Cailleach and Child

"Mountain, Castle, Monolith, Sayuri, Invite. Mountain, Castle, Monolith, Sayuri, Invite."

It hadn't been too long after she had met Shabnak-Jaakuna, only a few days as she had to mentally recover from meeting the man, but once she was ready she had begun her trek to find the mysterious woman called Sayuri. She knew next to nothing, only what Jaakuna and the brief mentions Kit had said of her, the fact she had an ice castle most likely made her a Yuki. She had very little knowledge of them other then they had a clan district and ice powers, but nothing more. Despite her best attempts to take to her studies things just didn't stick unless it was someone close to her.

She had never been this far up the mountains, having to bring a small winter coat and pants to make sure she didn't get frostbite. While she still carried her knives under her cloak, she had to make sure they wouldn't touch her thinner clothes as the metal wasn't fun to touch.

"Mountain, Castle, Monolith, Sayuri, Invite. Mountain, Castle, Monolith, Sayuri, Invite."

Eventually she spotted the ice castle, and eventually the monolith. She was supposed to not attack the thing, even though she was quite sure she could take it down. It took a lot of control, but she'd walk past the thing as it gave her a look she could only describe as 'a mean teddy bear' before going up to the castle's doors and knocking. After a few seconds if no one answered the impatient girl would then cup her hands and call out in case her knocking wasn't enough.

"Hello? Miss Sayuri? Sero told me to come find you and that he invited me to the Nightmare Brigade."

Hopefully this 'Sayuri' would come quick. Lily was used to warmer environments, like beaches, not mountains.

Like most days when the world needed none of her time, Sayuri sat alone in her ice castle at the top of the tallest mountain in the Kirigakure training area. She was a tad surprised that no one had come to bother her about it being there. Realistically, the only two people that actually could tell her to move it were her fellow Princesses. And she doubted either of them would haul their pompous asses up the mountain to do it. As it was, the infighting between Arisu and Kitsuki had more or less given her carte blanche to do whatever she wanted so long as it didn’t cause too much of a ruckus.

‘As far as a ‘ruckus’ goes, my Queen, an ice castle is fairly noticeable.’

Sayuri was minorly annoyed at the comment from Jareth in her mind, and she snapped a reply aloud. “It isn’t hurting anyone. It’s just a building. A building built on the blood of those I killed to claim this mountain. I thought you liked it.” The bodies she spoke of were only a single pack of wolves that were encased in the icy floor that she began stomping across. She was angry and her usually pale face was flushed as she paced back and forth talking to the voice in her head. Had anyone been observing her at that exact moment they would have been hard pressed not to think she’d lost all her marbles. The Yuki princess was dressed in her usual attire, a long white gown encrusted with gems and embroidery that depicted the intricate and delicate geometry of snowflakes. Her long blonde hair was plaited loosely and her feet were bare.

‘I do like it, my Queen. I was trying my hand at humour, since you seem to enjoy it. My sense of it seems to need work.’

Sayuri’s pacing would cease as the closest thing to a sincere apology she’d ever heard from Jareth rang in her head. “You were. . . trying to be funny?” Sayuri would smirk and then replay the words over again in her head, laughing warmly at both the attempt and the actual joke. “Thank you, that’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. I didn’t think you were that, um, attentive?” She wasn’t sure how to word her comment. Obviously he was attentive, he heard and saw and experienced everything that she did. But she hadn’t been expecting him to care and she loved him all the more for it.  

‘You are my world Yuki-onna, there is nothing I would not do to see you smile.’

“And there’s nothing I wou-” She would blush and begin to reply in kind when she was interrupted by the sound of knocking. Annoyance flared anew as the knocking turned to yelling. She had only had a single visitor since she had created the castle, and since that visitor she had been more careful with Frederick as she didn’t want a repeat of the roaring contest between her Sentinel and Sero. It seemed that Sero might have come back as she didn’t hear Frederick move to stop anyone, or the delightful screaming that usually accompanied someone disagreeing with her Ice-Forged. It took her a minute to process what the yelling voice was saying to her, but as she heard the young girl’s announcement Sayuri made her way to the front of the castle and opened the door to look down on a small girl wearing not nearly enough clothing for being on top of a frozen mountain.

“Well hello there. I can’t say I was expecting guests and it seems Frederick is a worse guard than I thought, but if Sero sent you then you’re welcome here. Come in, it can’t be comfortable for you out here.” Sayuri would turn and walk back inside the castle. She knew the girl would follow her, just as surely as she knew the sun rose every morning. People were predictable, and they were most especially predictable when discomfort was involved. And while the inside of the castle was not much warmer than the outside, there was an assortment of furnishings covered in animal pelts that the girl could warm herself with.

Lily waited patiently for her host to answer the door, internally debating if she wanted to test out if her tongue would stick to the ice castle, and it was probably for the best that said host had answered the door before she was able to reach a decision.

Looking at the woman before her, her immediate thought was wondering how she was able to wear so little clothing in this weather. Sure Lily understood the desire to have little or no clothes on themselves, but even she understood that sometimes you needed to bundle up if you wanted to stay safe like she was right now. She had heard rumors that Ninjas could regulate their body temperature through the use of their magi-no, chakra. She needed to remember it was called chakra and jutsu, not magic. Still, she didn't know how to control the chakra thermostat and probably wouldn't for a while. There was also the fact that Sayuri was a Yuki, so maybe her ice powers came with a resilience to the cold? Who knew? She sure didn't.

It took her a little bit to connect Frederick to the monolith she avoided, and was a little proud of herself for being able to avoid the snow thing without it alerting her host. Her childish charm must have tricked the beast into thinking she wasn't a danger in the slightest, something that she'd been honing for a while now, and Lily was even more curious if she could use it on other not human things like frogs or dogs. Still, she'd step inside and be careful

Walking in and looking around the interior was beautiful, and she couldn't help but appreciate the sight. "Thank you miss Yuki! This place is really pretty!" Sure it wasn't much warmer, but there wasn't any wind which she could live with. Even the pelts that decorated the furniture somehow fit the castle, or maybe they didn't? She wasn't an ice castle designer, so it was out of her bubble of knowledge. It sure looked homely though. But also lonely. It was something to ask about later as popped a squat on a comfy-looking chair as she remembered why she was here in the first place. "Oh, right! I was supposed to ask you for proof about Sero being official. He said Kitsuki doesn't like him, and that the princess council directs him, so that means you are a part of the council?" If it were anyone else they probably woud have connected the dots sooner, but trying to remember who was in charge or famous wasn't easy for her.

Sayuri was slightly off put by being referred to as ‘miss Yuki’. The Clan name still left a bitter taste in her mouth. She was immediately relieved of her distaste as Lily complimented her ice castle. Flattery was always the answer. “Thank you. I made it myself. This one is a trial run, the next will be grander.”

She listened as Lily spoke about Sero and Kitsuki. She was less interested in talking about the Triumvirate, and it was only with considerable effort that she was able to keep from rolling her eyes in annoyance. “Yes, I am one of the Triumvirate. And as far as both Sero and Kitsuki are concerned I think perhaps that is a conversation I should attend with Kitsuki. Personally.” Sayuri was not above working through back channels and using spies and the like. But if there were spies at work here, they didn’t belong to her. She’d only just met the girl and she wasn’t interested in trusting her with sensitive information just yet. Maybe one day. Besides, picking a fight with the spoiled princess was something she would dearly enjoy.

After they spoke for a time about nothing in particular, Sayuri would escort the young girl back down to the village, stopping to check in on the Mizukage Complex and the Yuki Clan Compound before heading back to her castle.

[Exit Thread]