That was going to change.
She had powered up away from her apartment, and carefully avoided any other energy signatures. No need to draw unwanted attention to herself. There would be no interruptions; not when this was so important to her. She was going to see her Wonder, and she was going to enjoy every second of it.
So, with a breath, she spoke the words that would take her there.
"I pledge my life and loyalty to Houshi Ryokan, and to Jupiter. Grant me your protection, so that I may grant you mine."
She had to admit, she had some expectations. It was right ther ein the name--a ryokan, a hot spring hotel.
She was not disappointed.
When she opened her eyes, she stood on the porch of a familiar building; she had been to hotels like this a thousand times, back home in Japan. It had been years, of course, but that didn't mean it didn't still feel like home. It was storming, and perhaps she sohuld have expected that, too; Jupiter was the planet of thunder, after all.
She stepped through the doors, and sighed. Yes, this was a proper ryokan; there was weathering on the walls, showing its age, but that simply made sense. Of course an ancient Wonder had seen many, many things, and had lasted for many, many years. Her fingers brushed over the walls as she walked through, taking in the warmth of the atmosphere. This was a place that had been loved, for many, many years. That love permeated the walls, as thoroughly as the steam from any bath.
She took a turn into one of the more private areas, drawn by a force she did not understand; something inside her said come and see, and she could not resist it. There was sometihng here she needed to find, and she knew that if she only looked, she would come away with it.
So she pushed open a shogi door, and stepped into an area that could only be called an office--there was a desk, and stacks of scrolls, and a little box that might hold payments or more private records, and the walls were covered in shelves full of yet more scrolls.
"This place has bene in our family for a thousand years," a voice said, one that reminded Houshi of her own mother, though it wasn't perfect--she knew that tone of motherly discontent regardless, however. "You will be the next to protect it, Kasumi. The ryokan, and the healing springs, and our guests, and the Code."
"I know, Mother," a voice said, and it was so familiar that it made Houshi spin. There, for the briefest moment, she saw a girl--herself, though this version was a bit taller, and certainly more, ah. Filled-out. She was talking to an older woman with pink hair that was beginning to go gray. Her mother, Houshi supposed. "I'll do my best."
"See that you do," the older woman said, and she cupped the girl's--Kasumi's--face, and bent to kiss her forehead.
The vision ended, and a soft smile made its way across Houshi's face. She had been right, when she assessed this as a place made of love; clearly, whatever family had lived here and taken care of it cared deeply for the place.
Still, that couldn't be the only reason she was here, even if she'd enjoyed the glimpse of her past self. It was good to know that a thousand years ago, whoever Kasumi had been, she'd had a family that clearly loved her. Or at leasy, a mother. Houshi wondered if Kasumi, too, had siblings, or if her father was around; a thousand questions that could not be answered with a single wisp of memory. That would have to come in time.
She sat down at the desk, and began to rifle curiously through the papers. As expected, they were in languages she simply could not understand; the ancient tongue of Jupiter, she suspected, which was fascinating. Still, she knew, somehow, that these were letters--notes from guests who had loved this place. Even if she couldn't read the words, a memory that must have been Kasumi's suffused her, with the surety that these were words of kindness and care, thoughts of warmth. Memories of trips past, over the centuries the ryokan had been maintained, from families that had visited year after year.
What a thing to have been reading when it all ended.
Because that must be what this was--remnants of Kasumi's last moments at this place. She was gone, of course, or Houshi wouldn't be here.
But what a legacy to have left behind.
As she shuffled through the papers, a smile on her face despite the morbidity of the knowledge of her past self's death, there was a quiet thunk noise, and Houshi made a small "hm!" sound. She looked down at the desk, and there, her eyes fell on a ring. A signet; she'd seen them before, if rarely. On the ring was the sign of Jupiter, and three stars, with something that looked like a stylized curl of steam running around them. The sigil of Houshi Ryokan--it had to be.
She slipped it on her finger, and smiled to herself. This was hers. Her signet. A mark of her rank and privilege as a Knight. She sohuld have come here to find this years ago, but it hardly mattered now. She had it, and that was the point.
With a hum, she stood up from the desk. There was so much more to see, and she wanted to at least get the full lay of the land of her Wonder before she left, so she would have to poke around some more. So she stepped out of the office, and continued to wander.
Her eyes took in the decorations; lovely ukiyo-e style paintings that, again, put her in mind of home, even if the scenes they rendered were fantastic, impossible landscapes. Other Wonders, perhaps? Other planets? Notable locations from Jupiter? She wasn't sure, and moreover, she wasn't sure it mattered. She would find out what the paintings were and if they meant anything in time.
She slid open another shogi door, and let out a soft gasp of contentment. This, too, was familiar: a large room laid out with tatami mats. A place to sleep for visitors who stayed overnight at the ryokan. There was a low table in the center for meals, which would have been large and communal; for a moment, she saw the faintest whisper of an image of the table overflowing with foods that reminded her of home, even if they looked a little bit odd. Onigiri with lavender rice and jet-black seaweed caught her eye, and made her snort. Of course the foods of another planet a millennium in the past would look strange, to her eyes, even if they were familiar shapes. The vision faded as quickly as it came, though, and as much as she wished he had more time to study it, the time simply wasn't there.
So she walked a circle of the room, taking everything in; opening the closet and finding the futons guests would have laid out to sleep on, finding storage space for private bleongings, discovering a rack of towels provided that she was careful not to touch, lest they crumble from age.
Once she was done exploring the room, she took a door out the other side, and waled down the halls into a shower area.
The showers didn't function; not surprising considering the age, and she suspected that even if she could get them to run, the water they provided would not exactly be pleasant. So she stepped past them, even if it made her wince to do so; one showered before entering the onsen, that was simply what was done. But there was no one here to judge her except for her own conscience, and she didn't intend to dip into the water unless it was pristine.
It was not. She sighed, sadly, when she stepped out of the shower area and into the bath proper; the water was still clearly warm and bubbling, but it was also brackish and unpleasant-looking. How unfortunate; she had known that it was unlikely she would be able to sink into a hot spring, but it was still sad to see it damaged like this, when she could picture how luxurious it would have been when running at full capacity.
It would simply be her mission to make these waters clear again.
She knelt next to the spring, and smiled.
"I'll be back," she promised, and then she stood.
She meant it. She would return, and make this place better. That was her duty as a Knight.
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[wc: 1550 words]
