Fate Draws Us Together

The man expressed his interest in hearing her play and the serious woman cracked a bit of a smile. She knew that he was being playful with her. She wasn’t entirely naïve. His playfulness was proven further when he admitted that he’d rather be accompanied by her while in Ashen. Ikigai’s smile grew a bit and she released a little sigh. “I’ll be heading out of the territory tomorrow and starting a journey to the southern tip of Auster,” she explained. It would be a long walk but by the time she made it there and back to Ashen, it would be time to head to Elysium. Quite a great deal of walking indeed. It was worth it though so that she could say her piece and be done with Hattori for good.

The woman wasn’t trying to hide information about her father. She simply didn’t like talking about him. He’d spurned them all and was the lowest of the low in Ikigai’s mind. Once she had her talk with him, she wouldn’t mind never seeing him again. It was her intent to let him know what he did and to let him know that they didn’t need him. Everyone was just fine, if not better, without his presence in Ashen. Deimos seemed to pick up on her distaste for talking about her father and brought up the fact that he wouldn’t be meeting the man. Ikigai saw through the man’s acting but answered anyway. “You will not be meeting my father as he is no longer a part of Ashen.” Her words were spoken very matter of factly as though it meant little to her, which wasn’t the case at all. “He abandoned his wife, his children and his pack to go hide in a forest like a coward. I hope he rots.” There was a little bit of fire in Ikigai after all.

Night had fallen and the den was rather dark. Ikigai rose and set about making a fire in the small hearth. A few sticks, a bit of kindling and a stroke of flint and steel had a merry little fire crackling away. Orange light illuminated the den, dancing on the stone walls. For whatever reason, Iki decided to overshare with Deimos. There was something about his demeanor that made her think he might understand. “I’ll be leaving first thing in the morning to travel to the forest where my father has holed up. He needs to be confronted and explain his poor decisions and cowardice.” It was very unlike the pale woman to be so aggressive, but Hattori brought that side out in her. He would hear her out or she would burn his bamboo forest to the ground.

"Ikigai"