To Kamui! (Bailey Jane)

Okuninushi, wrapped in his heavy fur cloak and cape, his hood pulled over his face and his hands in heavy gloves looked down upon the vast lands below. Kamui was a land of ice and snow, and where most islands had beaches around the edges, Kamui was bordered by tall mountains. Finally, after weeks of climbing through the snow, they had made it.

Okuninushi, Sakuyahime and Bailey. They had traversed across the mountains, with Nemuri in tow. Apparently the bear had followed them from Hana Valley, every time they camped they'd wake up to a sleeping Nemuri. He must've travelled at night while they slept, but regardless, he was bent on joining them in Wep'keer. Okuninushi made it a habit to leave food for him wherever they camped so he could find them. The bear had bonded with them in the past few weeks, even if it wasn't directly. Maybe one day he and Nemuri could be awake at the same time to talk.

Right now though, Okuninushi's first thought was traveling to Wep'keer. It was still another weeks walk through the snow, and that was if all went well. Sakuyahime wasn't too keen on the snow and the wind and the cold. In the winter her nature bending powers were diminished, and in a place of Eternal Winter like Kamui it was even worse. She felt powerless.

"We're going to head into the valley!" called Okuninushi over the storm, "We'll make camp once we hit the valley floor, try to find a cave or something. We'll wait out the rest of this storm and continue in the morning!" Hopefully by then the blizzard would subside and the winds would die down and they'd be able to make it to Wep'keer without freezing, and then they'd meet the Oina and they'd be able to learn the secret of their power.

In the past few weeks, Okuninushi and Sakuyahime had given up on finding their parents, and had focused on their new goal. Learning from the Oina and mastering Spirit Bending. That's all that mattered anymore.

Bailey trudged through the horrid snow with her heavy fire nation coat and boots. She hadn't planned on being this far away from her children when she ran into the twins, but she knew they were safe with Roth's family. Amaya and Shuramine were only 5, what trouble could they possibly get into with his family watching over them? She was just as sure they were fine as she was freezing. "Anywhere I can start a good fire is good with me." She told the twins as she pulled her coat closer to her. Anything to get her mind off the cold and wet sticky stuff around her was a great topic for her.

"I wonder why Nemuri has been following us around, much less how he's tracking us in this stuff." Bailey thought about the bear, she wasn't afraid of Nemuri as she was when she first met him. He was massive, yes, but Sakuyahime was right about him. He never bothered them as long as they gave him a fish and left him alone. The bear reminded her of Boris, the family Puma, back home. She missed Boris, which made her glad Nemuri was there with them.

Bailey followed behind the twins, watching the snow fall around them and despising each piece as it landed in her hair. She pulled her coat closer to her and kept moving through the blizzard.

Okuninushi had no answer to the Nemuri question.  He wondered if that bear rolled its way up the mountain and across the ocean.  It spent most of its day sleeping on a smooth, perfectly rounded stone sphere, it didn't seem like it was giving it up any time soon.  With the help of Sakuyahime, Okuninushi was able to find a small cave, located at the base of the mountain.

It was another thirty minutes before the twins were able to enter the cave with Bailey.  The trek through the snow was hard, and at times, seemed near impossible.  Okuninushi didn't know how far Wep'keer was exactly, only that it would still be days more before they reached it.  Weeks even, if the weather was that bad.  Once inside the cave, Okuninushi ripped off his furred hood, but kept his coat on.  It was still too cold to go without it.

"How are we eating tonight?" asked Sakuyahime.  She was unable to use her nature bending in this frozen place, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get anything to bloom.  Her nature bending wasn't strong enough apparently, which left the group with dried fish and salted meats for the past few weeks, and they were now dangerously low on supplies.

"We have enough salted and dried meats and fish to last another day or two," said Okuninushi, "And that's including Nemuri's share.  We should rest tomorrow and take the time to gather food and supplies, unless you'd rather starve on our way to Wep'keer?"  Sakuyahime nodded as she laid out some logs and sticks and tinder for a fire, leaving the rest up to Bailey.  Okuninushi insisted on bringing a fair supply of wood with them, and thank goodness he had, or they would've frozen by now.

Bailey did what she could with her fire bending against the cold snow in front of the cave, melting it quickly and opening the mouth easily. She helped Sakuya set up the wood as she thought about what she could hunt around in this cold. She lit the fire quickly, letting the warmth fill up the cave and warming up her hands again. "I cant think of anything that would be crazy enough to be out in this cold. Fishing may be out best bet, but I'm not very good at it. Maybe Nemuri could help us on that?" She joked a bit, trying to lighten the mood the group had fallen into.

Her original kind and energetic mood seemed to be flushed out by the cold and ice around her, but she wasn't going to let it keep her thoughts down. She was going to Wep'keer to train how to be a better bender. She couldn't think of anything that would make her happier, besides having her children with her. However, Bailey realized almost as soon as she wished for it that her children would make the journey that much harder. They were already short on food as it was, adding two more mouths would make it too difficult, and they probably would have ran out already. Thinking of food, she pulled her hunting bag around to look inside and check for the last squirrel. "Do we want to eat the squirrel now, or wait till tomorrow?"

"Save the squirrel," said Sakuyahime wisely, "We don't want to waste a perfectly good squirrel.  We'll survive on a few strips of meat and fish tonight, and we'll go out fishing and hunting tomorrow."  Okuninushi nodded, "Apparently Kamui is ripe with foxes, cranes, sheep, bears, and hares," he explained, "There should be SOMETHING out there to hunt.  The animals here are used to the freezing cold, just like the Oina.  Apparently they have lived in snow like this since the Ark of Yamato fell from the heavens into Lake Laochi."

If there's one thing Okuninushi had heard a lot about in Nippon was the ancient legend of the Ark of Yamato.  Seishinism was prevalent in Nippon just like in the Six Nations, but their legends and pantheon was different.  But one of the stories Okuninushi had heard told of the day the Ark of Yamato, a massive ship of steel and stone fell from the sky.  Sceter and the Oina looked inside the ark for lifeforms, and found that Ancients, Celestial Beings, members of the Moon Tribe, Spirits and even a few Gods from the Plains of Heaven had been slaughtered.

Though the attackers did not show themselves at first, Sceter and the Oina were soon ambushed by all the of demons Kamui had to offer.  It was said that the Ark of Yamato was how evil came to Kamui and Nippon, and all evil once killed returns to the ark.  So long as the Ark of Yamato remained on this Earth, evil would cover Nippon like a plague.  Okuninushi had also heard stories that the origin of all evil was locked inside of that Ark, and even though it hadn't been opened in thousands of years, the evil waits until the Ark is filled with demon souls, so that one day it can break free of the binds that hold it.

That is why the Oina were there, to fight the demons and stop the evil.  It was said Sceter even left his sword, Kutone, enshrined in a pedestal at Lake Laochi, where the Oina prayed to the twin volcanoes of Ezofuji each year for protection from the gods enshrined at the Ezofuji Wawku Shrine, Moshirechiku and Kotanechiku, a gold and silver owl that were killed by an Oina hero thousands of years ago, and whose bodies were enshrined inside of the temple for ages to come.

"Want to get the fire started, Bailey?" wondered Sakuyahime as she pulled out three strips of salted beef, and three salted fish, cleaned and deboned prior to salting and drying.  "Dried and salted provisions are the only things we could carry that wouldn't spoil or weigh us down," sighed Sakuyahime, "I miss the fruit and vegetables...I'm also surprised our food supply didn't freeze while we were out there."  "The seal skin bag kept it warm," explained Okuninushi, "The peddler at the capital said that it would protect anything from the harshest of colds."

Sakuyahime nodded, and once the food was passed out, she proceeded to leave another slice of salted fish in the corner of the cave.  It was nice and spacious with a higher ceiling than the rest of the cave.  Nemuri loved to roll on his rounded, sphere of a stone.  Sakuyahime was surprised he managed to bring that thing across the narrow stretch of ocean between Kamui and Nippon and then up the mountains through the snow.  Out of Hana Valley and through Shinshu Field were one thing, but Kamui was a whole other.  Sakuyahime wondered of the bear rolled on that thing while he followed them, and if he was asleep or awake the whole time.  She vowed to find out one day.

Bailey thought over what would be easier to catch, the foxes, sheep, or the bears. She wasn't totally comfortable killing a bear after making friends with Nemuri, but if she had to, she would think past that. Okuni reminded her of the Ark of Yamato. She had heard of it from the stories her father told at night, but hadn't really given the story much thought. Bailey still wasn't totally sure about the whole demons attacking, but wasn't going to doubt that the Oina didn't fight them. Someone had to fight them, right?

Bailey had almost forgotten about the fire until Sakuya had said something to her. She nodded and lite the branches quickly, setting it ablaze for a few moments to fill the cave with warmth before letting the wood take the fire on its own. She was thankful for the food that Sakuya handed out and nibbled slowly on it. Trying to keep it and let it last for a little bit. "Okuni, it would be easier to catch hares in this than a fox. Sheep are commonly found roaming around looking for any kind of plant life, and bears are more likely to stay by a water source." She said, trying to keep her mind off of Nemuri. He was the closest animal she had seen during their trek, but she didn't want to hurt him unless he hurt them.

"There are ponds all over Kamui," said Okuninushi, "But they're frozen.  I wouldn't be able to eat a bear after Nemuri though..."  Okuninushi looked to the mouth of the cave.  "Hare would be best," said Sakuyahime, "Foxes taste poor.  Cranes do not have enough flesh, and bears are our friends now apparently.  Besides, to take down a bear would require much time and a larger hunting party than the three of us.

Okuninushi nodded, "We shall hunt tomorrow then," he said boldly, "No hunting in this storm.  We'd be walking around blind, we may accidentally hurt each other trying to catch a rabbit.  Hopefully the storm will stop by tomorrow, maybe we can go out then."  Sakuyahime nodded, all they could do until they would be rest, and discuss what their plans were for the rest of the trip.  The latter would be better, because Sakuyahime needed to know what Okuninushi had in mind.  This trip to Wep'keer had changed Okuninushi.

He was starting to think, he was also becoming quieter, and more pensive.  The search for their parents had ended, either given up or abandoned.  Okuninushi and Sakuyahime had come to terms that they would never find their mother or father, but they were hoping by coming to Wep'keer and learning from the Oina, they could find a new purpose in life.  That was their new goal.  "What are the travels plans?" asked Sakuyahime, "Any ideas, Okuninushi?"

Bailey nodded to Okuni, keeping her mind on the fire and warming back up. She still had the arrows she made with Okuni's help that first day, pulling them and saving them after each kill like her father had shown her. She began to go over in her head how she hunted rabbits. Normally, she would lay traps for them and wait for the rabbit to get close enough to be curious before shooting it and leaving the trap for the next rabbit, but she feared it would be too cold to sit around and wait for one. "Setting up a trap would be too cold out there, even without the wind blowing the snow around. Maybe we can hide behind something until a rabbit comes around. I'm not sure, not exactly in my normal hunting climate out here." Bailey warmed her hands again before she laid out a mat to sleep on. "I don't know my way around here, so I'm following you two from here on." She told them, laying down and trying to stay a bit warm.

"Do you think a pitfall trap would work?" wondered Okuni, "Dig a small hole in the snow and they just kind of fall down?  I'm not sure if that's possible.  I mean worse comes to worse we just hide behind a rock and be done with it, no?"  Okuni then turned towards his sack and rummaged through it until he pulled out an old, worn out map drawn on leather.  It had permanent fold marks in it and was falling apart in places, but it was readable enough.

"We should be fine if we keep heading northeast," said Okuni, pointing at the map, "Wep'keer isn't too much father, a few days at the most."  Sakuya nodded, pleased with the answer.  At least it wouldn't take much longer.  "Of course, that's unless we get attacked by any of the Kamui demons," explained Okuni, "The Namahage are much more dangerous than the Imps.  We haven't seen any so far, but if we do, well, it'll be quite the long fight.  Arm yourselves appropriately, it's only going to be more dangerous from here on out.  The way to Wep'keer is paved with demons."

Bailey thought over Okuni's trick to trap the rabbits. It seemed plausible to her, so she nodded to her. "I think that would work. We could put a few of them out and have a few different ones spaced." She said as she gathered her things to sleep. She felt safe with the twins, but still couldn't sleep unless she had a knife or arrow beside her. "That sounds like a great plan. A few days is much better and we can hunt on the way." Bailey looked at the fire and began to make different swirls and designs in the fire again. It was something she did when she was bored. She let Okuni focus on the map and directions while she played with the fire in front of her. The thought of demons and things attacking them scared her a bit, especially since the first interaction she had with the Imps wasn't a great one. She didn't want to think too much about her failure the first time.