Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 3 – A Flustered Goddess

[??? POV]

I don’t know what to do.

One day, this shabby-looking fluffy thing just showed up outside my temple.

This has never happened before. Everyone’s supposed to avoid my temple.

Despite that, there was this small ball of white fluff huddled up against one of the pillars.

It’s really cute, and fluffy, and… sad?

Wait, why is it sad?

I don’t want it to be sad…

What do I do to stop it being sad?

“Maybe, I can just get rid of what is making them sad?”

But I don’t know what is making them sad.

“Maybe I can go and give them something?”

But I don’t have permission to go down there.

While I was trying to come up with a solution, the fluffy thing suddenly said something under its breath.

“If someone is watching, please give me something… Just a way to hide my hair… Maybe then things can change…”

“I can do that!” I back shouted in response, “I can give you a Blessing of Darkness!”

Without wasting any time, I tried to give my Blessing to the fluffy thing.

But it didn’t work…

Wait, it didn’t work?

Why didn’t it work?

I know that it was my first time blessing someone, but it should just work.

“M-maybe that was just a fluke… I-I’ll just try again,” I said to myself, trying not to lose my previous burst of confidence.

Same result…

But I can’t just not give my Blessing to the fluffy thing.

I don’t know why, but I just do not want this ball of fluff to stay sad. Just watching the fluffy thing cuddle up with its tail to go to sleep while hiding its tears tugged at my heart.

I tried to come up with a solution, but nothing came to mind.

“How could I fix this?… I don’t even know what the problem is.”

Maybe Ellaria knows… She has blessed a lot of people before. She probably knows what’s happening.

Before I had the chance to think about anything else, I had already rushed out of my domain and headed over to Ellaria’s place.

When I arrived, I threw the door open and just blurted everything out, “Ellaria! Fluffy thing! Hair! Hide! Blessing! Not working!”

In response, she just stared blankly at me as if I was mad.

“Ellaria!” I shouted again.

That seemed to force her out of her daze, and she started to talk.

“Sister? What’s going on?”

“Fluffy thing! Blessing not working!” I said with my arms flailing around, trying to act out the situation.

“Hold on.” Ellaria rested her head in her hand, “I haven’t seen you for at least a couple hundred years, and you just suddenly show up screaming about a ‘fluffy thing’ and a blessing that isn’t working?”

“Exactly!”

Ellaria then let out a sigh, before looking up and gesturing to the seat next to her. “Just calm down for a bit, then we can try and sort this out.”

I really didn’t want this to drag out any further than it had to, but this was all to make the ball of fluff happy, so I walked up and sat next to her.

“Now, first things first. Ovia, I thought I told you to call me either Aria or big sis.”

“B-but we’re twins.”

“…”

“Fine… A-Aria.”

Ellaria then started beaming, quite literally at that, as you would expect from the Goddess of Light.

“I don’t think you’ve ever been this accepting before. I must admit it’s a welcome change.”

“T-that’s not what’s important right now.”

Ellaria was a bit taken aback after hearing my quick retort.

“Alright then, I would love to hear about what exactly has affected you so much.”

“T-there’s this ball of fluff outside my temple, I want to give it my B-Blessing of Darkness, but it isn’t working.”

Ellaria seemed lost in thought for a moment before she waved her hand and summoned a panel that showed the exterior of my temple.

“Hmm, well, first off, maybe you should stop just calling it a ‘fluffy thing’ or a ‘ball of fluff’; it’s a young kitsune girl, not a thing. Both you and me are kitsune as well? Why are you just calling her a ‘fluffy thing’?”

My face started to heat up. I didn’t realise I had been doing that.

“I-I… forgot that k-kitsune could have o-one tail”

You could probably cook an egg on my face at this point. Ellaria, on the other hand, just let out a sigh before continuing.

“You need to slow down and think things through properly, you don’t need to panic this much.”

“O-okay…”

“So, why do you want to bless this little kitsune all of a sudden?”

“S-she’s sad, and I don’t want her to be sad for some reason. She said she wants a way to hide her hair, and my B-Blessing can help her do that.”

Ellaria just silently stared at me for a moment after that, almost as if she was struggling to understand everything that was going on.

“I can’t believe you are the same Ovia as before. I think I should keep an eye on this particular kitsune.”

“J-just help me give her my Blessing.”

Ellaria chuckled after that, “Alright, I guess it is partially my fault, so I can try to help-”

“What did you do?” I interrupted, my face stiff.

At that moment, the colour had drained from Ellaria’s face, and it took a moment before she spoke up again.

“I-it’s not something that I did.” She hastily spurted out while waving her hands around.

After hearing those words, the muscles in my face relaxed again, and Ellaria seemed to do the same.

“Her white hair actually comes from her high affinity with Light Magic. All that is happening is that her Light affinity is so strong that it was rejecting your Blessing of Darkness.”

“So… how do I fix it?”

“It’s not exactly something that can be fixed…”

I was physically deflated after hearing that.

What can I do for the little kit now?

I started to get up and head back to my domain to try and come up with something new but Ellaria quickly started speaking again.

“Now, don’t be so quick to leave. I didn’t say that there wasn’t something we could do.”

I immediately sat back down and gave my full attention to Ellaria.

“Being that I am the Goddess of Light, I should be able to temporarily suppress her Light affinity so that you could try to give her your Blessing.”

“Then, what are you waiting for?”

“You see, I don’t think I’ll be able to completely suppress her Light affinity. Her affinity for Light Magic is even higher than my natural affinity.”

Neither of us said anything for a moment as I processed what Ellaria had told me.

“But, t-there’s a chance?”

“Yes.”

“Then… I want to try.”

If there is even a slight chance of this working, then I want to give it a go. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll just find something else. I won’t stop until I at least do something for the little kit.

“Then let’s get to it,” Ellaria said as she stood up, “No time like the present.”

She placed her hand on the panel that she was using to view the little kit, and it started to glow softly.

“Now’s your chance.”

I closed my eyes and tried to bless the little kit, but it was rejected again.

…

Not good enough.

I kept trying, putting everything I had into getting this Blessing to the little kit.

It was like pushing against a brick wall, it just didn’t want to budge.

Just a bit more.

I pulled what remaining power I had left in me and continued to push. It would probably leave me a bit drained for a while, but that didn’t matter.

Then, after just a little more pushing, it felt like the wall collapsed, and all the energy had been sucked out of me.

It worked. The Blessing actually went through.

“So, does that mean you did it?” Ellaria said after seeing me relax and sink into the chair.

“I… think… so…”

Just to make sure it had actually worked, I gestured towards the panel Ellaria had been using so I could check.

Looking at the fluffy little kit, it was clear that she had my Blessing, although something did feel a little strange.

It’ll probably be fine…

I sank even further into the chair, really feeling the wave of exhaustion hit me now that it had all worked out. Although, it seemed like Ellaria still had something to say.

“It looks like she’s asleep at the moment; why don’t you take this opportunity to send her a message?”

“What… do you mean?”

“You are also the Goddess of Dreams, you should be able to visit her in her dream, no?”

“Oh yeah… I forgot… I could do that…

“Well then, what are you waiting for?”

I tried to force myself up off the chair but wasn’t quite able to, so Ellaria grabbed my arm and lifted me to my feet.

“I wish you luck!”

I just limply raised my arm in response before making my way back to my domain.

I hope I have enough energy left to actually do this.

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