The girl was the daughter of the most prominent Noble family house in the Province, and would be missed. However, it was a festival week, it was mid-evening, and no one would consider looking for her until at least mid-morning. She had left the palace quickly, alone, and with very few things packed into a bag slung over her shoulder. She didn't want to hurt her parents by running away, she merely wanted to see the world instead of be stuck with her lot when the time came to marry or be installed at a school.

She had not taken a mount, a horse would be noticed missing and could be followed very easily. Her dainty clawed feet hardly left any traces on the soft grass of the palace grounds. She dared not fly, because like all Phoenix she would attract attention that way burning in the sky like a lit arrow. So she had to run, swift and quiet, into the tall bamboo forests nearby.

She'd quickly become lost, but she remembered the maps that her father and uncle had for their business ventures. Somewhere around here was a long, low wall which had been built in antiquities and was known to harbor thieves and demons.

Well she didn't believe in demons, and thieves could never stand up to her brilliance. So off she went, slightly to the north-west of the palace grounds and away from the town which lay on the slope below. She was only just past her twentieth year, and expected to perform duties for the House - duties she had no taste, and no mind, to do. She was not stupid, nor was she some great mind of the times. But she had her own way about her, knew what she wanted, and was certainly selfish enough to take it when she found the opportunity.

So Nie Sulong ran from her palace home in search of her future, blindly in the dark, until she was exhausted and could run no further.

***

It was more than three days after she'd run away and Sulong's pack of food was growing light. Her feathery hair was messy and dark with grime from the ground, the occasional twig stuck in it for good measure. Her tail was in shambles, the long plumes of saffron framed by violet were tattered and she looked at them in sadness.

"Surely this was a mistake," she muttered to herself. "I'll never get those feathers to look good and proper again." She sighed, then continued walking. She had found this wall - it was low but very wide, it made her uncomfortable walking on top of it, so she walked along side. There were many trees, bushes and vines that crept up to the sides of this huge wall, so she felt safe from any flying spotters that might have been up there to look for her.

Of course, she thought with a pang of doubt and fear, they might not even be looking for her.

That was silly. Of course they were looking, because she was the only daughter. Money and power ran in the women of Noble families of Zhongou. So eventually they would have to locate her and ask her to come home again.

"If only I could locate something to eat," she whispered. Her keen eyes were tired, as was every other part of her body. The long-limbed phoenix-Morph wondered yet again if this had been a terrible mistake to come away from her home and family to explore. There were beasts out here, no demons but bears and tigers - creatures which could easily consume her should they find her asleep.

She barely slept that night either, mostly because the ground was hardly where a Noble girl like herself had ever spent much time trying to get comfortable. Her little shoes were worn through at the claw-points, and would shred altogether if she had to walk much more over hard ground. But she was so exhausted that she did finally fall into a deep slumber somewhere near dawn.

And was abruptly awakened by a giggle.

***

Sulong sat upright and flaired unbidden, her plumage shining brilliant yellow-gold. "Who are you!" She demanded, but the giggle merely changed direction, coming from a dark patch near the tree she slept below. "Show yourself," she warned. "I've a mind to burn this tree down to find you!"

"Oh you don't need to do that," said a girl's voice, giggling again. This time, she appeared, dangling by her knees upside down from one of the low branches of the tree. Her hair was purple and red, her eyes bright and plum-shaded. She had three tails, little ears, and had the look of someone who was used to being outside a lot.

"Now who would you be, coming through a dangerous part of the woods like this?" Asked the Kitsune, "it's not safe even for a phoenix." She flipped down to the ground, adeptly and with no sound. "Maybe especially for a phoenix," she added under her breath.

Sulong drew herself up as regally as she could and announced, "I am Nie Sulong of the Nie Province, inheritor to the provincial seat and ... I am traveling to ... broaden my knowledge of my province."

"Oh, good lie!" The kitsune said, clapping her hands. "Tell me more! Do you have any gold? Are you traveling to somewhere or just away from home? Do you want to see the road? It's much easier to travel than down here in the gulley."

"Do you ever shut up?" Asked Sulong, sharply. "I was asleep, why did you wake me?" She began to adjust her feather tail, futile at best.

"Better me than a band of thieves," the Kitsune warned. "And they are known around here, to be pretty unkind to Nobles." At that Sulong paused in her preening for a moment.

Sulong waved the words off, "they have never come across a Nie then. I would give them something to think about as they nursed their wounds."

The Kitsune laughed, musically but a bit harsh. "Oh Nie Sulong you are very naive about thieves. There would be more than enough to pluck the beautiful feathers from your tail," she appeared behind Sulong, "or they would cage you like a songbird and use your glow to light their way in the tunnels!"

She vanished again, giggling. By now it was fully morning, and Sulong knew that she should continue walking or turn back. Her province was large, but it was not that big in this direction, and frankly she didn't even know how far it was to the next one. The wall went west, but appeared to turn north somewhere down the way, and wind its way around the great mountains to the west.

"Well perhaps... Perhaps you, a clever Kitsune, could be my guide. After all a Noble should have retainers, I would be happy to pay you - once I get home. But I am not headed home yet."

"Oh, that would be a very bad idea for me, indeed," the girl said again appearing as if from nowhere. "After all you're a Noble, and I'm a Kitsune. A trickster like me has only one place in a palace: the dungeons! Because I would surely be blamed, coersing a young Phoenix of the court into foolish wanderings. That's what Kitsune do, you know... according to legends anyway." She was about to flicker away again, but Sulong grasped her by one of her tails, and the fox-girl froze in place.

"I do need a guide, and I would be happy to defend you if someone did find us," Sulong said. "I ... do not know your name." She let go of the girl's middle tail, but the Kitsune did not vanish nor run away this time.

The purple-haired fox-girl turned and with a flourishing bow, said, "Morita Asuka, at your service."

"You are farther away from home than I am," Sulong said, "Morita... that is an eastern coast name, is it not?"

Asuka looked away for a moment, her big eyes betraying bitterness. "Yes, yes I am far from home. But as I said, I am a troublemaker by trade, and there is only so much trouble that one town should have, eh?"

Though they started out rather rocky, the pair of young women - the kitsune was barely eighteen years old - began to walk again, following the wall but not walking on it still. It seemed to bother both of them, though of course Asuka didn't admit it. She did know the roads and paths here, where there were some. She spotted the groups of thieves long before Sulong could have, and they deftly avoided detection for another few days.

In that time, too, Asuka showed Sulong how to forage for berries and other edibles in this part of the land. They even found a few easily killed rabbits, and Sulong's ability to flame things came in handy to cook them. They made progress going westward, into the hills and finally into a grand valley pass. The Nie province was so far behind them when Sulong finally turned around and realized they'd been walking for more than a month, that she merely started laughing.

"That's my job," Asuka said, smiling. "What are you laughing about?"

"I haven't even seen any fliers looking for me, a month later..." She was a bit miffed, but proud at her escape. "Perhaps they think I will come back ... perhaps I may some day."

***

The young women walked through villages and even a few towns on their way west. Through high mountain passes and low valleys where the vast rice paddies and tiered gardens faded into the green mists of day. At one particular spot, they paused. It was peaceful, calm, quiet without being silent. A small pair of obelisks deliniated a temple's grounds were nearby, and Asuka skipped onto the path and beckoned her companion.

"Come along, it's been too long since I've prayed."

"Who do you pray to, Kitsune? No god listens to tricksters." Sulong said, but she followed anyway.

"I pray to the winds, to bring me whispers of fame," Asuka said in a hush but with a broad smile. "I pray to the water, to bring me gold from the mountains. And to the dead to stay right where they are."

"Those are interesting prayers to offer," said a female voice from beyond a temple pillar. "Though your friend is right, the gods hardly pay attention to tricksters wishes." She paused, and looked over the pair. Her eyes widened a little, when she looked over Sulong. Suddenly the cat-girl fell to her knees and bowed her head to the ground. "Forgive me I did not see who you were, hakunetsu-sama."

The priestess was a panther of some kind, mottled light and pale hair, heavy build and a huge fluffy tail. Sulong was taken aback by such behavior though.

"Please, um... don't do that, even in the castle I didn't like it when people did that... it's so embarrassing..."

"But, you are a phoenix, and the phoenix rule over all mortals," the girl said, gazing up in what appeared to be awe.

"You don't get many exotics over this way, do you," muttered the Kitsune. "I mean, I'm an exotic, didn't see you bowing down to me..."

Suddenly the absurdity of the whole thing came over Sulong, and she started to chuckle. "Priestess, I am Nie Sulong, inheritor of the Nie province, which if I calculate correctly is almost two hundred miles east of here and not even looking for me. This is my friend Morita Asuka. We're traveling, for the sake of traveling. May we come to your temple to rest?"

She bowed low and formal, but couldn't clear the grin off her beaky-face. The clouded leopardess Kin repeated the bow and led the pair inside. The temple was very simple, stone with wooden inner walls, simple straw matting on the floors, and hooded lanterns here and there. It was as civilized a place as they'd seen in days, and when they were offered a seat on the padded mats around a round low table they eagerly accepted. The priestess rushed off, came back shortly with tea and cups, and a plate of rice balls.

"I am Ran Sunu, right now I'm the only one here at the temple. We don't get a lot of business here, really..." She glanced around. "We have nothing worth stealing so we don't even get thieves often."

"Well there isn't even a village within several days walking of here," commented Sulong, "that may be why."

The Kin priestess nodded slowly, "yes, but we cannot exactly move the temple to the village, now can we?"

"Doesn't look like the ground's good enough for planting more than a simple garden," Asuka said, "so the village isn't going to be made around the temple either. That's a shame, it's a nice view."

It was true, the view from out the wide temple entranceway was stunning. It overlooked a valley and hills beyond, to the south. Mists would obviously obscure much of this view in the mornings and evenings, and it must look wonderful with snow on it in the winter time. Sulong commented about that, which elicited a lot of new information about the area from the priestess.

She was no chatterbox, however, compared to Asuka. She at least waited to answer questions, and didn't interrupt when someone else was speaking (which were traits Sulong wished Asuka would grow). The area was indeed beautiful in the winter time, though frigidly cold, and the area east of there on the mountainside - above where the 'wall' was - was prone to avalanches and being snowed in. "We once spent two whole weeks without seeing a single traveler," Sunu said.

"What about that wall," Asuka said, "it keeps going, right?"

"Oh yes, many travelers take it all the way west. They say that it goes into the land of the barbarians and giants. Or dwarves, I'm never quite sure what they are talking about." Sunu didn't seem to be the brightest of girls, but she was much bigger than either of the other two, and was probably bigger than many locals so who was going to say anything?

"Why not find out yourself?" Asked Sulong, carefully. They had finished the tea, and were picking the rice off their fur and feathers, when she asked this. She saw Sunu pause, eyes widen, and glance away. "When your priests get back, where are they anyway?"

"I... Um, they are at a meeting," she said, "they take a journey around this time every year, though they have been gone a bit longer than typical..." She had apparently been raised in the temple, brought to villages only rarely, these things had come out in their conversation.

"But there's nothing here to steal, you said it yourself, and very rare visitors even from local villages," Asuka said, catching on quickly of course. If there was something she could be proud of it certainly was that. "Why not come along with us?"

"But - I cannot leave my... I mean, the temple is ... my home! And... I've never been far away!"

"Exactly," Sulong said, tilting her head toward the girl. "What better way to praise the gods, than by going out and seeing the grand world they've built?"

She was going to protest, but that little jibe got Sunu thinking. The priests would take care of themselves, they always came back smelling like wine and looking at her more and more with eyes she didn't care for. She was growing up into a lovely woman, but they were only men after all... And even a naive girl like herself knew better than to think they'd be able to hold themselves back forever.

"I ... suppose that I shall join you!" Sunu said. "I have very little to pack. But we should take the food we can, the next village is several days west of here, from what I've heard."

***

Their journey was not entirely without incident, but with a very large panther like Sunu with them, the smaller Kitsune and Phoenix felt much safer. Sunu had written a letter to the priests explaining that she had a journey to take, places to visit, a world to see - they would understand of course, because they had been out to see the world themselves. It was perhaps to make herself feel better that she did so, because the other two didn't much think the priests were on their way back to the temple at all. And if they'd come back? Sunu would be prettier and prettier, and old enough to be called a woman not a girl.

Asuka felt a little intimidated, what with the Royal phoenix and this huge furry Kin. After the first couple villages, she began to spend more time as a fox, and less on two legs. Sunu was concerned.

"Asuka is ... ashamed to be around us?" She said, somewhat confused about what she'd even said.

"I think," Sulong said, "that Asuka is sulking because she thinks the attention that you and I get is more than we deserve, compared to herself." Somewhere nearby they heard the fox-like sneeze that Asuka was listening in and didn't approve of them talking about her behind her back. But Sulong continued anyway. "And if she'd just settle on what shape she'd like to be for a while, she'd notice that after I snub the boys and they shy away from you," Sulong glanced at the tall cat-Kin, "she's more than pretty enough, and unique enough for any of the young men of a village to oggle over."

"I don't think I like being oggled," Sunu admitted with a shy smile. "But Kitsune are always fun to watch. There were a couple that passed through the temple, when I was young."

The pair continued to walk, now along the top of the Wall instead of beside it, because there was no reason Sulong could think of that she needed secrecy any longer. They could detect the shadow-shape of Asuka, darting through the bushes that grew over the edges of the big stone pieces. Pretending to ignore her, Sulong said, "besides, Asuka knows how to talk to boys, I hardly even met any when I was living in the castle."

"Priests are hardly the men I'd think of to talk to," Sunu laughed, "you're right, Asuka's always got something witty to say to the boys."

"What about the women?" Asuka said, standing suddenly behind the pair, startling Sulong as per her tradition. "They're the ones who call the boys in for the evening, and make their husbands stop drooling. Women distrust me, in case you haven't noticed."

"We're both women," Sunu said, "and we don't distrust you."

Sulong gave a little polite silly-cough. "Speak for yourself," she said with a grin. Finally Asuka joined in their laughter and they continued onward.