We walk through the mountain valleys, the scene peaceful and the day beautiful as they tend to be here in the mountains. Mountain birds singing, the water making a crinkling sound as it rolls down the brook. I'm carrying a now two-year-old Vigdis on my shoulders. She's holding tightly on my hair but occasionally let's go to test me. I catch her every time causing her to giggle as her mother lightly admonishes us both. The girl is fearless.

 

I'm with Asriel, Vigdis, Mira, five vampires and a few clanner representatives. Our deal is mostly struck with the beautifully alluring creatures, I am constantly aware of the sword on my back pulse like a phantom limb. The vampires are all as tall as I am, which isn't much considering I'm short for a Barbarian at 6" 2' or 1.87 metres. But they tower over the Hito, and what I'm starting to realise, most of the rest of humanity.

 

Everything is measured in the metric system here, a system that is very linear and makes a lot of sense to me. Which was also relatively easy to learn because of my 'language blessing'. I still don't know what a cult dedicated to learning and preserving knowledge would want to recruit a Barbarian for. We don't even have a written language as far as I know.

 

We scale a few cliffs and go deeper into a valley controlled by the clans of the Hiroku village. There in the middle of seemingly peaceful woodland with tall alabaster trees widely spaced, bushes and trees full of berries and hundreds of rodents I'm told are squirrels. There is nothing here but a very beautifully made water well.

 

Made of black stone and concrete, decorated in dark patterns of concrete, rosemary and sage are planted at its base. The well is made conspicuous by its presence in a seemingly uninhabited valley and its obvious well maintained appearance.

 

The pulley is made of metal with gears. And a thick black chain extends down into the black maw that is the mouth of the well. Kei Watanabe walks to the well and starts pulling it up. After placing the bucket and ladle on the lip of the well he jumps in. I assume either landing without a sound, or the sound is muffled somehow inside. We wait and make small talk, having gotten to know the others better through the two-day trip.

 

He eventually emerges and signals for us to follow. Khan Watanabe jumps in first, followed closely by the

elder from clan Akaske, then an elder from clan Orochi, then Asriel. I place Vigdis in Mira's arms, and jump in after Wirobi, dagger in hand.

 

I'm surprised to land in a pool of water up to my thighs, from the top looking down I saw nothing but darkness. From here it’s as clear as twilight all around me, I quickly move away so no one lands on me and realise there is a slight resistance from the water. I realise I'm in a cavern not a well, and specifically in a stream of flowing water wide enough to be almost considered a small river.

 

I drag myself to the side and step up onto the bank. Surprised again at how soft and cool the strange plants are to touch. They feel almost like fur, I look closely and realise the entire cave tunnel is full of rocks, water, a small path, and this plant covering almost everything.

 

"That's bluegrass," Kei Watanabe says giving me a hand. "It only grows in warm dark places. Its fire resistant and absorbs heat for growth but stays cool in all except extreme heat. It can make even the hottest places home."

 

"It doesn't look blue to me," I say, looking around the place.

 

"I know, it actually has a brown pigment I'm told looks sickly on grass. But deep in the Underworld where the isn't even a sliver of light penetrating from anywhere brown and blue have no meaning. Where the creatures mostly see in shades of hot or cold, it’s called bluegrass. And it's considered quite beautiful."

 

That actually unnerves me out a little, firstly that there are places so dark somewhere in the world. Secondly, that there are creatures designed specifically for that darkness, and thirdly the fact that there is so much I can't see right in from of me while Kei Watanabi probably sees clearly.

 

If this soft, brown grass is actually blue and beautiful to the creatures it grows for what else is different in the eyes of such creatures?

 

Kei shows me to a ladder made of silver metal rugs welded to the wall. I climb till I'm at the mouth of the well again and stick my head out. Vigdis squeals in delight at the sight of me. Clapping her little hands and trying to get away from her mother. I smile to myself. Who could have known that such love exists? She can do no wrong, her eyes are a very beautiful orange brown. Her hair as red as Mira's. She has my mother’s face, my lips and Mira's nose.

 

It’s only the ears and the eyes I can't identity yet. The orange brown eyes that slightly reflect light at night like a cat's, and the slightly pointed ears. She manages to hobble away from her mother but can't climb onto the well.

 

Kazimoto lifts her and puts her on my shoulders, wrapping her little legs and arms around my neck she's as happy as can be.

 

"Hold on tight," he says and let's go. She holds on tight as I go back down the rugs.

 

It surprised me how well Vigdis and Kazimoto took to each other. The girl is smart, smarter than should be possible at this age. She knows how to get into just the right amount of trouble and which of her parents will react the most mildly to each situation.

 

I was a bit saddened to return from the forging with her thinking Kuyoki was one of her mother's. But then I happily realised she still remembered Mira and I and my heart melted at the affection she showed us during our return. I realised then the love Kuyoki has for the girl and couldn't find it within me to be jealous. Kuyoki has never had children, but she apparently loves us, Vigdis seems to have thoroughly stolen her heart.

Calling her mama and insisting on sleeping with her some nights even with Mira and I present. But mama Kuyoki is strict, so she gets into mischief with mama Mira. And together they have fun and do crazy things and hide the evidence from mama Kuyoki, who somehow always knows anyways.

 

Then there is me. I'm mainly for telling stories, cuddling, playing non dangerous games and crying to when she's angry. The girl is very intuitive, to a scary extent. If she is sad she goes to Kuyoki. If she is angry she comes to me. Every time.

 

The strangest thing about her is her ability to communicate with our zanpakutō's. Something that shouldn't be possible at all for anyone except the wielders. Yet Kuyoki found her in a room Mira and I were fast asleep in, with our swords at her feet talking to them as though talking to people.

 

I didn't even feel her presence, but I felt Kuyoki walk in and woke up to a sight that nearly stopped my heart. My zanpakutō half unsheathed and my two year old touching it. One of the sharpest blades in the world that specifically told me it wants a blood every time it’s unsheathed.

 

To my surprise and relief everything seemed fine and my blade wasn't aggrieved. It felt more curious than anything. A few hours later Mira found her talking to her katana. Which is how Vigdis Saya del'Mira got into Kazimoto's attention and they hit it off immediately.

 

We reach the bottom and I walk us to the bank and place her on the brown grass. I can see the wonder in her eyes as she looks around. Touching the grass and looking at me questioningly.

I shrug and feel the grass with her. She giggles and starts rolling around it in glee. Whispering conpiracously as her mother joins us. I am yet to get bored of watching her euphoria when she plays or discovers something new.

 

By the time everyone is down here my baby has tired herself out and draped around my shoulder.

We travel down the cavern tunnel following the stream. It gets darker the lower down we go but relatively slowly resulting in my eyes adjusting adequately though I can't tell where the faint light is coming from nor where it is fading to.

 

Kei is walking beside me. I honestly don't know what to make of my budding friendship with the half vampire. All my life I've heard stories about phantoms, man-eaters, witches, vampires, daemons. How they are a blight on Gaia and never to be trusted and to be killed immediately. Now that I've met not only vampires but half daemon vampires I have no idea what to think. I have no doubt that these creatures are vicious and vindictive, deadly and very dangerous. But I just can't reconcile my experience with a hag witch and my experience with them in the same category.

 

That creature clouded my mind and made me think it was beautiful, but in fact it's still the most hideous thing I've ever seen alive. It had corpes of dead animals and what I still suspect was a dead baby around its property. It milked us of something vital for years, probably the same thing the dryad get from the men they have sex with. Something I would have tried had not Asriel advised me I wasn't ready. Especially if I ever want to have strong children again.

 

We eventually reach a side tunnel that leads to a house carved into the stone wall. The sight would have surprised me had I not spent time at the Dawn within Anastasia, the jewel city of the dwarves. We are met at the entrance of the fortified house by another vampire. But this one isn't extremely tall, eatherally beautiful or have a strange skin tone. This one looks relatively human. In fact it looks a lot like a normal Hito man.

 

The man comes forward and greets each of us personally by shaking our hands. An odd thing to do but I've met enough new people to barely blink at strange customs. This man-vampire is more in line with what I expect a vampire should be.

 

"That was Seiji Hirao of the Brave Blossoms," Kei says.

 

"They are an elite unit that is in charge of guarding all our surface borders," Kei says as we walk into the house.

 

It's very well fortified. Everything is made of stone except the furniture and windows. The Windows are made of some type of transparent metal, and there are very few of them high up by a walkway.

 

The house is very big. Very very big. It looks like an almost normal fortified house from the front with windows and doors but as we explore deeper we I realise there are hundreds of rooms cut deep into the stone. The stone is also coated with a black soft tar in places that's completely smooth to the touch and a bit elastic. I'm told it helps keep everything supported and keeps the internal climate constant.

 

There are a few other vampires inside all once Hito people before they were turned, all wearing three weapons. Most carry two swords and a long-shafted naganati. Which is basically a spear, they bow slightly in greeting but refrain from the hand holding.

 

What is this place? Border patrol?