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Using her sword as some kind of walking stick, Kyon attempted to regain her balance. She was taken aback as the magnificence of the place slowly sunk in. Standing up straight, she looked at the estate in awe. Slowly, she attached her unsheathed blade onto her belt, trying to find the right words to say. "..I.. Woah." Never before had she seen anything like this place. Of the many wealthy clients' mansions, and places she had visited working as a Mercenary, this place absolutely took the cake. Those 'right words' never materialised, and Kyon gently knelt down and picked Yin up, holding her in her arms. "..I'm guessing Kageko is somewhere in this place." Looking to Zefi she nodded, following after her. "It's weird, this place is tranquil, but also incredibly eerie to me. What an odd feeling."

All of a sudden the laughter died away. It was replaced by the sounds of light footsteps. Soon, Kageko appeared in the corridor, peeking out from one of the rows. However, she was different, younger. This was a 10 year old Kageko. She still had the short, white hair and blood-red eyes of her older self, even an eyepatch, but she had a carefree attitude that she didn't have when she was older. She looked curiously at the group and stepped out. She bowed and asked, "Are you here to see Shiki-sensei? Because if you are, then I'm really sorry but you'll have to wait she is with someone else right now."
"Actually, we just finished our meeting Kageko," a tall woman came out. "Now," she turned to look at Zefi squarely in the eye, "please don't sneak around or else you might hurt yourself." She had long, straight, midnight black hair that seemed to glow white whenever it caught the light. Her eyes were pure white but it was obvious that she could see, and she had pale skin. Following the woman was a tan girl with green hair and green eyes, she was just as curious as Kageko and was the same age as her too. Wrapped protectively around the tan girl was a dragon. The woman, Shiki, stepped in front of Kageko, in a mildly protective way, but only someone who was really paying attention would notice that. Kageko didn't notice, and she tried to look around her mentor. "Why don't you two go and play together?" the mentor suggested to both Moriko and Kageko. Both children pouted but the mentor continued to smile at them and they eventually relented. They both walked off, continuously looking at the strange crowd of people until they turned the corner. After they had disappeared from sight, they could be heard running and talking together.
Shiki briefly looked at them, she could tell that they were scheming something, and then turned back to the group. She watched them silently, waiting to see what they would do, but already having a vague idea of what they would do.

"Ah, yeah.. A pleasure." Kyon responded after Zefi, catching up with her at a brisk pace. She seemed perplexed, watching the younger Kageko and Moriko leave. This was extremely confusing. Had something happened to the flow of time in this place, or was this something different? "Ah, madam.. I know this will sound strange but about those children.. How long have you and they resided here, in this place?" She didn't know entirely what was happening, or whether these people knew either. The Soldier just hoped that something could shed some light on the situation.

"As for your question," she returned her attention to the soldier, "Kageko has been here for 5 years and Moriko has been here for 9. I'm glad that you worry about them. However, you don't need to worry. Everything here is perfectly fine, but I do worry about what will happen later.... Come," she motioned for the group to follow.
She felt that their conscious was still slightly surprised from how she knew all their names. "Oh, don't worry," she smiled reassuringly, "I am not omniscient. Much as how Kageko controls and detects energy, I can do so with the consciousness."

Kyon's uneasiness about the place seemed to bother Shiki even more but she continued to walk down the corrior
They walked down the corridor, as they turned into a row, Shiki flicked her wrist and whispered, "If you would excuse me," as she continued to walk. The guest that she had just been attending to was coming down the row. He was a healthy man, not young anymore but still active and strong.
Shiki warn their minds to not move as she asked, "Are you leaving already, Hikari?"
Hikari responded with a silent nod of his head and replied, "I understand the terms and conditions and will abide by them. As long as I can watch over Ale, I am fine."
Shiki smiled and said serenely, "I can sense your pain at them, but I respect you all the more for that," then abruptly changed to a energetic tone, "Of course, you'll still come and visit? If you don't I will sorely miss you and your brilliant mind, both in conversation and games."
Hikari simply smiled sadly and murmured, "Maybe."
Shiki seemed to be astonished, "Maybe? Come on! You have to come visit!" she poked him in the chest, "If you don't I'll come over and drag you!"
That seemed to brighten Hikari up just a little as he shoved her hand away and relented, "All right, all right. I'll come every now and then."
"Good! Now then, don't you need to be somewhere?" Shiki shooed him away.
Hikari uttered a little laugh, "First you insist that I visit and now you insist that I leave. Oh well, until next time then my friend."
Hikari passed right by the group without noticing them and went to the Shinto gate. Now, instead of a white wall, the gate led to the forests of the Land of Dragons. As he stepped through, the gate returned to showing only a blank, white wall.

Shiki turned to the others and saw that they had recognized the name that Hikari had said, the name "Ale". She asked, "It seems you know him? Or, to be more exact, know who he talked about," she flashed a bright smile as she waved her hands again, "Don't worry, I don't need to know anything unless you want me to. Now come, we can talk in here." She moved to the room that Hikari had just exited.

Kyon was unsure of what they would exactly be talking about, but proceeded into the room regardless. She only hoped that they weren't getting themselves into some kind of trouble. Kyon would feel responsible if anything bad were to happen to Zefi or the others. She cared about the people she'd met at the Inn more than any others. They were her only 'family'. She looked to Shiki, trying not to show any more concern for the sake of the others.

They opened the door, inside was a somewhat Japanese style room, but it had chairs and a table. Furthermore, the scrolls on the wall showed symbols that didn't look Japanese style letters. Despite that, the bamboo plants, tea set, and incense gave it a Japanese feel.
The mentor turned to the others, "So, what are your questions?"
She chuckled a bit at how Zefi set up blocks and decided to not pry any further unless necessary.