Gingitsune smiled brightly at Ruri as she came into the room, and jumped from where she had been sitting moodily on the bed to greet her.
"Ruri! I'm so glad you're back!" she said, smiling, and smoothing out her dress. "I'm also glad to have someone here that's acting normally, I was beginning to think that I would go insane next... but then again, I suppose that isn't really part of my personality." She looked back across the room, her violet eyes scanning each person around her.
"I was just lucky," she said, "I didn't eat any of the strange food... By the way Ruri, that's a nice look" she commented, letting her eyes linger regretfully on the wand, she just now noticed how empty she felt without it.
She flexed her hand and pushed her thoughts back to their present situation, everyone was acting quite strangely, and the signs were of no help to her anymore, all of them were the same picture- a single circle on a plain background. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes, was it luck that kept her from eating the wrong food?
Suddenly, next to the door appeared the old woman, shuffling into the doorway on her small feet. She put an arm forward and pointed directly at Gingitsune, beckoning her to come forward with a long crooked finger.
Gingitsune's eyes widened at this, the woman was blind, how could she know which one was which when no one had really been talking?
She stood up on the bed and padded across in her bare feet, following the woman across the little house into the small sitting room.
The room looked tiny as Gingitsune entered it, and sat down on a chair in the corner, but the moment the woman closed the door it transformed into something quite large and grandiose.
The woman herself transformed... into a large golden phoenix which perched loftily upon a high pedestal.
"Why have you come here?" it asked in a low, melodical voice.
"We were sent." Gingitsune answered, briefly.
"Do you know why?" the bird asked again, calmly
"No. We simply were."
"I do not mean all of you, fox-girl, I mean only you. You were sent."
Gingitsune stared at the bird composedly, "I know."
"So why then have you brought the others? Cannot you see that they are all coming to harm even being here? This field was made specifically for one person, all others who enter it suffer the consequences."
Gingitsune stood up and lazily flexed her toes, stretching her leg out like a ballerina, and turning towards the door.
"If you don't want to give me answers, I might as well leave," she said, "I have no desire to be berated and questioned by a bird."
The bird nodded sagely, "I would have expected no less from you Gingitsune, only remember this- though the others may be with you, the final battle is only yours, and if you succeed, the key will unlock the gates of heaven for you."
Gingitsune looked at the bird and smiled, "that's fine... but will the others be all right?"
The bird began to fade, and the light vanished slowly from the room, bringing it back into darkness.
"Yes. Darkness always brings out the worst in people."
The old woman shuffled back in and led Gingitsune out of the sitting room, and back to the bedroom.
Gingitsune sat back down on the bed and sighed, "this place is quite strange."
The little window that had showed nothing so far but pitch black darkness became stained in a faint, soft light, revealing a glimpse of the forest around them. "Morning..." Gingitsune said, looking back up at the sign.
It now read: "Cock-a-doodle-do, no breakfast for you, young hearts must travel on."
(I handed in my term paper, and ta da, I'm back

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