Nightfall. A full moon. A starless sky beckons to her, calling her. A siren from somewhere above tugs at her curiosity, the same curiosity that happens to keep her up at times such as these. A common sight to Kezia, who simply lay awake, staring at the blackened void above. As the drowsiness wore off, she noticed that the fire had gone out. No more was the comforting crackle of fire as its flames remained leashed, hungrily clawing at firewood. Instead, she could audibly hear the sound of crickets chirping far off, somewhere amidst the abyss of the night. Once in a while, a toad croaked its -blam!- call. Rarely, if Kezia happened to focus her ears and flatten them against the ground, she could hear the very grass rustling as it gave way to the wind, dancing in tandem with the flow of cold, midnight breeze. A danse macabre alongside the whispered rhythm of nature. Quite fitting. She could tell that Seiko was still asleep. Or so she had thought, at the very least. Normally she could hear the faint sound of a whetstone scraping metal and Seiko muttering some odd morsel of wisdom to himself. Other days, she could hear the renowned samurai shuffle slightly as he meditated, his body nothing but a silhouette that barely seemed to shift, statuesque in form. The night was absent of any such sounds, however. No, tonight was oddly peaceful. Simply the crickets chirping, toads croaking, and a mysterious little girl resting under the watch of the sky above as she snored softly… They had found her a week ago. A newly created ‘Medium’, her origins unknown and her powers boundless. To Seiko, she was something to protect; his mission, so to speak. To Kezia, she was a complete mystery, another question for her curiosity to vainly attempt to answer. [i]No use trying to shut my eyes for now… [/i] The Fox was sure to stay silent as she threw her blanket off her chest, sitting up on a makeshift bed. She looked around, as if to check if the world around her remained unchanged. What greeted her eyes were miles of steppes, grass coating the sparse hills, the shadows of their stalks moving only with the wind and nothing else. Once in a while, the rare silhouette of a tree could be spotted. What little water they had found during their trek through the steppes was limited to small puddles, glinting like lights in the distance as the still image of the moon sat within them. Kezia instinctively reached for her sheathed blade as she heard rustling nearby, stalks of grass giving way to a force of some sort. Not ordinary rustling, but something deliberate. The Fox held her breath, so that she could hear nothing but the ambience around her… [i]Footsteps, to be precise…[/i] She halted only when she noted the uneven nature of the steps, soft in sound and amateur in nature. Thud. Then five seconds later, another thud. Followed by an immediate thud once again. It was as if they were produced not by a would-be threat… [i]But a child…[/i] Fortunately, the sound was not too far off from what Kezia could gauge. [i]Guess I should follow, just to make sure she’s alright. Can’t bear to hear Seiko lecture me if I leave her off to her lonesome…[/i] Reluctantly, the Fox slipped out completely from her makeshift bedding, and in one swift motion, she stood up. The night’s breeze stung her bare arms and swept her unkempt hair towards her eyes. Stray stalks of grass scraped against her legs as she passed through the makeshift campsite. Not too far off, she could spot the still figure of Seiko, the only movement coming from the slow rise and fall of his chest. Near him, the Fox could spot the sheathed Onikiri, still fastened to his obi that he wore even in his sleep. The accursed sword seemed to never leave his side, even in the depths of his dreams. As was usual, the samurai slept on his sword arm, one of Seiko’s numerous and equally perplexing ‘tactics’, as he would put it. [i]”An unsuspecting victim is most vulnerable, as they are unable to strike back in time; however, what can be mitigated is the damage one receives. It is important to protect your greatest assets, even whilst asleep. That is why I rest over my left sword arm, protecting it in the case someone happens to ambush me during the night.”[/i] Kezia rolled her eyes slightly as the words echoed in her head. [i]I don’t think I’ll ever truly understand the way you think five steps ahead…[/i]