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Shou took a moment to breathe deep, just staring out into the yard through dusty windshield of their stolen car. The pine trees were always flourishing and green, warm in the summer and snow speckled in the winter. Her ears twisted on her head and she found herself remembering things that had lain forgotten for ages.

Like the time she climbed a tree, and ended up breaking her arm when a branch snapped... Or that one blistering summer day, when her parents had first inflated the kiddie pool to break the worst of the heat. Of course, heat wasn't a problem she would have trouble with now... No, the danger rested in the cold. She was used to a thick coat protecting her from the snow, but even now the scales on her back felt cool, as if they were sapping the heat from her body. In a rush, years of memories of playing in the snow rushed through her, and she found herself gripped by the sudden worry that she might never have that pleasure again

A voice flitted through her mind, as familiar as her own, and absolutely unlike anything she'd heard in years. Well now, it's about time! I thought you were delaying! Do hurry and put away your precious food, I shall be most cross if you've forgotten our arrangement.

Cold numbness spread through her belly and the smile vanished. Kalokin layered himself through Shou's clothes, squeezing the wolf comfortingly before speaking up, projecting his soul-voice outwards. Who and where are you? It's been a long week, and I'm not in the mood for Wanderers.

Shou grasped tightly at Kalokin, getting out of the van to stand up straight and tall. He warded off the worst of this odd feeling of unease, but unnatural fear gripped at her. It felt almost familiar to when she'd first met Nikolak... waves of unease had rolled off of the black amalgamate when she'd first met her. She'd felt it before Nikolak though

*Oh yes, Kalokin, you may yet be unaware, but we have met - or at least, I know of you. Just as I know of your siblings. However, I'm being quite the poor host, terribly rude. I am Isamu, written with the characters for 'courage'. Do explain what I mean, Pixie.*

Shou nearly flinched when that feminine voice slipped through her mind. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound escaped her lips. It seemed words had abandoned her, and she scowled a little bit, ears pinned back as anger overtook fear. She was frustrated with all of the strange half-hiding and cryptic answers from a disembodied voice. This was her home, and she would not let some spook make her feel a stranger on her own land. Her fur floofed up in irritation as she organized her thoughts.

"It involves the characters used to write the word in another language. Just like my name is written using the characters for 'Great' and 'Fairy', together it reads as Shouyousei and means 'Pixie'" Turning back towards her house, she shouted "Now come out of hiding, would you!"

There was a chuckle, and the air shimmered slightly. Both mortals and deities were suddenly able to see a the form of a male wolf leaning over the railing. It wasn't as if he had appeared from nothing; rather, it felt like he had been there all along, and they had only just become able to see him. Bright blue eyes with the same shade and shape of Shou's own stared back at them, and gazing into them, Shou paled as if she'd seen a ghost. His fur was black with only a trace of grey along his throat, and he wore a loose white t-shirt and a simple pair of jeans. With a faint waver to her voice, Shou choked a question out.

"D-dad..?"

Khaesho slithered over and coiled a loop or two of his body around Shouyousei. It was a tad possessive, but the gesture was meant more as a silent show of support. He was here and he had her back.

"Not quite, but I am quite willing to indulge your questions. This shape is taken because it is... easier. Please don't attack before I have had time to explain."

Of course, wayward spirits were a serious matter. Any soul that failed to make the great journey often became a bitter, twisted, violent shell of its former self. While it normally wouldn't be a threat, Kalokin and Nikolak had been through tumultuous change recently, and

Kalokin manifested as full of a form as he could, draping himself around Shouyousei much like a cape, mostly just to be polite. Nikolak joined him, pouring forwards as a crackling ember of a wolf. She put more effort into it this time, making her first attempt at a formal manifestation; no clothing, and no need for them. More of a fire and less of a wolf.

The male wolf chuckled a little as he watched the four of them, the two spirits, a once-wolf, and a Naga. He stared for several long moments at Shou and Khaesho, observing her and then he sighed, almost dramatically. When he spoke this time, his voice carried the soft rise and fall of sandtongue, the exact dialect of the Naga language that they'd taught Shou.

*Seven generations I prepared and watched over my flock, and when one is born that is finally right, she's stolen away by another great demon before I can sink my claws within her! Terrible shame, but my, what an interesting twist you've given her... you are quite the artist, Kalokin.*

Shou opened and closed her mouth, terribly confused as she clutched tightly at Khaesho, that gnawing numbness sinking through her muscles again. It wasn't quite like fear, it was... she didn't have words for it, but it was clogging her throat. It was uncomfortable and like slogging through mud and she did not like it. Though she managed to gasp her next words.

"Y-you... you speak serpent's tongue, h-how..?"

"Why? That is simple, Shouyousei! I speak it because you do."

Kalokin propped his chin on Shou's head, regarding Isamu with an icy grin. "Isamu? You are proud, to compare yourself to us. We have destroyed entire worlds and swam through oceans of blood. I daresay I could handle you without trouble, even without drawing upon Nikolak for strength. You must be weak indeed to have escaped my notice." The black in Kalokin's eyes grew darker, until they seemed to swallow the light, patches of infinite void against icy pale scales. Nikolak's white eyes burned with similar derision; they were playing the intimidation game here, and she continued where he'd left off. "That aside, I refute your claim that I have 'stolen' her. I found no mark or claim upon her soul, and she gave of it willingly. Any claim you might have had to her is lost."

A sliver of mirth slipped through Isamu's pale blue eyes, but he played through, cool and unconcerned. "Ah, but my claim is plain as the nose on her face. Or shall I say - her eyes?"

He was smiling, seemingly amused and good natured. He remained leaning on the railing of the porch, watching the four of them. The smile didn't fade, but his body tensed with wariness, like a rabbit staring down a wolf. Neither he nor the protectors moved for a moment, until he inclined his head some.

"And bear in mind, attacking me would not go so well for your pup there. You still haven't figured out to cure her, have you?" Guilt sliced through Kalokin's soul, heavy enough for even Shou to feel it. "Oh... you didn't even tell her? Shouyousei, you're barren."

Pain rocked the wolf to her core. For some reason she couldn't quite pin down, she knew he was telling the truth. Fantasies of a family, of a future with Khaesho... a future she'd sacrificed her body for the chance to obtain, shattered in that moment, but only for the moment.

"You are right, the claim I had to her is lost... You got to her first. But, you'll need my help if you ever want her to bear children. So, if you'd relax, I would tell you the story of how I came to be, and how Shouyousei came to have those... extraordinary eyes."

Shou was whined softly, ears half-perked and eyes narrowed. She remembered an old story, passed through their family. The mere idea of it, she clutched tighter to Khaesho and ducked against his coils some. "Are you suggesting what I think you are...? But that was just a bedtime story!" She looked between Khaesho and Isamu, concerned. That was just an old family legend... but there's a reason legends never die.

Isamu didn't seem to be a threat, and he had acknowledged that Shou was beyond his grasp. The aura of malice faded from Kalokin's form, and he settled more comfortably around Shou's shoulders.

"I see no harm in hearing your story, so long as all you try to do is talk." Quietly, he whispered into Shou's ear. "Shou... do you recognize this... Isamu? How does he know you?"

She whispered back to him before Isamu began his tale. "...yes, and no. Dad told me a bedtime story as a kid about our family, and how a few generations back to protect his only daughter, a man made a deal with a demon. That is he could overcome his fear, he would protect his family, but in return he had to be given something of equal value. For the gifts given to the family, he could choose one that would be his. The sign of his favor was to be the color of our eyes. Dad had them, and so did Grandma... In fact, most of the pictures in the house show at least one person in our family with eyes like mine... but I've never seen them anywhere else..."

She was frowning unhappily at this demon, she did not like the idea of this. There was concern that he did have a claim. Though she knew he certainly wouldn't have the power to take her from Khaesho, let alone Kalokin. The one called Isamu laughed and inclined his head; apparently, no whisper of hers was beyond his ears.

"You are not far off, pup. But there is more to the story - to the truth of the matter. It started over four hundred years ago with a wolf named Kisei, the son of a branch family of your clan. He was powerful in his own right, and he used his political clout well. But he was afraid, his wife - a pretty little wolf - could not conceive. Young and bored I decided an experiment was in order. I approached Kisei with a deal. If his wife could overcome the fear I gave her, she could birth healthy young."

Isamu tilted his head back and forth, cracking his neck as he continued. "She passed my test and overcame her fear. Nine months later, to the day, she birthed a healthy boy... but the child was saturated with my essence. He was more mine than Kisei's. And so it has continued. Each generation, one of your line is born with my eyes, unable to conceive an heir, if not for my assistance. After three generations, I slipped into the background until they all but forgot me for a story. I have long since realized my folly in meddling. But how could I let a family suffer for it?"

"I am - originally at heart - a house spirit. A protector of the land, of the heart. When her ancestors journeyed to this brave new land, they carried me with them. I give them fear so they can overcome it. I give them fear so they know they are alive. I give them fear so that they may fight and grow stronger for it. That is my blessing. You are correct, Kalokin, I could not stand against you, or even against the Pup if she turned her fury to me, but what I want has long since ceased to matter. The first child of every generation has always been more mine, down to every cell in her body, than her parents. That is why I know the Serpent's tongue, and that is how I know of you and your bond with the Gods, Shouyousei. While my strength was diminished, stretching so far from her home, I have been keeping watch over her since the moment she was born, when I saw she had her father's eyes."

"And how could I not make a study of those who took my precious charge away from me? Not that she needs me anymore, she has you to make her strong. That said, only I can alleviate her curse."

Khaesho's voice was curious, more intrigued than incredulous. He wasn't quite sure he believed this spirit; he had faith that Kalokin could break any 'curse.' "An interesting story... it might even be true. Answer me this though, why have you spoken up now? Actually, if you are to be believed, why have you spoken up at all? By your own words, you are not bound to her, nor she to you. Why do you speak your part? More importantly than that... what are you going to do now, or what are we going to do with you?"

"I intervene because she is still my pup, and I have my parental pride. She is part of the family I have watched over for over for half an eon. You trespass here, on her ancestral ground, ignorant of her past. I wanted to assure myself of her safety. Is it so difficult to believe in my affection for her, as I have been bound to her family for so long? It really is quite that simple, I assure you."

Isamu's smile had softened some, and he watched the four of them with an almost fondness. His physical form was quite transparent compared to the solid shapes the two God's held. He cradled his chin in hand as he stared at them.

"I also speak my part to have a chance to tell her goodbye. Wolves are hopelessly sentimental." He was grinning, but it was a sad kind of grin. With the chain broken, he had no way to sustain himself short of preying upon the innocent, and the proud wolf looked resigned to fade into nothingness before that.

Shou wasn't sure what to think, not at all. She nestled up in Khaesho's coils, mouth half moving as she tried to wrap her head around everything.

Nikolak's frown spoke more than enough about her mood though. She took a few steps towards Isamu and sighed. "Unfortunately, things aren't that simple. Shouyousei may not belong to you anymore... but this land clearly does. You have been here long enough that your soul has seeped into the land itself, and that is likely the only thing that kept you alive. You... appear to be benevolent, which is a first in my dealings with demons, but it stretches my imagination that you would let us take your home as well as your daughter. We need safety and shelter, such that you would not be able to give without being cast adrift."

Isamu stepped down off the porch and approached the group, sensing that all hostile intents had faded. He reached up and ruffled his fingers through the mane of fur on his head, exactly the same way Shou did.

"I am a house spirit, but I am not the only one. There are many of us, scattered across the earth. As you noted, some of our kind are less than polite, but they are only the most noticeable. I imagine you've brushed shoulders with others, and took no more notice than a freight train would notice a mouse, unless that mouse dared to try and halt the freight's progress."

Kalokin lifted off of Shou's shoulders and drifted over to tap Nikolak on the shoulder. "If I may be so bold as to suggest an alternative none of you have yet considered. Isamu is an element of fear, just as you are, my dear. Why not simply meld him to your spirit?"

"Excuse me?" She turned to him, almost offended.

"Isamu would get to keep his land and Shou, his only family, and you would gain invaluable knowledge about Civilized life and Shou's past, and the two of you could co-operatively find some solution to her curse, I'm sure." He was, as ever, calm, cold, and factual. His voice floated with that little tinge of arrogance, that faintly condescending tone of superiority that was so intrinsic to his voice.

"Care for your tongue, serpent. I am no nightmare to prey on children in the dark. My name and my element are Courage. I give my charges fear so that they may know courage and grow stronger." He turned to Nikolak and nodded. "You and I are alike, in that regard, though it seems you haven't realized that yet. Fear is not something you should hide from, or run from, or bury. Fear is something to be faced and conquered, so that your charges emerge stronger."

While Nikolak thought over that nugget of wisdom, Isamu looked to Shou and Khaesho. "I had thought of wandering, but your wraith speaks true. This land is my home, and I wish not to put it behind me. Before I accept though, tell me more of this... melding, Kalokin spoke of."

Nikolak shuddered, but Kalokin let the silence stretch until she worked up the nerve to explain it. "It isn't something sudden. It won't hurt, and it isn't at all like consumption, as some books would call it. It simply is as he called it... Melding. Our spirits would meld, until they became one. Your consciousness would remain separate. A voice in the back of my head, you would see and feel everything I ever did, hear everything I ever thought... and then that's it. You would learn all my memories, and I yours, and that's all that would happen today. After ten years of shared experiences, we would start to pick up similar character traits. After fifty years, you would likely lie immersed in me, and only ever pull your voice separate if Shou or someone who knew you asked specifically to speak to you. After 200 years, or 500 years or a millennia or two, you'll stop and realize that there's only one voice in your head, and it's yours. You'll think back, and remember that we started off as different people, but you'll never quite be able to remember when two voices became one." She shifted into a Naga's form, but a uniquely haunting form that only she could become. Each of the hundreds of scales on her body bore a face, and each face whispered their name. Not Nikolak, nor Belluosus, but the name that soul had once, before it was consumed. "Long ago, my heart was filled with anger, and I was naught but a nameless beast of hate and rage. With Shouyousei's help, we have purged that evil from my heart. Now I remain, as Nikolak, the collective. Uncounted thousands of souls call my name their home, but they are a singularity, as surely as ten billion drops of water form a single rainstorm."

She extended her hand, and the scales began to shift. Each face now stayed only long enough to whisper a name long forgotten before being replaced, an unending river of sound as beautiful and haunting as the black, moonless night. "To join us is to surrender your identity. It is a small, simple, safe price, a rising wake that will erase all of your regrets. Not once will you think that you made the wrong choice, but you will have such an opinion because your personality, who you are at your core will change. Is that a price you would pay? To spend the rest of Shou's life at her side? To help bring children to her house?"

Isamu caught Shouyousei's eye, and for just that moment, she saw through to his soul. She saw her parents, her grandparents, her ancestors stretching back generations, all through the eyes of a warm hearth and a happy home. She saw the pain of her parents passing, still so fresh in his mind, and the loneliness of a decade spent waiting for Shou to come home. And beneath that, she saw the fire in his wolfen heart, the determination to never let himself or Shouyousei go through that again.

Isamu smiled faintly to her; whatever he saw in her eyes, he approved. "I accept, Nikolak. How can you accomplish this... Melding?" Nikolak's breath caught for a moment as she shifted out of the beautiful nightmare and back into her firey wolf getup. She took his hand and held it. "Close your senses and reach out with your soul. Think about Shouyousei... her laugh, her smile. Think of your love for her, and then reach for her through me."

Isamu nodded, and his form lost definition. He faded into a cloud, then slid into Nikolak's palm, then into her heart. When the last whisper of his soul had slid into hers, Nikolak spasmed violently, and Isamu launched back out of her, gasping and clutching at the grass.

"Isamu!" Shouyousei all but leapt from Khaesho's coils to try and hold him, but he was ephemeral, and her hands slid through him like water through a cloud. "Nikolak, what happened? What went wrong?" Nikolak had paled slightly, her form losing definition as well, but she retained enough composure to reply. "No, Shou, nothing went wrong. His mind just opened to five thousand years of memories, not all of them good. It takes a while to adjust... just give him some time." To Isamu, she placed a hand on his back. "Focus. Don't think. Examin the here and now. The house is as you remember, just like the grass. Shouyousei stands behind you, eager to be welcomed home. Focus on the here and the now, I can help you sift through my history later.

It took a minute or so of held breath, but Isamu's form coalesced into the ghost he had been. Then, drawing more power from Nikolak, he solidified into a proper manifestation for the first time in his existence. "I can feel... everything... Shouyousei..." He turned and threw his arms around her, hugging her tight against his chest. "Welcome home, my girl."

Shou hugged him tight, tears springing from her eyes. The strength of his arms, the smell of his fur... try as she might to remember that this was Isamu, it felt like her father hugging her close. She squeezed him back, sobbing quietly from all the pent up emotion. After she got herself together enough to snuffle out a few words, she pulled back from the hug... but not so far back that her hands left his shoulders. "You... You smell just like dad did."

He nodded, his eyes meeting with Nikolak's over her shoulder. "Give credit to your friends for that. It's apparently quite difficult to make a manifestation that smells like anything, but Nikolak insisted on nothing but the best for you." Shou looked back at Nikolak, who offered a sheepish grin and a shrug, before tearing up again and grabbing her long-lost 'father' into a hug again. He sighed as he held her, and then he shifted. To her grandfather, or her great grandfather, or further back. He was still familiar, still clearly a family relative, but he wasn't the exact same anymore. "All I could give you is a moment, Shou. I'm not the wolf you knew as your father."

She mumbled something indeterminable and wiped her eyes clean with a paw. "Yea, I-I know... but you're still family, Mu..."

He chuckled and ruffled her hair. "And here I wondered if you even remembered that nickname. It's good to see you again, pup." Khaesho slithered over and put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back to reality for a moment. "Shou, Nikolak and I are going to get started putting up groceries and cleaning the house. You and Isamu take all the time you need to catch up, okay? Just remember to come inside when it gets dark, I don't want you catching a chill." Shou nodded and stood up long enough to grab him in a hug. With a whisper, she squeezed him. "Thank you for bringing me home. I'll add it to the list of things that never would have happened without you."

He chuckled softly and squeezed her back, nibbling her ear for a moment before turning to get to work. As she watched him leave, Isamu called over her shoulder. "Now what's this I see on you? I've heard that dying and staining your fur is all the rage these days, but scales? Lord, Shouyousei."

She laughed at the gruffness in his voice; he sounded just like a disapproving parent. She took Isamu's hand and found a place to sit and watch the night rise, sun vanishing west behind the mountains.