Heavenfall

She rose again, nearly as tall as the branches of the enormous trees, harmless flames curling protectively around Phi. She bowed her head - somewhere between equine and dragon, with great antlers curling backward - and then turned away, bolting off into the afternoon, heading west. Her hooves barely...

Shinjo nodded. "Jade affects anything sufficiently infused with the essence of Jigoku. The logical step for shape-shifting creatures is to infiltrate, and what was reported did suggest she knew our customs and what we would respond to. I think your concerns are very sensible, Ninube-san."

She chuckled a little, despite the tension. "I know some people with more spunk than sense. Some of my siblings would claim I'm one of them." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, concentrating. Her form shifted and ghostly flames blazed to life around her, shifting and twisting to revealed he...

Shinjo waited once the meeting was over, at the very edge of the area they'd secured, peering west into the forest. Her posture was tense, arms folded. What was he thinking, running off alone like that...?

Aono heard her coming first, of course, and likely warned Miuna, but despite that, she still deliberately stepped in front of Miuna so she could see her before bowing, "Good morning Miuna-san. How are you?"

The tall woman smiled gently at her. There was worry in her eyes, but despite that, she put steady, reassuring hands on Phi's shoulders. "We will get him back safely."

She let go and nodded to her. "Go do what you wish to do. We have a few hours. I can find you quickly when I need to."

Shinjo worked her jaw. "No. Not yet. Wait a few hours. I have one thing to do, but after that, I can go with you. If I carry you in ki-rin form, we should be able to outpace him easily enough. If he turned from his path at all, we can search from there." She looked at the Crow. " You will be joining...

Shinjo listened to her, paused for a beat, then pressed her face into her hands. "... Idiot is probably the most apt description you've used for him this morning," she said with a groan. "Did he give any indication of which direction he was going?" Her eyes roved to the crow and pinned the creature ...

Shinjo entered and touched jade to her bare skin before settling down. Her meeting with Phi earlier already had her tense.

"Of course," she made sure to see that Phi's bare skin touched the jade before leading her inside the tent, speaking in a low voice once they arrived. "I see Karasu is with you... May I assume that Shinsei is 'that idiot', then?"

Shinjo hurried out of the tent, informed that Phi was there and looked like she was out for blood. "What's going on?" This wasn't the moment for pleasantries or preamble, clearly.

"I'm not sure there will be more available. We will have to take extreme care with what we have," she replied with a nod. "If our maps are functional enough from here, we should only be in the corrupted lands proper for six days total - enough for one portion of jade to wear down most of the way but...

"No, you're right about that." She nodded. "I think... We shouldn't allow more people to join. We apply the same standards to any who try - they must touch jade, a scout needs to keep an eye on things as they do. If they pass that test, we may tell them where to find safety if we know any from here....

"My apologies. It's been wearing on me, too. I suspect that part of what all of us want is to feel like we have some sense of control over the safety of the team in this disturbing situation. It's a natural reaction," she replied, rubbing her own forehead. "But our actual ability to control it is li...

Shinjo emerged to take a look at what was going on, as well. "Wow... You two have done an amazing job, there."

"So we do nothing and let Jigoku exploit that crack as well, Nanzi would rather be prepared. The forces will try to infiltrate us, they tried it to day and they will try again. This time it was the guise of a child who just happened to stow away, instead of suspicion everyone smiled and spoke how a...

"I just wonder how far we can go before security becomes paranoia, and yet another thing that Jigoku can exploit," she said. "Why make us paranoid if not to create cracks within our group?"

She nodded. "A variety of skills, but similar values."

"Code words wouldn't have stopped the swamp incident, and it would take less than an hour to discover them if our enemies are smart enough to listen," she replied, then ran a hand through her hair. "But fine. It's as good a method as we have available."

Shinjo nodded and gestured for him to join her where she sat on a rock overlooking the stream. She looked... tired. "Please go on, Nanzi-san."