Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

Grouped together at the one isolated part of the Earthbound Tortoise's body, the Four Claws quietly spoke to each other as they continued to dig into the beast's thick shell.      

"Who else could control wind and lightning like that? In fact, I think she got stronger even."     

She Xing looked at them all as she said this while Qiang Rong stabbed into the side of the shell trying to pry it open.      

"All of the tremors from the Earthbound Tortoise must have caught her attention", he answered back.      

The monkey-kin pulled on his staff hard but the shell barely budged.      

"But now that she's revealed herself now, everyone else knows about her existence. They might not know who she is but they know she exists."     

Niu Hong walked up, cutting into the tortoise's shell with his axe and leaving a gash in its wake. It wasn't a very deep gash and so he continued striking at it making it bigger and deeper with each swing.      

"Right", said Qiang Rong, "Apparently, the White Lion had found her and fought her only to lose. Now he's going around spreading the news about the Phantom of the North."     

She Xing nodded, rubbing her chin with her hand.     

"If anything she probably said the same thing to him as she did to us, warn him not to reveal her existence to the others. Still, It looks like everyone wants to head North to get her. Though... Phantom of the North, she must be in the North then", she muttered.     

The snake-kin continued to think about the possibilities as to what could transpire.      

"I wonder how that little girl is doing?"     

Yu Tu's voice cut through everyone else's thoughts as the image of Hongyu appeared in their mind. Niu Hong was the first to break the silence, looking back at the Earthbound Tortoise.      

"Alright come on, if she wanted to contact us, she would. Let's just focus on the tortoise shell and crack it open. It's already dead so we have to harvest everything and put it to use."     

Niu Hong pulled his axe and swung again at the same spot. The other three looked at him before turning towards the massive tortoise's body. She Xing sighed before joining him.      

"Right, butchering this tortoise is going to be even harder than the goose. That thing was already a pain to do, how long is this going to take?", she said.      

"Hah, killing it while it was defenseless was a chore, it's like hammering away at a mountain!"     

Qiang Rong looked at them, joining in with his staff.      

"In any case, the shell has to go. With all three divisions working together, this may take a few months", said the ox-kin.      

Just then, something flew over them before landing right in front of Yu Tu, who recognized the beast.      

"It's Ming Yue's owl!"     

The rabbit-kin knelt down sharing a look with Xiao Yin before taking notice of the letter tied to its leg. Stopping what they were doing, the others stood around the owl, looking at it curiously.      

"What's it doing here?" Qiang Rong asked aloud.      

Yu Tu untied the letter and unfurled it, reading the small slip of paper. There was a look of surprise on her face before handing the paper over to Niu Hong, who then read it for everyone to hear.      

{I hope that everyone is doing well. As you may have already guessed, the one who created that attack was me. The commotion had attracted my attention and I believed that it was the right thing to help. But now, I'm not so sure. I know very little about the current situation between your tribes. I don't know whether to consider others to be an enemy or not. That is why I am sending this message to you. I wish to know the major events happening and things that could involve me, that is it. I don't know how I can repay you all but if you need help, don't hesitate to send for me.}     

Looking up from the letter, Niu Hong folded it back up, checking everyone else's reaction.     

"I suppose that there's no harm in doing so. Although, if we were to be found out... I'm not so sure about the consequences", She Xing muttered.      

Qiang Rong nodded at her words, looking at the ox-kin.      

"This may be dangerous to do but we do owe her our lives. Keeping her up to date with the matters of our kin is the least we could do", he reasoned.      

Niu Hong looked at them both before looking back down at the folded letter.      

"But to determine whether the others are friend or foe, we could be inviting trouble. Even if it is her, we have to be careful about this. One wrong thing and she could be an enemy, a very dangerous one."     

"Then should we just refuse her like this? Ignore her after giving us such help?"     

"What if she goes out of control like before? Who do you think could even take her on?! The entire Reclamation Division?!"     

The three shared a look, voicing out differing opinions until Yu Tu walked in between all of them, putting a stop to their argument.      

"No matter what, she helped us with the ruins before and again with the Earthbound Tortoise. If the others were to know of this, maybe they would want to become allies. Wouldn't it be better if we were in good relations with her?" she said.      

There was a moment of since as the others considered this.      

"The little rabbit is quite right, I don't quite believe that painting the girl as some beast is the best course of action."     

Suddenly, Ao Qin appeared before them, taking notice of the Star Owl.      

"So, she made contact with you all", he said nonchalantly.      

The Four Claws nodded before Niu Hong explained the contents of the letter. After all, Ao Qin was like them, he knew about Ming Yue and met her as well. It seemed only right that he was told about this as well.      

And after finding out, the dragon-kin rubbed his chin in deep thought.     

"Hmmm."     

He took a few minutes, considering a few things before speaking.      

"We should stay in contact with her but we shouldn't tell her everything, only what is extremely important and matters to her. That would be the Beast Gods and our expansion. She would want to know when we head North. Things like the Zodiacs and other internal affairs don't need to be talked about. It's not like we're going to pile our problems onto her."      

The other nodded while Ao Qin continued to talk.      

"Right, if anything she may already know that the tribes could end up splitting apart. Some of them are already eyeing the land. But until then, we should just talk to her about any major movements that are being made. And I trust that we keep this hidden from the others, the Zodiacs included. You know Zhu Xie and Shu Yi just love to talk."     

"Right, right."      

"Then let's quickly write back that we agree and we should set a place to exchange messages."     

Afterwards, She Xing took out a paper as well as ink and a pen. Just a few minutes passed before a new letter was tied to Xiao Yin's leg and sent off. All five of them watched the owl fly off before turning back to the tortoise.      

Qiang Rong sighed before looking at Ao Qin.      

"What's after this? Two Beast Gods down, how many more?" he asked.      

The dragon-kin turned to him in silence, giving him a look before staring back at the Earthbound Tortoise.      

"One more left, though that one will be much more difficult than the Goose or the Tortoise."     

"Well, what could it be?" Niu Hong asked.      

Ao Qin looked at him squarely in the eyes.      

"A fish."