Sorority

 “Lu? Didn't there use to be a woman on that scroll?”

It was breakfast the next day. A snowstorm was raging outside and Inês was drinking tea. She hadn't slept very well that night; her dreams had woken her up before sunrise and she hadn't found her way back to sleep. As soon as she'd entered the dining room, a feeling had irked her, and she'd just now understood it: the kakemono she had inspected the preceding evening still presented the same snowy glade, but it now stood empty; the woman she recalled watching her was nowhere to be found.

Lu looked at the scroll and tilted her head slightly, squinting her eyes.

“Hm. I'm not sure.” she said. “I don't think I've ever paid attention to that thing.”

Debuu fluttered into the room, Marcel and Jin close behind it. The bug hovered over the grey fire pit, its wings rekindling the cinders. The innkeeper materialized from thin air, as was habit, but Jin cut in: “Thank you, but we're not hungry, ma'am.”

“Right.” said Debuu. “Well…”

“We have urgent business.” Marcel continued.

Debuu cleared its throat and regained composure.

“Obviously!” the guardian said with a little too much conviction. “Sentai, there's a new evil for you to face. If you go behind the shrine, you'll find a path. Along this path, travelers have been going missing, never to be found again.”

Inês and Lu exchanged a worried look.

“I can't give you more information, because I don't have any. Even just investigating what might be going on and gathering intel will be a great help. Make sure to stay safe.”

This time around, the force of the raging snowstorm meant they all had to dress head to toe in mino and kasa. It was for the best that Debuu wasn't accompanying them, because he would've surely gone adrift amidst the howling tempest.

“Hold on to each other, girls!” said Marcel as he clasped Jin's arm tightly in his. “It's best to stay two by two in this weather.”

Inês and Lu grabbed on to each other; their straw capes burbling in concert.

They began their journey steadily, every step heavy and deliberate, such was the depth and softness of the powdery snow. Once they got further into the forest, the trees offered some cover from the elements and the girls could at least talk to pass the time.

“Have you been feeling better?” asked Lu.

“What do you mean?”

“Come on. I know I'm the little sister of the group, but even I noticed you haven't really been feeling like yourself since yesterday. Is it about Marcel's attitude?”

Inês pondered. She didn't want to badmouth their companion, especially since it wasn't only his fault she'd gotten in a blue funk; she also carried her aborted heart trial and the growing homesickness she felt leadenly in her mind.

“Have you ever heard the word saudade?” asked Inês.

Lu shook her head no.

“It's a Portuguese word. There isn't one good translation for it that I know, but basically it's a mixture of melancholy, nostalgia, and a feeling of missing something or someone. That's why I've been sad. It's not Marcel. Or rather it's not just him. Really, it's saudade.”

Lu watched ahead a moment. Marcel and Jin were a dozen steps ahead of them. As they advanced arm in arm painfully, with their straw capes and conical hats warping their silhouettes, they looked like Aristophanes' third species.

“So, you've been missing home?” she asked. “You've been missing your mom and dad?”

Inês stayed silent a little while, only letting out some labored breathing as she sidestepped a tree stump. Then, she figured Lu had been a good friend to her, so she decided to be frank.

“Yes, I do miss them.” she said. “Although it wouldn't make a difference if I were back home. Not for my mom, anyway; she died when I was seven.”

Lu froze in her tracks, a shattered cast on her face. She pulled Inês in for a tight embrace. Once again, their mino seemed to murmur to each other with every small movement. Inês let the hug go on as long as Lu wanted it to. It felt like a roaring chimney fire at Christmas time, exactly like when she'd go to her grandma's house for the holidays in the countryside at the end of the year. It was a little bit like home. She shed a tear and she smiled as she did.

“Thank you.” she said.

Lu let go. She held Inês' face in her hands and gazed into her eyes. Then, they kept going, holding onto each other tighter as they did.

“If you ever want to talk about it…”

“As long as I can remember, I always wanted a sibling.” Inês started without knowing how to stop herself. “I'd ask my parents when I would get a baby brother or a baby sister and they'd get really quiet; change the subject. I didn't understand why. I kept pushing so much that, eventually they explained: my mom had health problems; she couldn't get pregnant again. Then, at school an older girl told me about the story of a sick Japanese girl who wanted to fold a thousand origami cranes so she would get a wish granted to live a healthy life, and I started to do just that. Everyday, before school, during school, after school, even at night… I was always folding paper cranes. I would hide them in my classroom desk, my bag, in shoe-boxes, or under my bed… Until one day, I had folded one thousand paper cranes and I wished for a sibling. Well, it came true: my mother got pregnant, but there were complications and she died in childbirth. The baby was stillborn.”

This time, it was Inês who stopped. Rather, she fumbled. Kneeling, her legs sunken in snow, she was amazed: she had never uncovered this part of herself to anyone before. She craned her neck, her eyes looking up at the blinding silver sky; she could make out infinitesimal flakes, like so many pieces of shredded paper crashing around her. Lu crouched beside her, tears streaming down her face. She hugged her again. And once again, Inês felt it: home.

“I don't know why I just said all that. It's the first time.”

“I'm so sorry, Inês.”

Inês didn't know how much time her and Lu stayed there. Maybe it was a minute. Maybe it was two. What she did know was that when they got up, they weren't just Inês and Lucia, the good friends; they were Inês and Lu, the sisters.