Akuji set his spear against one of the columns surrounding this room. Or space, he corrected himself. There weren't really any rooms, per se, in this whole castle. Just a collection of spaces meagerly delineated by a wall, or a certain collection of chairs. The odd kitchen appliance, a rug.

Except this room. This, in the best sense of the word, the only true room in the castle. And she lay within. She of the shortish, raven hair. Young...So eternally young.

There was a set of one hundred, nineteen columns that were placed around the central area. Akuji scowled at each in turn as he passed. A new one constructed itself in perfect sequence with the rest every week. If Akuji were more of an art collector, he would have stared for hours in complete awe and fascination at the intricacies carved thereon. He was not, so the only thing he saw them as was an obstruction of the view.

Each was almost a complete story. Almost, for the story that each told led, in some way, to the next, and also held abundant information about the last. Each spoke of countless dangers and even more countless perils. All of which were bravely undertaken by him.

Akuji? No, not him. He would have laughed in derision for such a remark. Then he would have killed you summarily. But since the good reader is far from his prying eyes, the most expected from Akuji is the tight sneer that curled it's way across his thin, flawless face.

No, the stories written on all those columns were about him. Shiro Daiou. Of course that wasn't his real name. He had a name, one that his mother had given him at birth. One that he knew was his own. Akuji didn't know that name. It was good for Shiro that he didn't, for it would have been much easier to kill him if he did. That's the problem with heroes. Well, one problem of many.

That is; the less they realize their position AS hero, the better they tended to be at it. And this one was nauseatingly, spectacularly good at it. Akuji had already had him blown up on three separate occasions and still Shiro managed a way out of each.

Akuji ran his hand over the nearest column. The columns were magic, of course, as nonmagical columns don't generally build themselves in a week. Akuji could also feel the mixture of radiated warmth that mimicked living tissue with the coolness of the engraved stone. So her...So like her.

A short burst of laughter escaped his lips. It was a humorless, hollow laugh that echoed through the darkness around him. Akuji stepped around the column, his gray eyes turning more invariably inward. Down three short steps to the center of the room. In the center was a depression set into the stone. In that depression resided a pool of burning liquid. Its fires seared the flesh from his hands on more than one occasion, and like any child, Akuji had learned to look and not touch.

At times, Akuji would simply lounge on the topmost stair, his back resting against a column, watching the fire dance and play like thousands of errant puppies in a field of wildflowers. The nature of the liquid was a mystery to Akuji and would remain so until that accursed Shiro arrived. The subtle irony of the whole thing was that, while Akuji was no longer trying to kill him, Shiro was more than capable of getting himself killed trying to get here. The small, downward turn of his lips would have frozen the hearts of his minions in the terror that his ire would be drawn towards them. Luckily, the only person to see it was also the only person he could never do without.

Her.

She rested quietly in the center of the liquid. Neither in the liquid, nor out, but somewhere in between. The quiet look of sleep that belied the careful surges of power that crept out every now and again. It was these surges that built the columns. It was that power that kept Akuji at bay and that same power that he ultimately longed for.

Akuji shuddered reflexively as a surge flowed through him. He looked to his left as soft scrapings could be heard. The columns were adjusting themselves. Making room for another. Akuji scowled. He had dallied too long. It may have been his favorite place, but that did not excuse laxity.

Akuji called for his spear and it sailed from it's resting place to his familiar, comfortable grasp as he strode from her tomb.

There was work to be done.

***

Another explosion could be heard in the distance as she lay gasping for breath on the cool, wet sand. She rolled over onto her back and watched her breath escape into the night air, softly floating towards the stars before disappearing. A soft, rasping chuckle from her right drew her attention. She lolled her head to look at the blonde who was chuckling in between gasps for breath from her hands and knees.

"I told you to blow the ship AFTER we made the deal, you nit!" another, softer voice spoke from her left.

"Oh shove it Rei," the blonde gasped.

The blonde collapsed on the ground and lay there, panting.

"Well, you almost hurt poor Ranma here. And she isn't immortal either," Rei continued.

"I know, I know," the blonde said, regretfully, "Ranma, I'm sorry, but they were teasing me..."

Ranma reached up and felt a lump starting to rise on the side of her head. She began to rise to a sitting position, but the throbbing became worse and she lay back down.

Pretty tender too, must've hit it when I hit the ceiling, she thought.

"Ikari, we've GOT to help you with that temper of yours," Ranma squeaked out.

Seeing that Ranma was having problems, the blonde moved over to her and sat up nearby. She helped Ranma to a sitting position and held her close. Ikari rocked back and forth slightly and sung softly in the ancient language of her tribe. A soft glow filled the night air and Ranma could feel the lump on her head settle to a soft bruise, then the bruise vanished slowly back from where it had come. Ranma could feel the soft words stop in her head, but the flow of light continued as other, unknown bruises and cuts healed themselves. Ranma could also feel herself losing consciousness as the healer magic generally made her want to sleep.

Rei cleared her throat.

"That's not exactly what I meant, Ikari," She said, barely holding in her jealousy, "And you don't need to hold her so close to heal her either."

Ranma's eyes snapped open and, while she couldn't move her head due to Ikari's iron grasp, she could feel the...Softness, against which her head was resting. Ranma began to feel the blood rise in her cheeks and she pushed herself away from Ikari.

The soft, magical glow fell away as Ranma rubbed the sleep from her mind. She yawned quickly and took several deep breaths. Ikari yawned herself and stood. She walked to the brunette that was seated on a small sand dune not far from the two.

"Do you need any help, Kinkaku-san?" Ikari asked her plaintively.

Rei picked up her foot, which she had put back together earlier, and squished it onto the end of her left leg. Ranma grimaced as the bones could be heard knitting themselves back together. The click and clack of the bones meshed with the snap and pop of the tendons and muscle.

"No Ikari," Rei said, "I am immortal, remember? But it still doesn't mean that I like putting myself back together every time you get honked off."

Ikari threw out her hand in front of her in half a prayer.

"Sorry."

Ranma swallowed the bile that rose as the popping of sinew continued. Something occurred to her and she reached into her coat and pulled out a small leather pouch. Anything to keep her mind occupied while Rei reattached appendages. Ranma ran the pouch around in her hands, checking for damage. She breathed a sigh of relief, as the hard leather seemed undamaged. Ranma opened it up and poured out the water that had collected inside. She pulled out the little pieces of metal and examined them.

Between both full moons and the fire from the still burning ship offshore, she felt that she could pretty fully examine the pieces for damage. The first piece was a largish wheel. It was completely flat on one side and Ranma could tell it was slightly convex in shape. The other side was covered with runes and instructions that Ranma couldn't read. She had tried, many times. Between her knowledge of Japanese, the language she was born with and English, which had been forced upon her at the various schools that her father had forced her into, it gave her a wide knowledge of lettering. But these symbols...

Ranma had to remind herself that these symbols were an ancient form of Ikari's tribal language. Even Ikari couldn't read them. Ranma took the etameran cloth out of the pouch and shook the water from it. It still fascinated her to look at it in the light, how the water beaded on its' surface and rolled away like tears from a baby. Of course, her current clothes were also made from etameran cloth as well, which would account for the fact that they were dry. Her hair may not be, but the rest of her was at least.

She dried each piece of the machine as she examined it. First the disc, wiping the dirt and particles from it. Next was an egg-shaped bit of metal that was no larger than a robin's egg. Ranma pulled at the ends of the egg and it opened with a springy resistance, like two magnets attracting each other. A small puddle of water splashed to the ground. Ranma wiped the insides of the egg dry with the cloth and checked the spring action of the egg. It clasped together as it should and Ranma set it with the disc.

The next piece was a smaller, bent section of metal that she could clasp onto the bottom disc and attach to the next piece, which was a shaft of interwoven metal into the center of which the egg would sit. Ranma dried each piece and replaced them in the pouch which had a liner of etameran cloth and was therefore dry as well.

"Are you done playing with that thing?" Ikari asked.

Ranma looked at her. Ikari Pintogahazureru was her name. A pain in the ass was her game. She was tall for one thing. Taller than Ranma even in his male form, and he didn't really know how to react around her. At times, Ikari intimidated her and Ranma still didn't know how to react to that, even if it had been almost a year since Ranma had met her. For one thing, she was always angry at something, and more often than not, it was Ranma. She put her hands on her hips and just stared at the red-haired girl in front of her.

Her blonde hair took on a whitish tinge in the blue-silver moonlight and was tied back in a ponytail with a strange device. Kind of like a clamp that tightened with the surrounding air pressure so that it was always tight on the head and never, therefore, would need adjustment.

Ranma absently touched her own. Ikari straightened the belt on her robe and continued to fix Ranma with a noselong glare. Her robe ended just after her bottom, and the leggings began just below her waist. Ranma knew because they were just like her own. Except hers were green, Ikari's were blue. Ranma frowned inwardly. She had come this far in two short years. Now she didn't even have a problem wearing women's clothing…

Ranma placed the pouch back in her coat and began to put her boots on.

"I'm just waiting for Rei to get herself together," Ranma said, raising an eyebrow at her.

"I'm ready," Rei said, bouncing up next to Ranma.

Ranma sighed lightly and got up, her muscles still singing from the explosion on the ship. The healing that Ikari performed may have healed her wounds, but it never did anything for the soreness. Ranma put her coat on and followed Ikari as she stomped off towards the base camp with a flip of her hair. Ranma looked to Rei.

Rei Kinkaku smiled back at her under raven black hair. Same as Akane's, except hers was nearly down to her waist. Rei had more of a round face than Akane, but was nearly identical in every other way. Same general body shape, larger breasts though. Ranma smiled sheepily back at the thought and dropped her head back to the trail. Rei shifted her belt around and replaced the short scabbard back in its place near the small of her back. The jumpsuit she wore stretched tightly across her chest as she did this and Ranma brought his focus more forward to keep from thinking about it. Yes, Ranma had a bigger chest and everything, but she was used to it. Rei's or Ikari's, however...

"Hang on a second Ranma," Rei said, putting a hand on Ranma's shoulder.

She stopped and Rei balanced herself on her left leg. She twisted and there was a slide-pop as her foot slipped back into joint. Ranma grimaced again and Rei giggled lightly at her.

"Do you HAVE to do that with me?" Ranma asked.

"And if it pains me to walk back to base camp rather than FIX it?" Rei teased him.

Ranma hemmed and hawed a little, but had to agree. Rei Kinkaku and all her tribe were immortal. Something like a genetic anomaly many generations ago, Ranma didn't know the specifics. What it meant was that she went on adventures with Ranma like it was nothing indeed. She'd already been blown up twice on this quest, following Ranma around like some kind of puppy. Ranma couldn't complain. She was always there for her. Bandaging her wounds, defending her against the all the weird tribes that wanted Ranma's head for some reason or other. She seemed to Ranma like a combination of Ukyou and Shampoo. Unfortunately, she was also very much in love with Ranma as well.

One other thing that Rei's tribe had was the gift of truesight. Which meant that Rei saw Ranma without her curse. Rei's grandfather had foreseen what Ranma was doing in this world and had sent Rei with her to see her through to the end. Ranma liked Rei's grandfather. A sensei that Ranma could have really looked up to.

Rei was also one hell of a fighter. She was twice the swordswoman than Ranma could ever hope to be and she didn't have much compunction against using it. She very much thought that Rei was as good with the blade as Ranma was without it. Hell, she even had ki-based attacks using her blade. The long, wicked looking blade made Ranma shudder every time she drew it. She had been trying to get Rei to knock bandits out or disable them rather than kill them as she normally did. Ranma stopped trying after the last group. They had attacked without warning and one of them had knocked Ranma out and almost...

Ranma pulled her coat around her as she shuddered.

"Are you cold?" Rei asked, drawing closer.

Ranma shook her head. She didn't want to give Rei any opening. She may have been a good friend, but she was also as opportunistic as any of his other fiancés.

So much was still strange in this world...And Ranma had been here for almost two whole years, or had it been two whole years? Ranma didn't know. One thing she did know was that for all that time, she'd been stuck in this form. She sighed to herself.

The trail reached up and over a small hill. On the other side of the hill they had set up a small fire the night before, which had been brought down to embers for their little side trip to the boat, which still backlit the horizon offshore. Ranma looked up at Little Brother as she made her way into camp.

The smaller moon circled slowly around the larger moon, Big Brother, in a two-month cycle. Ranma didn't much like to look at Big Brother, as the face changed every time you looked at it. People said it was because the life on the surface was like any other life and kept moving. Ranma wondered what could live on the moon like that. Of course, Big Brother also had an atmosphere, as she understood it. Little Brother, however, was serenely devoid of life, just like her own moon. And that comforted Ranma in some little way.

Ikari had brought more wood out from the surrounding forest and was trying to get the fire going again. Ranma shook her head in wonder. There was such a dichotomy in this new world. The cultures of this world had such great technology at one point. It had folded in on itself millions of years ago and the people now regarded it with the same reverence as Ranma would a microwave oven back on her world.

Naturally, the things that lasted the longest seemed to be weapons. This disgusted Ranma as she sat down on her brushpile bed. The featheroot swished slightly under her and settled into shape to accommodate her. Ikari began swearing lightly to herself as she worked on the fire. Rei sifted through her pack as she sat on Ranma's right and handed a molin to Ranma. Rei seemed to live on these things. She smiled and Ranma took it, now seriously wanting to help Ikari get the fire started.

Ranma sighed and looked at her molin. It looked to Ranma like someone freeze dried a faerie, each one always more hideous than the last. They didn't taste bad, in fact, they reminded Ranma of those little beef sticks he used to get at the pharmacy near Tofu's clinic. Something American called Slim Jims…He used to joke with Akane that Jim couldn't be that slim, as they were selling off bits of him all over the world.

Ranma thought again of home as he tore off a wing and started to nibble. It didn't help any when Ranma looked over to Rei and she had half a head sticking out of her mouth. Ranma sighed again. So much was strange in this world…

"Thinking of home again?"

Ranma looked at Rei. She nodded and went back to thinking again.

"You know, if you'd talk to me about it, it may help," Rei said, "I mean, I know we only met a couple of months ago, but I think you can trust me."

Ranma smiled at her.

"Just thinking about the moon. Well, the moon as it was back home."

"Which one?"

"Oh, back home, we just had one moon," Ranma said.

"Oh," Rei nibbled at her molin again, "But, if you had only one moon…"

Ranma looked back to her. Rei seemed to have trouble sometimes connecting the fact that Ranma wasn't from this world. She could plainly see that Ranma wasn't really a woman, but that didn't seem to be enough sometimes.

"What Rei?" she asked.

"Well, with only one moon, your cycles would only be about a month apart, wouldn't it?" Rei made a disgusted face at the thought, "Ooo, no wonder Akane beat you up all the time."

Ranma laughed at this and could just nod in agreement at the thought.

"Yeah, I guess. But if that were the case, then what about Kasumi?" Ranma asked.

"She's the one with the money, isn't she?"

"No, that's Nabiki. Kasumi's the eldest," Ranma stopped herself.

Did she just say eldest?

"Oh, well, maybe she didn't have any ovaries?" Rei asked.

Ranma began to say she did, but had to stop herself. How did Ranma know? She didn't. Rei didn't have any, but then that's because she forgot to reincorporate them when she was eaten by a local predator as a child. They were lost. Still out there somewhere, still viable, still intact. Just not in Rei.

The fire puffed into life in front of them as Ikari sat herself down on Ranma's left.

"I wish you wouldn't talk about stuff like that," Ikari muttered, chewing on her own molin.

Ranma smiled slightly. Rei was such a bodily person, she would've loved to study a person like Happosai. And Ranma guessed that Happosai wouldn't much mind it himself, though Rei would probably end up dissecting him. Ranma thought that having such an intimate knowledge of one's body that one could put it back together normally made one curious.

Ranma finished off her molin and lay back on the brushpile. The myriad stars danced and played in the night sky and soon Ranma drifted off to sleep.

***

The garden looked good. All plants nice and neat in their little rows. Covered, at least for now, with a thick layer of mulch. The nights had grown less cold in the last month or so, so the mulch may be able to come off sooner than expected. That was good, though some would of course remain to ward off weeds.

Esu wiped her forehead with the edge of her glove. The spring sun glared down and at this altitude could be quite harsh early. Her etameran coveralls protected her from the scrapes and cuts that one would get otherwise, even if they did make her look like a bumpkin. She didn't care. Not much call for city formality up here in the valley. Esu liked working in the garden at the nunnery. She looked back to the high wall of the compound behind her. The namagoroshi had been coming in less numbers since the equinox last week. Esu shuddered at the thought of those poor things. Esu returned to her duties and picked up the water pail.

"Son-sama!" a voice cried from across the compound.

Esu looked up. It was Ijisai. The young girl stumbled to the edge of the garden, but would not cross. Esu stepped lightly across the rows and came out of the conclave that her plants provided. Ijisai bowed in regard to Esu's status and waited for her to be allowed to continue.

Esu hated this kind of formality, especially within the confines of the nunnery, but she realized that if women like Ijisai were to learn, they must do so by repetition. Esu put her pail down and placed her hand on Ijisai's right shoulder, allowing her to continue.

"Son-sama, there is a stranger at the front gates," Ijisai said quickly and sharply, "She is greatly injured and in desperate need of help for her wounds, but we couldn't bring her in without issuance from one of the protectorates and-"

"Ijisai, stop babbling," Esu said calmly, "Bring her at once to the healing rooms and begin preparations for her stay. If she is in need, then we will tend her. Now go."

Ijisai knelt quickly and rushed off towards the main gates.

A visitor? Wounded no less. Esu hoped that she hadn't run into a namagoroshi, otherwise there would be no healing her. Esu picked up her pail and walked quickly into the tool shed. There was really no need for her to rush. She wasn't a healer. And the healers would be needed before the girl, whoever she was, woke up. Her duties as protectorate would only come in handy tonight, when the namagoroshi came.

Something bugged her though. Something she couldn't quite place. She had that kind of feeling ever since she woke up this morning. The gardening helped. It always helped focus her thoughts, but it was still there. Even worse, Esu thought it was something that she was forgetting.

Perhaps she would see this strange woman for herself. Esu headed for the bathhouse.

***

Ranma opened his eyes. It was a ceiling. He blinked and looked again. It was a ceiling. His ceiling. Well, not his ceiling per se, but the ceiling that he was so familiar with at the Tendo house. There was a loud rumbling next to him and a furry arm bopped him in the nose. Ranma huffed in annoyance and swatted his father's arm away. It was morning, so he got up.

He stopped. Slowly, to make sure that they didn't fly away if he looked too quickly, he pulled the front of his boxers open. They were there. THEY were there! Ranma felt like jumping around screaming for joy. He was whole again. He was male again. Another thought crossed his head at that point.

He rushed out into the hall. It was still dark this early in the morning, but she should be up. Ranma hurried downstairs and paused at the entrance to the kitchen. Peering slowly inside, he could see Kasumi at her duties in the still of the morning. He giggled slightly and bounded back upstairs. At the top of the stairs, he came to a dead stop.

One last thing remained. He crept slowly to her door. He smiled and straightened the duck on the front of her door. He wondered absently how he ever missed something as cute as that. He guessed he was just being ignorant and young. It had been two years after all.

He gently opened the door and a bright light spilled out into the hallway. His vision blurred and he shut his eyes towards the blinding light. When she opened her eyes, the hideous deformed shape of a molin was there to greet her. Ranma opened her eyes and scrambled back in alarm. Rei giggled and chewed on the molin head.

"If you must wake her up that way Rei," Ikari mumbled from the other side of the brushpile, "Could you NOT use a molin. Bad enough we have to eat those things. I'd rather not see one in broad daylight."

Ranma caught her breath and looked down at herself. She was wearing the green robe, leggings and brown boots that Ikari's tribe had given her. The coat that Rei's grandfather had given her. The pouch with the machine lay nearby, shining with dew in the new morning. Still a woman. Ranma curled her legs up around her in the pretense of being cold. She wanted to curl inside herself and die.

A short sob escaped her and she got up. Just a dream. A cold, cruel dream. She sobbed again as she headed across the hill. Looking out onto the bay, she could see the still smoking remains of the trader ship from last night. The bow still stuck prominently out of the water, as if in defiance of the water in which it was sitting. Ranma felt a hand on the small of her back. She knew it was Rei. Ranma quickly wiped her eyes and coughed a couple times.

"You dreamt of them again, didn't you?" she asked.

Ranma could only nod.

"I'm sorry Ranma," Rei said, folding her arm in Ranma's, "I'll not wake you up like that again, okay?"

Rei rested her head on Ranma's shoulder as they watched the sun come up fully over the eastern horizon. It was slow to burn the shoreline of the fog that had collected during the night. Ranma looked to the gulls that were circling far overhead. Riding the warm currents from the land, they swooped low into the cooler currents from the sea, looking for fish. It was going to be a hot day. Summer would only be hotter, though. That was one more thing he missed about Japan. The temperance of season. Well, at least in Tokyo.

She shook her head of the visions from the dream that haunted her still. She knew what needed to be done and what was real.

"I'm sorry to ask this Rei," Ranma said, still looking at the ship, "But we still need that cargo."

Ranma could feel Rei nod her head. She realized what needed to be done, and only Rei could do it.

***

Gerou stopped reading the writ that the tall man at the other end of the table had handed to him. His master, Akuji, sat at the one end, thinking out his reply. It wasn't as if they couldn't talk, this was just the way things were done. Properly and nicely, otherwise, it could get real ugly real quick. Gerou walked to the side of his master and waited patiently for the writ to appear for him to read.

It never appeared.

"And this you would have of me?" Akuji asked in the silence that followed.

The tall man simply nodded.

Gerou froze. Why was the master speaking to this man? If there was speech occurring, then this man was powerful indeed, for it was the privilege of the very few that heard the voice of his master.

"And Meijin, if I do this, give you the Tenmei, then you will release her?"

Again, a nod.

"Then you will have it. Gerou," Akuji turned to his manservant, "Round up the subjects. I have missions for them. I will speak with all of them together, and remind them the penalty for fighting inside the castle."

"Yes, m'lord."

"And Gerou?"

"Yes, m'lord?"

"Bring the young one, Renbo-chan, to my chambers later," Akuji smiled wickedly in thought, "For her, I have a very special mission indeed."

"At once, m'lord."

Gerou turned and fled off into the dark recesses of the castle. Akuji turned back to his visitor.

"Why not just claim it?"

The visitor just shrugged his shoulders noncommittally and got up from his place at the table. He floated out towards the balcony area and Akuji followed. The beige and gold robes of the visitor drug along behind him in a ghostly manner, while a half halo of fire circled endlessly around his head. Akuji was beginning to get annoyed at this silent fellow. Certainly Meijin Senban wasn't beyond the reach of Akuji, but he often acted like he was. The visitor reached the balcony and pulled up short as a long and wicked looking spear hovered into position in front of him. Meijin turned and raised an eyebrow at Akuji.

"Meijin, I want to know."

Meijin sighed slightly and raised his hand. The air shimmered into light fog in a small area near Akuji. The mist formed itself into a picture. The morning light on a vast plain. Shining brightly on…?

"Who is this boy?"

Meijin smiled and slowly phased from sight. Akuji raised an eyebrow of his own and stared at the picture for a time. The boy was standing in the field, facing into the sun. There were several women with him, some of whom Akuji didn't recognize. He looked familiar somehow, like someone Akuji would know if not for…

The image began to fade into the air from which it came.

A thought came to him, but he dismissed it without hesitation. A stupid idea really. This boy couldn't be the Shiro Daiou. Akuji had never seen him before. The image still burned in his mind…But the Shiro Daiou was a woman…

***

Ikari looked into the inky black waters. Rei had been gone for a long time. Sure she was immortal and all, but Ikari didn't want to wait for Rei to regenerate herself if something large and nasty had taken off bits to eat later. Ikari felt the lead line next to her. It was still taut, which meant that a large section of Rei was still attached.

Ikari looked back at Ranma, who was just lying in the boat with her eyes closed. She told Ikari she could monitor Rei by the feel of her chi floating around in the waters. Ikari let a small smile escape her lips. Ikari had been her constant companion on this crazy quest of hers for almost a year now. Ranma had stumbled into the village wet, hungry, half-naked and scared out of her mind. In fact, it had taken Ikari to calm her down. She had been so scared, she acted like some kind of animal.

Ranma hadn't even remembered the whole event, like her mind had taken a hiatus. Ikari frowned at this. Ikari's sister hadn't revealed anything when she dove into Ranma's mind. Well, other than the fact that Ikari had been forced into accepting Ranma's quest. Ikari had never been the one to accept anything that was forced, but her sister had been adamant.

So they outfitted both of them and they lit off into the wilderness. And Ikari thought it was odd. Ranma seemed to know how to survive on her own, certainly not the scared animal-like girl that came into their village two months before. At the time, Ikari had just thought that Ranma was a fast learner, and she was. But not that fast. Ranma knew things that only experienced hikers knew. Odd. Looking at Ranma then, lying in the bottom of the boat, Ikari could see the change that had come over her since they had met.

Oh sure, Ranma kept honking her off for one thing. Like she had a knack for sticking her foot in her mouth or something. That wasn't the reason she blew up last time, but hey, they had been teasing her…Ikari looked up at the looming bulk of the ship beside her. She wondered idly what kept it afloat in such deep waters.

The boat began to rock slightly and Ranma sat up.

"She's coming up," Ranma said sleepily.

"Did she get it?"

"I don't know," Ranma said, trying to balance the boat, "I can't read minds, just chi."

Ikari kept silent, but frowned in Ranma's direction, which Ranma missed entirely. A hand came up over the side and Ikari helped pull Rei into the boat while Ranma stabilized it. Rei rested for a moment in the boat before leaning her head back over the side as she coughed up water, which she seemed to do for a few minutes. Rei reached into the top of her jumpsuit and pulled out a bar wrapped in a bit of etameran cloth, which she handed to Ranma. Rei leaned back over the side as Ikari untied the rope from around Rei's waist and started to row towards shore.

Ranma urped slightly at the hacking and puking noises, but tried to block it out. Ranma opened the cloth and brought out the rough piece of stone and examined it. It was about a third of a meter long and shaped somewhat into a bar. The color shone against the late morning sun a bright milky green. The same color as the seaweed they were passing through. One of which reached up and wrapped a hungry leaf around Rei's neck. She pulled, but couldn't get it to let go, so she just shrugged.

Ranma was going to help, but the plant suddenly went limp and Rei replaced her blade, which Ranma hadn't even seen her draw, let alone slice the plant with. Rei pulled the leaf tentacle from her neck and tossed it casually back into the water. Rei coughed again, but waved off the help that Ranma was just about to offer. Ranma sat down again. Rei was like that when she tried to get herself back together, but Ranma still hated the fact that she had to have Rei do it in the first place.

The bar of jade would not have been worth it if jade weren't so rare in this world. It took them this long just to find a dealer who might have enough to make it worth the trouble. And to think the dealer had planned to double cross them all along. Well, he was sleeping with the fishes. Along with the rest of his crew as well.

***

The healer quarters were in a more open part of the nunnery. Windows provided air and light and good humor. Whatever that was. Esu looked out a window overlooking her garden. Well, at least the patients had a good view.

The strangers' wounds were serious indeed. In fact, the healers had taken her to the sterile rooms almost immediately, which normally meant that she wouldn't be seen for a time. A little faster recovery, but still out of sight, with which Esu didn't feel comfortable. It was just past noontime when Esu was allowed to see the girl, who was sleeping soundly from the healing.

Esu could see that something had gotten a hold of her all right. The scars that laced her beautiful face were severe. Esu thought she had been lucky to come away from that fight as intact as she was. Esu also saw that she probably wouldn't be able to speak about her experience for a couple of days yet. Esu looked deeper at the strange girl and suddenly, the something that had been nagging her came into sharp relief.

This was…No…

Esu ran to the door and out into the foyer area.

"Ijisai!" She shouted, "Ijisai!"

Esu ran down the healer wing and into the main dining hall.

"Ijisai!"

The girl dropped her spoon and shot to attention in front of Esu. Esu growled sharply and brought the girl to her feet.

"Ijisai, listen to me," Esu began as she tried to sort things in her mind, "Bring the expedition logs from the last journey I made. I suppose it's been about a year and a half ago."

"Yes, Son-sama!"

"Ijisai, make sure you bring everything," Esu continued, "Logs, journal entries, archives. Everything. And definitely make sure you bring the possessions box as well. Now hurry, and take some of the other acolytes with you! This must be done post haste!"

"Immediately, Son-sama!" Ijisai yelped, flush with excitement.

Ijisai scrambled out of the hall as Esu turned on her heels and headed back to her own quarters. If the stranger was who Esu thought she was, then everyone was in great danger, and it would be up to Esu to find the one person who could help…

Ranma Saotome.