Book 3. The saga continues. With her mating to Haku rapidly approaching, Chihiro has a number of new problems to face. But these are nothing compared to the plans a new foe has for her. Sequel to Enchantment of the Heart.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Chihiro sat by the campfire. Glad as she was for a reprieve from the heat of the day, it was now night and very cold. She shivered and huddled closer to the flames. A blanket was draped over her shoulders. Chihiro looked up to see Linca smiling down at her. The flames of the fire, however, cruelly illuminated her sister's haunted white eyes; Linca was still very troubled. Chihiro smiled up at her regardless. She did not want to change how she acted towards her sister just because she now knew of her past... Linca would certainly be the first one to yell at her if she even tried.
The diminutive spirit seated herself behind Chihiro. The nygel was already sprawled on his flank a small distance from the fire. The water horse really was suffering in the increasingly arid landscape.
"Six days," said Linca in a dead tone.
"Until what?" asked Chihiro.
"Until we reach the Glass Desert," Linca clarified. "After that, how long it takes to get to Haku..." Linca's bottom lip protruded slightly as she lost herself in thought for a moment. "Well, that depends on what psychopath- san does."
Chihiro nodded. Their journey had been relatively straightforward since Claudine's death a week ago. She knew they would not be permitted to go much further without interference from Kenshin. Chihiro dreaded meeting him. She tried to picture in her mind a face to go with the chilling voice she had heard in the darkness after her fall.
She normally imagined something straight out of a horror movie; fangs and glowing red eyes set in a gaunt, bloodless face. But that image of a gruesome monster did not fit the carefully plotted tactics that had been employed against them, nor did it fit the cultured mode of his speech. Besides, his mother was beautiful. Chihiro swallowed her nerves. Whatever face she was presented with, or whatever pretty words he may speak, she would never forget that he was the person that had snatched her mate from her. It was because of him that her arms were branded and she had risked life and limb to cross the spirit world to meet him. Her child had been placed in danger! She would never forgive him, even if by some chance the whole affair had an amicable ending.
She did not hold out much hope of that. Kenshin believed wholly in what he was doing. So convinced was he that his was the right path, that his conviction had almost swayed her when they were alone in the inky blackness of the canyon. But she could not be as cynical as he was about the two world's chances of survival. She believed that humans would eventually reform; they would have to! When the oil ran out and the temperature continued to creep up, they would have to change how they lived; go back to respecting nature before it killed them.
Chihiro had seen a couple of environmental demonstrations on her university campus. Students with placards demanding everyone should "Save the Planet!" It was Linca that had given Chihiro much more food for thought, however.
"The planet does not need saving," she had declared with a shrug. "The planet will be fine. It's humankind and the ecology that need preserving. The planet just is. If everything died tomorrow, life would start again from scratch. It has before; no doubt it will again."
