Guardian Doves

Like a skipped stone fallen to the bottom of a pond, Chihiro had never crashed so heavily before in her lifetime. When she awoke she felt refreshed. 

Upon emerging from her tent she noticed children camping out nearby, their old fashioned clothing reminded her where she was. 

With a sigh, she shuffled back to her wood carving station and got back to work. As she finished carving her first bird, she heard yelling. 

"Children hide quickly!" An older girl came running down the path, quickly the children dived into bushes, and Chihiro couldn't help blinking. 

What was happening?

"Who are you?" The girl, not recognizing her aimed at her with a slingshot. 

Seriously, the first thing she's doing when she gets her inheritance money is building a wall between her and all of these crazy people!

FWOOSH!

The sound of shouts and zipping through the air, made both girls look up to see a group of large owls gliding overhead through the air. 

"What were those idiots doing to let so many demons in?!" The rude girl from before aimed at the owl and fire, she only shot one arrow but a barrage of them were released at once, many were shot down but there was one white owl in particular that managed to weave in between the stone bullets it's flight path seemingly heading straight for Chihiro. 

However, the second it approached, the first dove she had finished carving glowed with light, and the owl and all the others remaining in the sky were obliterated to dust. 

". . ." Chihiro blinked. What the heck was that?

"Priestess! Are you alright?" As if on cue, Ichirou and the other men in the village came running. 

"What was with that owl, why was it targeting me? How did it-" Chihiro felt a headache coming on. An image flickered in her mind but only for a brief second. Was this related to her missing memories? How frustrating. She had just taken a nap but all of a sudden she felt drowsy again. 

"That was no ordinary owl, milady, there are many demons in this area, I don't know how they knew you were here but they're targeting you," Ichirou explained. "Please let us take you someplace safer."

"Demons?" Chihiro echoed. Her face twitched. She had wanted to say You don't actually believe in those things do you? Which was ironic considering her favorite past time was telling horror stories. 

She picked up her wooden dove and studied it. How would she be able to explain what just happened? It would be better if she had recorded it on a camera so she could watch over the video to confirm her own sanity...

"Fair priestess," the girl from earlier, quickly knelt down on the spot. "Please, forgive me my rudeness earlier." 

"What happened?" Ichirou looked between the two. 

Chihiro continued to stare at the dove she handcrafted and recalled the instructions.

Clearly, her Grandfather knew something like this would end up happening. She felt slightly scared. 

"Priestess?"

Chihiro blinked. 

"I'm not a priestess." 

"But... the ring." 

Chihirou turned to face those gathering behind her.

"In truth, I lost my memories of my childhood, during that time that's when the time I spent with my Grandfather when I was young, so I'm not sure if I will be much help to the problem you're facing. I'm sorry." She lowered her head. 

The villagers were silent. 

"What the heck? Then she's useless! Hey, what did I tell you?" the person name Junichirou said to Ichirou. "The old man's a quack."

"But... your spirit energy..." Ichirou ignored the teenager. "There's no mistaking it. Even if you are not a priestess, you still have the potential to be one. Please help us protect our village, priestess." He bowed his head.

"Milord!" Seeing that he bowed, many other villagers began to bow their heads. 

"Please help us!"

"H-have you guys ever thought of contacting the government?"

"The government?" Ichirou's face wrinkled, dislike flickering in his gaze. "They are unreliable."

True, who would believe them about demons?

"I'll help you however I can if it's within my power, however, I'm only one person, please do not expect too much." 

Ichirou nodded. "But of course, we did not wish to trouble others with our burdens." 

After discussing it further, some villagers like the children were encouraged to stay close to the priestess while their parents watched over them. 

"We only settled in this land recently," Ichirou explained while Chihirou carved her second dove. He took it upon himself to sit and watch from a close distance after the owl attack, as well as Junichirou who glared at her from farther away.

At first, she thought it might be the shape of his eyes but whenever she glanced in his direction he would narrow his eyes even more.

Ichirou went on. "There are still many other tribesmen on their way, my wife among them. Making this place safe for others is my main priority." 

Chihiro politely smiled at him. It was hard to focus on what with being glared and listening to his slightly concerning story. From the sound of it, he and his people had migrated here. But what for? The villagers also addressed him as "Milord", his clothes were of a slightly higher quality than the others. He was obviously of a higher class. But things like lords didn't exist anymore. 

She tried to focus by thinking of pleasant thoughts. Her new tent, the solar power charger, sleeping, stargazing, listening to the sound of the woods. 

"So, what exactly are you doing priestess?" Ichirou questioned. He had been trying to be patient after she refused to leave her current location but he couldn't understand why she refused to leave this location.

"Gate guardians."

"Gate...guardians?"

"Ah, to keep out the demons!" The girl archer from earlier, who had introduced herself as Hitomu, said.

The children began to shout "The owl from earlier went poof!"

His curiosity seemed satiated. "I see..." Ichirou stood. "So that's what these doves are for. Then, I'm going back to the village, if there's anything else you need, I'll be building the houses there."

"O-oh, okay." Watching him go, Chihiro let out a long sigh. If only this other guy over here was able to take the hint and leave as well, that'd be awesome.