The rune of the treehole deactivated, and sunlight flooded in through the windows. The day was breaking and it was early dawn. Miko's eyes twitched a little before her eyes flew open, and she began breething heavily. She had just casted herself out of her mind, and turned around to realise it was already the next day. She stretched herself as she began to wake up. She exited the hole in the tree before the rune partially activated to close it up, sensing its owner was no longer in the tree.
Miko was rubbing her eyes with her paws, when suddenly, she felt something hurdling towards her at high speed from above. She turned to face it a little too late, and Miru had already pounced on top of her.
"Miru!" Miko complained. However, in her fox form, it came out as nothing but squeaks. Miru laughed as he could understand his sister's body language and climbed off her. Miko shook her body a few times to dust herself, and ran off towards the plum hill where she had claimed as her cultivation spot. Miru ran after her and they both sat under the plum tree and started cultivating the purple morning qi.
Very soon, the morning qi started to fade. The gentle sun was now blazing hot. Miru had to leave to tend to the shop, but Miko did not want to go back there so soon. Afterall, she told Takei she was leaving for who knows how long although she was certain to return. Wouldn't it be strange if she returned so soon? In addition, she had just managed to get Miru and Ryo to forgive her, so it was not a good time, and she risked putting Takei in danger if she could not even reach the second stage, qi condensation. She had decided to use her time in the forest to cultivate, and maybe hang out with Asura a bit since she didn't work in the human world.
Unlike Miru and Ryo, Asura worked in the village. She collected and sold herbs and pills to other foxes. Sometimes, she would sell them to beast merchants that would deliver them to the beast towns to sell, where she would get a token sum as payment. Asura is payed through spirit stones, which she used to increase her cultivation and as currency, compared to Miru and Ryo who earned gold and silver. The only downside to Asura's job was that it was tedious and took more effort than say, working in a kitchen. It required better control of cultivation and concentration, and one minor mistake might just fail a whole batch! As such, pills can only be produced in small batches, and that was also why beast merchants sought pills from a variety of sources.
Miko cleaned herself up in a nearby pond. Nobody visited her plum hill as although cultivation was good there in the mornings, evenings and night time, it was simply to hot to bare in the day. When in cultivation mode, both humans and beasts alike cannot be utilising treasures or power to shield themselves, leaving them vulnerable to both foes and the weather. Instead, foxes usually frequented the opposite hill from her plum hill, the Iris hill. The energy there is slightly stronger and more beneficial, as well as being sheltered by trees. However, like some other foxes, Miko and her friends prefered to cultivate in solitude, as it could be more calming. There were also only around a hundred foxes in the village, as the beast population was never large to begin with, and kitsune were one of the less common beasts.
As Miko bathed in the clear, pond waters, the sun glistened off her wet skin and shiny, salmon light pink hair. Using her energy to manifest a towel, she stepped out of the pond and dried herself, before she stopped transmitting energy to the towel and used it to manifest her garments instead. Water droplets splashed back into the pond, as the towel which previously contained them disappeared into thin air. Miko was now wearing a simple, white kimono robe that was slightly transparent as she was still a little damp. Its length went down her legs and stopped at her knees. It had long sleeves that fluttered in the wind, and they flared out towards her wrists. The sash was tightly secured to her waist, and the skirt flared out at the base, such that it looked much more airy and lighter.
Miko squeezed her hair to remove as much water as she could, before she ran to Asura's house. She could feel the grass brushing past her ankles, but she was used to it as beasts were long accustomed to not wear shoes. She arrived at Asura's tree within fifteen minutes, and knocked on the hollow. Asura opened the door and invited Miko in, sitting both of them down on soft cushions instead of the bare tatami mat.
"What brings you here? I thought you would have ran off with Ryo and Miru already since you never stay in one place for long," Asura asked, while she took out a ledger and started using a feather to write on it, or rather, draw... The paper was made of thin pulp from fallen branches, and hence slightly brown as it was dyed white from wood.
"Nothing much. I don't think they would allow me out of their sight since they feel I would probably make trouble for them again," Miko replied. It was true, because she did not want them to suspect she liked Tashi's company more than them when they were there. There was also a chance she could bump into him there, making things awkard.
"Hmm, I see. Then what do you want to do today? I can't babysit you, y'know?" Asura laughed, but her hands still drawing a flower on the ledger. Beasts did not have a written laguage like humans. It was mainly because they could simply draw it out, way more quickly and accurate than humans as they are more attuned to nature. It was also much easier to remember just the look of the plant then have to remember its name as well.
"What are you doing?" Miko asked. She had intended on tagging along with Asura.
"Nothing much. Just planning the day and I have actually found a new herb of potential use a few days ago. I need to redraw it on the card and attatch it on the book because the previous drawings were not as accurate.
"Uhuh..." Miko mumbled, realising how Asura's job functioned. She would plan her day out and stick pictures of the herbs she wanted to find in her book. When she found them, she would either sell, experiment or craft them into pills.
"So what do you want to do today? You still haven't answered," Asura pressed.
"I don't know... Is it okay if I hang out with you?" Miko asked. Asura simply chuckled and nodded, "Sure! Just don't cause me uneccessay trouble and it would be well!" After saying this, Asura snapped her fingers, as purple wisps coupled by a few purple Asagao petals danced around her body. Her current clothes shone a bright white colour before being replaced by a yellow yukata dress. It was tighter around the chest and waist before it flared out into a skirt that was slightly longer than knee length. It had purple asagao patterns printed on it, and its sleeves extended to her fore arm. The end of the sleeves had large holes, but it added more flare and elegance to her look. This outfit was also more practical for field work as it was less cumbersome than her previous outfit.
"Lets go, shall we?" Asura asked, before she grabbed her satchel and tossed the ledger in it, walking out the hole.