Tama

  "This... this is how you befriend dragons and goblins, isn't it?" Saki asked solemnly. "You don't see people, you see their souls. You see what they are underneath, don't you?" She looked at me closely and I nodded.

  I looked into the water myself, and what I saw looking back at me was Tama. Not Princess Tama, not Royal Tama, not Queen or Empress Tama. I wasn't a super powerful ninja, I wasn't a disciple or even a friend. I was just Tama. I was all of these things together, and none of them all at once.

  The water began to stir and after a moment a large creature the size of the goblin city two times over came out. It fell forward until its head was directly in front of us. It looked like a giant squid mixed with a jellyfish. "Hi Reedril!" I said happily as I waved at the behemoth squid creature.

  Reedril's voice entered my mind. "Tama! How are you? Did you like the fish?" His voice was deep, slow, and calm. He talked super slow and it was kind of annoying, but he was big so it made sense.

  "Tama loved the fish! They were super tasty when I cooked them!" I said happily, my tail wagging at getting to see Reedril again.

  I looked over to Saki. She had staggered back and was staring wide-eyed at Reedril like she just saw a bad spirit. Those spirits were nasty! "Yeah, super nasty!" Anna said in the back of my head. "Be quiet Anna, you are still in trouble!" I snapped back. She went quiet.

  I looked over to Saki and blinked right next to her. I gently grabbed her and whispered in her ear. "This is a perfect example! Look at Reedril! Isn't he adorable? He is so kind and gentle!" I said.

  Saki turned to look at me in shock and horror. "He is the size of a void village!" she snapped at me.

  I smiled back and said, "Closer to three, but you are looking at him all wrong!"

  I turned to Reedril and blinked over to him. "Reedril, please tell Saki you are friendly. S he is scared of you!"

  Reedril was silent for a long moment then said, "She is very lost, little Tama. Do you wish to free her?" I shook my head quickly. "No! Bad Reedril! No killing Saki!" I snapped at him.

  Saki froze and began backing away slowly. If she was trying to escape, walking backwards slowly was stupid. She really needed to learn how to blink.

  "Sorry Tama, I did not mean to upset ." Reedril said sheepishly.

  I smacked his tentacle hard. "Yes you did, don't try and pretend!" I said angrily.

  Reedril looked ashamed and said, "Do you want more fish?"

  I clapped excitedly. "Yes! Tama is super hungry!"

  There was silence for a moment, then a massive tentacle the size of a building came above the water and landed on the ground, leaving a small crater. It shifted to the side and hundreds of fish fell off the tentacle onto the ground. The tentacle then lifted itself into the air and vanished back into the water.

  "Thanks Reedril! This should feed us for a couple of days!" I said excitedly. My tail wagged happily at the nice fish we were going to eat.

  "Did... did that thing just give us fish to eat or attack us?!" Saki asked in clear terror.

  I turned to her and said, "Saki, Reedril is a boy, and he is giving us lots of fish to eat! He is gentle. H e only attacks if you are sinful!"

  Saki looked at me absolutely perplexed. "What's considered sinful?" she asked.

  Saki

  ? Tama looked at me for a long moment as she considered how to explain what the ancient creature in front of us considered sinful. Meanwhile, the literal hundreds of damn fish just flopped around on land, dying. As terrified as I was by the whole thing, I was not as scared as I felt I should be. Despite all logic telling me Reedril was hostile and dangerous, Tama’s lesson echoed through my mind. Things are not as they seem. She had said that, among other things. I looked at the massive creature, and while he was large and terrifying, he also kind of reminded me of maybe Talia or a kind uncle. His body was a massive sea creature, yet he felt so human to me now.

  ?

  ? That did not stop the terror from clinging to me like glue, but it caused me to genuinely look at Reedril and not just see a terrifying giant sea monster.

  ?

  ? Tama finally spoke up, and her words somehow left more questions than answers. Nothing new for her, I suppose. “A sin is when someone does something bad and immoral!”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  ?

  ? I debated myself on asking what Reedril considered bad or immoral, but decided I did not want to go down that rabbit hole. Especially not when Tama seemed to consider Reedril more a friend and less a monster.

  ?

  ? Tama talked to the giant tentacle monster for almost an hour. Over the course of this hour, they talked about a range of topics from fish types, to ninja training, and for some reason, fish politics. Which, I did not even know was a thing. W as it not all just fish eating fish?

  ?

  ? I decided to try something. Tama had exceptional perception and saw things I did not, but it made me wonder. Maybe it was my eyes that deceived me more than anything. I closed my eyes and sat down. As I listened to their conversation, I thought of Reedril not as a giant squid monster but as a person. I imagined him as an old fat man standing next to Tama and talking to her.

  ?

  ? This greatly calmed me, and I wondered if this is how Tama saw Reedril. After a while, I stood and looked over to the two. For just a moment, the Reedril in my mind and the behemoth Reedril were one to me. I could not explain it, they just were.

  ?

  ? I looked away, uncertain of what I was seeing, and called out, “Tama, we have to get back to the slaves, we left them defenseless.”

  ?

  ? Tama looked shocked and turned back to Reedril. “Tama has to go, her friends need to be protected!” Her tail stiffened, and her ears perked up.

  ?

  ? She then turned and blinked over to me, but I held up a hand. “Mind if I walk back, Tama? I have some things to think about.” I looked at her earnestly. Tama looked at me for a second, then ejected Anna out of her.

  ?

  ? “Anna, protect Saki for Tama. If you possess her while Tama is away, Tama will kill you slowly.” As Tama said the last few words, her voice became cold, and her smile became a death stare. Anna immediately threw herself onto me and entered me, but I noticed she did not possess me. In fact, she seemed to be avoiding that area of me entirely.

  ?

  ? After a moment, Tama seemed satisfied and disappeared, most likely blinking away to her ‘friends,’ the slaves.

  ?

  ? “She is really scary sometimes,” Anna said in the back of my mind. I nodded in agreement. Tama was a gentle, loving, and caring Nekojin. But she was also fiercely protective and extremely chaotic.

  ?

  ? I stood there for a moment before turning back to Reedril. I felt him looking at me. After a moment, he spoke in my mind. “You are Tama’s best friend. She speaks highly of you. You reek of sin. But I will spare you for Tama.”

  ?

  ? I considered his words for a moment, then did something that went completely against my logic. I called him on his bluff. “Like void you would, you overgrown seaweed! You know damn well Tama would wreck you in an instant if you even tried!”

  ?

  ? There was a loud rumbling sound in my head, and after a moment, I realized what it was. He was laughing! “Indeed, little Saki, indeed. This and so much more. Besides, you are not completely lost yet. You may still find your way.”

  ?

  ? With that, Reedril vanished into the water so much faster than he had appeared. It actually shocked me how fast he was.

  ?

  ? I took a deep breath, then walked back to the water’s edge. Despite Reedril coming out of it, it looked as calm as before. I looked into the water once more and looked at myself. Then I spoke quietly out loud. “I am Saki, I am Saki,” I repeated. After a moment, I began to shift, and a moment later, a different form looked back at me in the water. And yet, “I am Saki,” I repeated.

  ?

  ? My reflection shifted as my body did. I grew smaller and smaller until I was barely the size of a kitten, my pale skin replaced with white fur. My pupils shrinking and elongating along with my face. A moment later, a small fox stared into the water. I am Saki, it thought.

  ?

  ? Then I shifted again. I grew larger and bigger and was soon just over five feet tall. My eyes shifted to red, but otherwise, I remained the same. I am Saki, I thought once more as I looked into the changed reflection.

  ?

  ? I shifted once more, becoming large, over nine feet tall, nine long white flowing tails lashing in every direction as I grew until finally. I stood over the water, all nine tails on the ground as I looked into the deep water with my red eyes. With one simple thought, I repeated myself. I am Saki.

  ?

  ? Then, I shifted again, and I was once again a pale-faced Foxkin with long flowing strawberry blonde hair. With a final glance into the water, I said simply, “We are Saki, and we always will be.”

  ?

  ? For the briefest moment, a shade of purple entered my eyes, and I felt the void’s presence. Instead of denying it, I accepted it. After all, we were all Saki.