The Dreams

Chapter Forty Six

Someone did eventually come for her. She really did feel like she was being collected. She felt like some sort of animal. She had to be walked everywhere and fully supervised at all times. She could not believe that she was being treated with such distrust. Overall she was sure that she was the least dangerous being here. She was not strong enough to even put up a fight against these huge oni. The powers that she barely managed to use once were not even something that she thought she could replicate here and now. She was fairly useless and completely defenseless.

Her escort/guard was not particularly talkative. She could not get any sort of response out of him at all. All of her questions went unanswered. She tried so hard not to let it get to her. This sort of behavior had to be some sort of mind game. She tried her hardest to remain calm and keep her wits about her. She would need it for when she faced King Yama again.

She expected to be taken to a great hall of sorts with huge, long tables laden with food and dozens of guests and dignitaries dining in the company of the king. Instead, she was left alone again in a relatively small room with a table that would not seat more than six.

This might work to her advantage. If there were fewer people around she would have more time to talk to the king. At the same time, she did not know if she could handle an entire meal in the presence of just the king. He was utterly intimidating and she was convinced that too much time near him would cause her to lose her resolve.

A few more moments alone gave her some time to collect herself again. She could not allow the king to see her worrying like this. As far as he knew she had to be strong, determined and unwavering in her desire to see Hibiki freed. He had to know she was completely convinced that Hibiki's arrest was unwarranted.

She was pretty sure that she was not supposed to sit down first so she idly looked around the room to make herself look at least slightly busy. Her mind was thrumming with activity. Now that she knew she would not be one among a massive crowd she knew she would be able to speak with King Yama. She needed to make sure that she had enough to say to be an entertaining guest.

That was if she could be considered a guest. She was pretty sure that guests did not have the door to their room locked. If she was under arrest she might not be permitted to speak. It did not make much sense to her, but she was so confused in general that she considered it to be at least a slight possibility.

The door opened and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She pressed herself up against the wall and tried to be invisible or at least inconspicuous. It did not work. She knew it even as she tried. She was the only living, breathing thing in the room. She watched the door with wide, frightened eyes.

King Yama entered the room, flanked by a red-skinned oni and a blue oni. She felt particularly leery of the red oni since she had been warned about them and the fact that she had been fortunate to have dealings only with blue oni so far. That short moment of panic was quickly superseded by a jolt of pure terror when she realized there were no more guests coming to dinner.

The oni were here to attend to the king, not as dinner guests. Only two places were set at the table and she sat at one end of the table with the king at the other. She did not know if she had what it would take to survive a meal one on one with him. She had so much she wanted to say, but she barely had a chance to get a word in before. She was afraid that she had no idea how to combat it this time around.

It was so easy to feel intimidated by King Yama. It made it easy to forget that she came here on a mission. She had been so determined before. If she set her mind to it she was sure that she could get the determination back. She would need it if she wanted any chance to survive this meal.