The guest quarters assigned to Jia and Eui were easily the nicest accommodations that either of them had ever experienced. The room was as large as the entire house that they’d lived in back at the academy, consisting of a sitting room with a low table surrounded by cushions separated from the huge bedchamber by a sliding door partition. The bed was bigger than both of their old beds combined, and the mattress was so soft that Jia thought that she could happily just live out the rest of her days snuggled up with Eui in that bastion of softness. By far the best feature of their quarters, however, was the bathroom. It was almost as large as the bedchamber, with multiple heated shower formations—presumably imported from Goryeo—and stocked with an enormous array of soaps, salts, and perfumes. At the back of the room was a huge wooden tub filled to the very brim with steaming hot water. Apparently the people of Yamato took their baths very seriously.

After ‘meeting’ the shogun, Jia and Eui had parted ways with Hayakawa, who left to ‘be entertained’ by Lord Noguchi, promising that they would discuss more about their role in the diplomatic mission later. In the meantime, they’d been guided to their assigned quarters and were happily enjoying the accommodations. Eui let out a contented sigh as she soaked in the perfumed waters of the heated tub—which smelled like cherry blossoms.

“Ahh, I could get used to this.”

Jia nodded in agreement, revelling in the novel experience of being able to sprawl out while soaking in warm water. Though they’d been able to clean themselves with spells during their trip through the wilderness, the water felt like it was pulling dirt and grime out of her very soul.

“I wonder if they have baths this nice because of...you know. The corruption stuff.”

Eui hummed in response to Jia’s musing.

“Mmm, yeah probably. That makes sense. Works for me, though—this water is amazing.”

Jia nodded in response, letting herself sink down into the water until it came up to her nose. As she relaxed, her mind started to wander. Things were moving fast now that they’d returned to civilization—she had never imagined that she would find Takeda Rika so quickly, much less Hayakawa Kaede. She had mixed feelings about being recruited as diplomats, but a chance to reunite with her friends wasn’t something she could turn down. It also meant a chance to find her family again—and Eui’s—something else she had mixed feelings about. Jia felt Eui’s tail poking her cheek, breaking her from her reverie.

“What’s on your mind?”

Jia smiled—she knew that Eui didn’t really need to ask, but she appreciated that they still communicated normally as a couple even when they didn’t have to. Since their breakthrough into the third stage, they could sense each other’s thoughts, emotions, and even physical sensations as if they were their own. They had also begun to sometimes reflexively merge themselves into Yoshika—the line between Jia and Eui had grown quite fuzzy. Nevertheless, though either of them could easily tap into the other’s thoughts on a whim by merging, they still preferred to share their thoughts the old fashioned way when they could.

“Just a bit nervous about going back to Goryeo, I guess. I’m afraid of what I’ll find if I go looking for my own family. I’m worried about meeting yours, especially since...”

Jia trailed off, and Eui scowled in a way that Jia had long since started to find endearing as she rubbed idly at the scar above her right brow—the brand marking her as an exile.

“I didn’t get to talk to my parents much during or after my trial—but I want to think that they’ll still believe in me. Though...I’m a little bit worried about how they’re going to react to my banditry.”

Eui sighed, and Jia knew that she was just as nervous about the idea of seeing them.

“At least your family probably misses you. I don’t know if my sisters will even want to see me. Lee Jung probably hates me, and her daughter...I abandoned her when she was just a baby. If she knows who I am at all, she should hate me too.”

Jia sank into the water and blew bubbles miserably. She had sworn to find her family, but she wasn’t looking forward to it at all—they had every reason to hate her. Eui floated over to Jia and wrapped her in a tight hug—making Jia blush as she suddenly became intimately aware of their lack of dress.

“It’ll be okay, Jia. Whether our families welcome us or not, we’ll always have each other. Besides, we’ll be busy on our diplomatic mission or whatever—who knows when we’ll even get the opportunity to find them?”

Jia returned the embrace, despite her burning cheeks.

“I know, Eui. But we will find them. No matter what.”

Eui nodded, and they stayed like that for a while, until the skin contact became a bit too distracting for Jia to ignore. Though they had experimented, Jia was still not entirely comfortable with her sexuality, and had been slowly working her way up to it. She enjoyed her intimate moments with Eui, but she was also glad that Eui had been so gentle and patient with her mental blocks on the subject. After sharing a quick kiss, the two of them finished their bath and got dressed in their Yamato-style dress robes, feeling clean, refreshed, and smelling vaguely of flowers.

Back in the sitting room, they found a letter of invitation to a dinner in the main hall of the castle, informing them that they need only ask any of the maids to guide them there. Deciding it would probably be rude to refuse—and that they were interested in exploring the castle a bit more—Jia and Eui found a maid waiting for them outside of their rooms and accepted the invitation.

The maid led them to a large dining hall with one wall entirely open to the air, giving them a beautiful view of the garden. Another of those low tables was loaded up with a wide variety of unfamiliar dishes which nevertheless made Jia’s mouth water just from the look and smell. Lord Noguchi and Hayakawa Kaede were already present, kneeling primly on the cushions surrounding the table with a posture that looked anything but comfortable. Rika sat to the right of Hayakawa with significantly less care for her posture, while a few other guests that Jia didn’t recognize sat at a carefully neutral distance between Hayakawa and Lord Noguchi. Jia did a double take when she realized that the bald old man—the only one sitting as properly as Hayakawa—was the same person she’d sensed before with the powerful mana surrounding him. It was more subdued now, but the strange, seemingly mortal man still had an unusual air of power about him. Lord Noguchi raised a glass as they entered.

“Aha! Our foreign guests of honor! Please come sit with us! It’s not often that we have the opportunity to entertain half-spirit magi such as yourselves! I trust you’ve enjoyed your accommodations thus far?”

Jia bowed awkwardly, while Eui didn’t even bother. Unsure where to sit, Jia opted to just plop down next to Rika, with Eui following suit.

“Yes, the baths were lovely, thank you. Though I feel like I should mention that Eui and I aren’t just magi. Like Ha—Lady Hayakawa and Rika, we studied martial and spiritual arts as well.”

Jia noticed the old man’s attention on her as soon as she mentioned spiritual arts, but Rika’s boisterous laugh cut off whatever he might have been about to say.

“Haha! Jia’s always been too modest—not only do these two follow the same unified path that I do, they are the ones that invented it!”

Jia willed herself not to shrink from the suddenly focused attention of the entire table.

“U-um, I prefer to think that we discovered it. It was more of an accident, really.”

Lord Noguchi nodded along enthusiastically.

“I see, I see! How humble of you! I do have to wonder how a foreign practitioner’s interpretation of our martial traditions holds up.”

Jia bristled a bit at the implication, but Eui just shrugged.

“We trained directly under Master Ienaga Yumi, so there’s no reason our martial arts would be any different than yours. Frankly, even with just our martial techniques, either one of us could match any two people in this city—with the possible exception of Lady Hayakawa.”

Lord Noguchi’s eyes bulged at Eui’s bold claim, and a few of the other guests at the table began to protest loudly. Rika was failing to suppress a grin while Hayakawa simply sipped at her tea calmly. Of all people it was the old man who responded.

“That is a very bold claim, Miss An—though I’ve little doubt of its truth. Pardon me—my name is Hattori Koji, and I apologize for the late introduction. I see that you are still quite young, despite the power you have attained. You are right to be proud of that talent, but allow this old man to pass on a small piece of wisdom—one should not boast too brazenly, lest others take it as a challenge.”

Jia could sense that Eui was about to retort, and elbowed her in the side before her prickly girlfriend could start a fight. She offered Hattori a quick bow.

“Thank you for that, Master Hattori. We’ll take your words under advisement in the future.”

The old man smiled gently.

“Oh, I’m no master. Just a regular old man passing on his wisdom to the younger generation. I was a friend of Lord Noguchi’s predecessor, before he passed. There’s not an ounce of ki in my body, haha.”

Jia cocked her head curiously.

“Then what exactly is it I’m sensing from you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

The entire table went silent, except for the old man sighing heavily. Just when Jia was starting to think she’d violated some kind of cultural taboo, Lord Noguchi broke the silence with a sharp laugh.

“Ha! That’s what you get for underestimating a peer of our Lady Hayakawa, old man. Pardon our rudeness, Miss Lee. Onmyouji like Hattori here tend to prefer to keep their status hidden, as otherwise they get an uncomfortable amount of attention from common folk who hope to turn the ear of a kami to solve all their problems.”

Hattori sighed and nodded.

“Indeed, my apologies once again—I am rather surprised that you noticed, though. My shikigami normally hide their presence well within their talismans.”

Jia shrugged.

“It was just kind of a feeling. Besides, we could sense you meditating earlier and you had more power around you than anyone else in the castle.”

He chuckled lightly.

“Is that so? Well, I’m flattered but as you said, I doubt I’d be a match for either of you.”

Lord Noguchi’s face lit up and he snapped his fingers as if he’d just had a brilliant idea.

“That’s it! What about a demonstration? After dinner, we can move on to the dojo and have a few bouts for entertainment! Nothing serious, of course, just a bit of fun. What do you say?”

Jia hesitated, but Rika seemed enthusiastic about the idea as she nudged her in the side with an elbow.

“Oh, come on, Jia. It’s been two years since we’ve seen each other! A chance to show off could be fun! I want to see how much you’ve grown—eh, figuratively speaking.”

Rika’s mischievous grin told Jia that the comments about her height were intentionally provocative, and she scowled a bit before relenting with a sigh.

“Fine, I guess I don’t mind. What about Lady Hayakawa, though? Shouldn’t she have a say in this?”

Naturally, Jia didn’t really care what Hayakawa thought about it, but it seemed appropriate to at least keep up appearances. Hayakawa, who had been quiet for most of the dinner, met Jia’s eyes with a surprisingly serious expression.

“I’m curious as well. Our last match wasn’t very satisfying, wouldn’t you agree?”

Jia swallowed nervously under Hayakawa’s intense gaze. What had she gotten herself into?