Hail To The King

"O-oh... okay. I'll read as soon as I, you know, get the chance."

She gestured to her face when she said that. Clearly, the silence of the skull-face within her was tremendously helpful in keeping her away from a mental darkness, so much that though her spirits couldn't quite be called uplifted, she had it in her to make a small joke. Of course, this sort of mental independence with the lack of darker forces influencing her thoughts went unnoticed to her.

"No, I... haven't really been eating. Thank you."

Keiko lifted her arms and moved them around aimlessly until Ulv either guided her hands to the food, or she found them through her touch. Once done, she took the meatbuns and, rather than taking bites from it directly, picked off pieces from it to take smaller bites. Opening her mouth too wide sometimes irritated some of the pains or agitated her eyes, and she'd rather avoid that.

These were good suggestions, none of which were ones Keiko thought of. She lived her whole life with sight, so these sorts of things never just naturally came to mind. But, eating the book--does that work? Keiko didn't know whether Ulv was joking or not, but the realms were amany, and their secrets were vast and fantastical. Maybe Ulv really did know of a way to absorb knowledge from books by eating them. Keiko would ask about that later.

She slowly spent her time taking bites of the meatbun, thinking. She thought about a lot of things, things she felt like she couldn't think about at all before, for whatever reason. All that thinking was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a man, and it was such a shocking relevation that Keiko scooted back and bumped the back of her head into the tree. The pain made it clear that she wasn't just hallucinating this. In fact, as the only other thing she could see besides the skull-face, she wondered if he was another similar apparition.

Then something like a monkey showed up, which surprised her. Fortunately, she didn't bump her head back into the tree, but she was still shocked to see it. Not out of it being a monkey, as she was familiar with other furry creatures before, but that she was able to see him at all. Were they also an apparition?

Ulv speaking to them let her know that this was not the case. The politeness in her tone may have been uncharacteristic of Ulv, but Ulv herself was an eccentric figure who sometimes talked politely in a maid outfit for who knows why, so Keiko didn't make any particular notes of it. What Keiko did do was a very polite bow. From what Ulv was saying, she was supposed to be taught something by them, so it was only polite to do this sort of dogeza--though it wasn't a clean dogeza, given her lack of lower mobility, meaning she couldn't go into seiza and do a proper one. She tried her best nonetheless.

"Greetings, I am Kuchiki Keiko. Forgive me, but... I need some help."

Hitting her head on the back of the tree irritated the scabbing in her eyes, so when she bent over to bow, it was back to blood seeping from her eyes and soaking the bandages.

"Poo!?!"

Keiko couldn't keep her head down for this one. It'd take some serious consideration for her to lose her dignity and have poo thrown at her to fix any problems she was having. Largely because having poo thrown at her wasn't just a less than enjoyable thought for herself, but it didn't sound like something acceptable for a noble woman to undergo, for basically any reasons.

"Uh, that's okay, I'm okay! Is there anything else you can help me with?"

And at this point, Keiko was even questioning what help she was getting, or what kind of help she even wanted.

Four questions. Was this like Ulv's question about the woodcutters? Good, that sounds easy enou--... Keiko was in this mess for a reason. No more. She won't be overconfident about this. Keiko directed her attention to the monkey, and if her eyes could be seen, then they were steeled and serious, but also uneasy and anxious. Nevertheless, she was facing him forward and head on.

Am I suffering?

Keiko thought about that. Her instinct was to say yes, but... wasn't she contently eating her meatbun, talking with Ulv, even joking around not too long ago? What was suffering? Was it the pain she was experiencing, because if so--that could be remedied. That was already proven. Then, was it the lack of her eyesight? That should come back, at some point. She knew from the doctors that it was just a waiting process...

Obviously, it was her legs. In which case, if the object of her suffering was her legs, then just as the monkey said: why was that causing her suffering. Because...

It stripped you of your ambitions.

Well, yes... Was that it? The time of silence gave her so, so much clarity. It returned her mental faculties, the capacity to look at things in an outside perspective.

Keiko started thinking about people she's seen injured before. In fact, besides Yamamoto, all her tutors were injured. The reason they retired from the Gotei was on account of having endured some type of injury or change that meant they couldn't continue. But, they were people she looked up to. They were personal heroes to her, impressive in all their own rights, and they might not be able to continue being a shinigami, but they were working, they were powerful, and they were dignified. Maybe there injuries were worse than hers, maybe they weren't, but as far as she saw it, losing their legs would've never stopped them from doing all the things they continued to do. At this point, Keiko wasn't sure if she could ever reach the heights of greatness she once coveted. But, does that really need to stop her from continuing to try, continuing to do her best, continuing to just keep going?

No. It doesn't. The suffering might continue, but even if she couldn't get her legs back, that didn't mean she'd always be suffering. Aslan and Yua didn't seem like they were suffering. It was enjoyable to spend her time with them, and hopefully vice-versa. Enjoyable. Just like the time she just spent with Ulv, simply sitting by a tree and eating her meat bun. Simple as that.

"I will take the step. Please teach me."

Once more, Keiko leaned over to an attempted dogeza.

Eh? That was it? Keiko was almost certain that there was going to be some sort of mystical technique, a transfer of energy, just, well... literally anything besides therapy. There was some hesitation and tension in her neck and chest from heavy expectations, and all of that just dropped to her stomach. He just, up and left.

"What about the, the uh, path? What about the Hou Ren Shou? That isn't a technique or something? W-what now?"