"Itisclosed."

Izumi spoke up.

"IconfirmedwiththeEarthkami."

"Right." Fat fingers stabbed the densai in a rather violent manner. "And samurai-sama would be?" Korunbo asked the hyper-fox.

"Kitsune Izumi."

Probably the least he'd said all game.

"Kitsune-sama, hah." Korunbo scratched his neck. "Kitsune-sama would say that they have a good grasp of the spiritual situation here, yes?" Where was the Isawa where you needed one, the Phoenix officer wondered. "Also, do you now what happened to that guy?" he asked, pointing at Saneyuki. "Looks like he's high as kite."

"Yes. ThereisadormantportaltoSakkakuhere. They . . . " He pointed at the cultists. " . . . weretryingtoopenit. Ohandthey'retheonesthatdruggedthatpoorguy."

"Blue mushrooms, this blighter said," Atsumori offered at this point, with a sideways nod at the younger priest. "Might be those... whatsitcalled, Dead Man's Hat? Or whatever else on the order of fungal narcotics you've got 'round here. Seemed like they were ready to do somethin' unfortunate to him."

"Right, right. Portals, monks, miko." Korunbo murmured, scratching the back of his head. "I am never going to get to bed..." Turning to his men, the yoriki inhaled. "Where in the name of Hida's nutsack is that Shugenja support!" The two men who were busy apprehending the priests turned to their boss and shrugged.





"Yeah, I suppose they wanted to knock him out." The grumpy arm of the law noted. "Or well, get him too high to figure out what's going on. It's a good trip before it's bad trip. Been there, done that." he added dryly. "As said, he should be fine tomorrow... still. MEDIC!" Had Atsumori been standing too close, his ears would ache now. "Take a look at that young man there!" He pointed at Saneyuki. "Unless someone is dying. That poor bastard is merely going to hope he's dying when he comes to tomorrow."

Izumi's unease dropped at learning that Saneyuki would be essentially fine. He didn't know the Phoenix from the next one, but he appeared to be an innocent victim in all this, and the Fox was suspecting that had the ritual continued then the priest would either have been dead or worse . . . possessed by the Gilded King.

He stepped back and asked Atsumori something quietly.

"Areyousureyou'refine? No hidden wounds that Bushi pride are hiding?"

The slowdown in speech speed showed his concern.

Atsumori responded by holding his arms away from his sides and twisting to and fro. "All sound here. Only one without a scratch." His grin was a tiny bit wry. "My granddad always says a real bushi ought to have battle scars--and croc bites don't count--but oh well."

Mumei makes mental notes about avoiding that particular mushroom, between the aftereffects and just how lost to the world the poor guy was, there was nothing useful to get out of that trip.

She's aimed to remain unnoticed, but at least these officials seem to be taking things seriously, for a welcome change. Her smile, watching Atsumori, was one part amused and one part relieved and some other part amazed that things had gone...a lot better than their worst predictions.

"Crocbites? IfyoucanwrestleacrocthenIhavetoseethat!"

Even with the solemn and serious nature of the setting, the little Fox could get excited.