with a sigh.