“Hey… hey, wake up…”

“Mom, he’s not going to wake up just by you talking to him.”

“I already prodded him and nothing happened.”

“So do this.” A slight shifting sound followed, before a set of half gloved fingers pinched Iaeruki’s nose, and an identically gloved palm pressed over his mouth, blocking all means of oxygen intake.

The Teningen twitched, before his face scrunched; form shifting in place, before beginning to writhe. He squirmed, trying to breathe, until a hand flailed to bat at those of Asimenios’, form lurching upright once his air passages had been released.

Kaidona scowled at Asimenios, batting him in the head as he pulled back, before turning to Iaeruki, ears angled horizontally. “Eh, pardon the rude awakening. Other than that, how’d you sleep?”

The young prince blinked, rubbing at his face, which had been spotted with wayward bits of smoky fur from using Kemui’s side as a sort of pillow, before he suddenly sneezed, a strand having apparently found its way up his nose. He sniffed, rubbing at the appendage, before shaking his head, pushing rebellious pieces of silver hair from his face. “Far better than I am accustomed to, despite depriving myself of a proper supply of oxygen by mooshing my face into Kemui’s ribs.”

Those feline ears twitched, soon perking, and Kai-chan leaned back on her heels, flicking the end of her tail to the side, while her eyes flickered over to Kemui, who was just now awakening himself. “No dreams of any sort?”

Iaeruki shook his head. “No.”

“Hnn… Do you usually eat before going to sleep?”

Iaeruki blinked. “Er… no. I am not usually hungered beforehand.”

“Hmm…” Kaidona frowned, tapping a set of fingers to her jaw, while the opposite hand adjusted the sash around her head. Peering over to Kemui, who was yawning and standing up, she soon glanced at Asimenios, who’d apparently gotten bored enough to fiddle with a tattered portion of the hem of his vest. “How are your legs?”

“Hn?” Iaeruki blinked, visage turning somewhat muddled.

“Your legs. Are they still sore, or can you walk distances on them?”

Iaeruki blinked again, eventually fighting his way up onto his feet. Once standing, he wobbled a little, however easily remedied his poor balance by use of his wings. “I… believe I am capable of such travel by now.”

“Good. We’ve been here almost a week, and Asime has apparently explored all that he cares to.” As she spoke, Kaidona gestured towards her son, who suddenly stopped toying with his clothing and looked up once he felt eyes upon him.

“Eh?”

“See what I mean?”

Iaeruki stared at the spiny-headed lad a moment, looking around the area, before eventually peering down, giving himself a long, silent stare. He needed to find out just what happened those four days ago. He needed to know just why he was Teningen, instead of Ryuakurei. He had to find out how to get himself back to his original form, and had to restore himself at all costs.

…He needed to find himself a pair of pants. As soon as he finished processing that thought, he could feel his face heat up. Sure enough, a peculiar shade of crimson spread beneath his eyes, and he almost impulsively turned away from them both. Needless to say, he was nowhere near as lacking in modesty as Kai-chan, who’d had the title of resident nudist since she was a small child. His only problem was that he indeed had nothing to make himself decent with, seeing as Asimenios had no extra clothing, and Kaidona had nothing to begin with.

Contemplating this dilemma, Iaeruki frowned, shifting on his heels, and made way for the blood-stained clearing again, pausing by the water, only to be struck lightly in the head by the same weapons that were hanging there when he awoke four days ago. He stepped over to the side as he reached up to rub his head, turning to stare at them a long few moments, before finally recognizing them. Those were his sword and daggers! Shaking the bewildered look off his face, he reached up for his belt, unbuckling it, and pulled it off, setting it around his waist where it belonged, before reaching for his sword, unclasping that belt as well, and binding it to his back.

Making certain both belts were secure, the angelic young prince began to turn, before feeling a slight tug at his left shoulder blade, at which point he paused, turning to look back. Something was pulling on his wing from the low branch of another tree with quick, sharp jerks. As his eyes found the culprit, they narrowed on the small mass of claws, beady scarlet-pupiled eyes, and black feathers, before a deep growl rumbled in his throat, and he lashed a hand out to slap the raven-imp away.

The perverse little creature almost immediately let go and leapt back with a mischievous snicker, soon hopping higher up, only to drop down onto his head. It hopped as he shook his head, and ducked as he swiped, turning to wriggle its three feather-like tails in his face.

With an irate snarl, Iaeruki promptly snatched one of them, soon yanking the Karajaki off and flinging it into the lake. “Vile beast!” he spat, watching as it flailed to reach the water’s surface, before turning sharply on his heels and beginning to stalk back to camp.

He stopped mid-step through the brush, twitching the end of his previously offended wing, before curling it around to look at it, then the other. He stared at each of them in turn for what seemed a long while, until folding one over his shoulder in such a way that its outer joint pressed against his chest, and angled the rest of its length downward. Shifting it slightly, he inspected it a moment, before finding a comfortable position and folding the other one over in the same manner. It felt peculiar, but it was a good use for them, like a heavy, downy cloak that only concealed his front, which was its only major drawback. He could only hope the thick, thigh-length tresses he had adorning his head would be enough to finish the job and effectively veil his backside.

With a twitch of her ears, Kaidona turned from binding what few supplies she and Asimenios carried to Kemui’s back, idly stroking the side of his face as she looked back to see Iaeruki reemerge from the shrubbery. After a moment of staring, she registered that he’d folded his wings over in an attempt to make himself decent, and couldn’t help but chuckle a little at it. “Figured out an improper use for those wings, eh? That’s pretty creative, I must say.”

Iaeruki reddened a little at the comment, impulsively reaching to scratch his head, and shrugged, soon letting the same hand return to rest on the hilt of one of his daggers. “Well… shall we?” As the young feline offered him a blank look, he turned his attention about, as if in search of something, before finding what he was looking for and gesturing toward an unbeaten forest path.

“…As in, get going?” Asimenios added in effort to help his mother’s understanding along.

Kaidona turned from squinting at the path, blinking at them both, before eventually shifting on her feet, adjusting the sash around her head as she began off, tugging Kemui along. “Travel, yes, right. Pardon, my brain seemed to lapse a little bit.”

“It apparently does that a lot,” Asimenios muttered, stepping to follow at the smoky beast’s four tails.

“Now, now. No need to insult she who gave you life,” Iaeruki almost seemed to scold, taking a position by the large Guimou’s side.

“Through conjuring? What an exquisite way of offering existence.”

“It is still giving life, regardless of what way you may look at it.”

“And what about the soul she took to develop my sense of being?”

“I suppose one could understand it as offering a second chance to the deceased which the soul originally belonged to.”

“…Alright, that’s just creepy.”

Unable to help listening in as she half-guided Kemui along the trail, Kaidona snickered a little bit, glancing back between both men. “Don’t forget the amounts of energy both Lance and myself put into making you complete.”

“When you screwed up and left me with only a ribbon of flesh as my torso,” Asimenios snorted, scrunching his face at Kai-chan. “I still can’t explain how the hell I could breathe with no lungs and bleed with no heart.”

“At least you didn’t try to eat without a stomach or intestines, eh?”

“Or a liver, or kidneys, or a gall bladder, and everything else that’s needed for any natural being to function properly.”

“You are perfectly natural, Asime. I used only the elements and a stray soul to make you.”

“Oh yes, and that’s why I’m half a year older than you, yet consider you my mother and rest underneath your authority.”

“That’s part of the whole ‘obligation to your creator’ thing. It’s strange, but there’s nothing wrong with it.”

“Nothing wrong with it?! I’m glad you decided to make me too well educated for school! Otherwise I’d have been the laughingstock of the graduating class!”

“Only because most human beings are shallow and crude-minded.”

“Gee, thanks a lot. I feel so much better,” Asimenios grumbled sarcastically, adjusting the lengthy blade strapped to his shoulder and folding his arms.

“—And I really only conjured you at that age because I don’t trust myself to raise a small child into a decent person.”

“…That… that’s wonderful.” Asimenios dropped his head in exasperation, reaching to ruffle the array of white-tipped, silver spines atop his head, before adjusting the tie that held the rest of the mass in a knee-length tail.

“At least, not yet,” Kaidona added, scratching at her chin thoughtfully.

“Remind me to stay far away whenever you and dad decide to have kids the ‘old-fashioned’ way,” Asimenios muttered drily, contorting his face into an almost disgusted scowl.

“Don’t worry. If you don’t remember, I’ll probably frighten you away before I reach the later stages.”

“…Oh yeah. Real reassuring.”

-----

Evening rolled in shortly before the troupe reached the edge of the large forest, each of them stepping past the final tree line into marshlands, where the silence that befell them was finally broken.

“Hey, Iae. What’re you gonna do about your predicament?”

Iaeruki blinked, turning his head, as if to look through Kemui’s side at Kaidona. “Hn?”

“Y’know, suddenly being stuck as a Teningen, and all.”

“Well, first I intend to find the nearest settlement from here, and see if I cannot find any old myths floating around about the forest. I wish to find as many possible connections to this as I can, until I figure out just what transpired in there, and then seek a way to reverse it.”

“So the search for your sister is on hold again?”

An awkward pause held Iaeruki’s tongue, before he eventually nodded. “Indeed. ‘Twould be a frightening thing to find out your elder sibling is not what you expected them to be, I think.”

“Yeah… I guess you’ve got a point, there.”