"Uhh yes, she is the goddess of harvest. People visit her shrine to pray for a good harvest the upcomming year." Tashi explained, slightly shocked by Miko's earlier outburst, "you seem interested in her."
"Erm... yes! My.. er... family farms for a living, so we also pray to her quite frequently... I just didn't expect her to be here as well, since this is the capital, you know?" Miko blabbered in an attempt to cover her earlier outburst.
"Well, we must ensure good harvest throughout the empire in order to ensure we have enough foods ourselves."
Miko nodded, although she was still cautious on this subject. She wanted to ask if Tashi knew foxes or kitsune were the symbol or incarnation of this goddess they appeared to worship. If he didn't know, it would explain humans' hostility to sacred beasts, and possibly hint at the fact that the empire is hiding something from its people. However, it wouldn't make sense either if they knew what they were doing, since killing foxes would be a disrespect to the goddess herself, whether they were ignorant in their actions or not.
Disrespecting gods usually gave rise to unthinkable consequences. Floods of natural disasters like droughts and plagues would ruin the country if the king were to disrespect the gods. People could become cursed with misfortune, striken with sudden illness and the like. Therefore, it did not make sense to Miko how human civillisation was still florishing even when they were blatantly disregarding the gods by killing beasts without a care.
"Oh yes, I have another question," Miko asked, "You said before that there were no more shrines since they all disappeared? Why are they umm... why are that at whatever location we are heading to?"
"Well, I meant that there were no more shrines outside the area we are heading. I'm surprised you still remembered the story I told you casually. This is because shortly after the new reign, many people lost hope. The king therefore decided to rekindle this religion as a source of hope for the people. Besides, not everyone from the previous empire could be killed, and they were strong believers of this religion and loyal to the new emperor and monarchy, so why not?" Tashi answered. This answered some of Miko's questions for now, although she learnt to know that the history the common people know of is not always accurate, but based off what the nobles allow them to know. Based off her suspicion, the gods probably gave unleashed their fury on the royal family in one way or another, and this was an excuse created by them to cover it up.
The carriage soon arrived at where the shrines were located. They were near the outskirts of the central city, the capital, which was adjacent to a crater filled with water, making it a lake that was connected to the ocean. Many shrines stood close to the lake, especially those who respected gods associated with the waters. Other shrines that were slightly further stood atop and inside hills that have been carved hollow. As the capital was far from the actual ocean, this was what the people did to show their reverance.
Tashi opened the carriage door and stepped out, holding his hand out for Miko. She gladly took it and followed after him. Both of them headed towards a shrine beside the lake. The shrine had white, stone walls that were old, and have been seemingly white washed repeatedly over many years to cover the mould and blemishes that have formed on it. Water stains could be found on the walls near the underside of the roof from unrepaired leaks. Nevertheless, the shrine still looked grandoise as it stood in the distance, carrying the symbol of its deity above its gate with its back facing the lake in the crater. To add to its splendour, it was roofed in sapphire blue tiles and was two stories tall.
Miko and Tashi stepped before the shrine's blue torii, holding each others' pinky fingers as they bowed. A shrine maiden clothed in white kosode and deep blue hakama could be seen on their way to the shrine, dusting it or guiding visitors. Tashi was about to enter, but Miko pulled him to the side. "There's a snake there, careful," she smiled.
Tashi turned to look at the small baby snake as it slowly slithered up the stair - like stone path, before they continued on. Miko turned backward once again when she had headed in a little further, only to see an ignorant, human visitor raising his knee before purposely kicking the snake's body aside. He looked wealthy too, which was probably where he got his arrogance from. The snake is an incarnation of the goddess of this temple, Benzaiten. It was a form she frequently took, so the events that just took place here could be counted as disrespect, as clueless as this man was. Miko knew that she should step in and do something in order to punish the man. Even if this shrine wasn't her goddess's, it was basic respect for her to the goddess to correct other's behavior, especially when she knew they were in the wrong.
Miko, being unable to sense any spiritual energy or aura in that man or nearby, curled her lips slightly in amusement. With a flick of her wrist and a twirl of her fingers concealed by the long sleeves of the kimono she was wearing, she sent a wave of energy towards him. It landed near his foot, causing him to faceplant forward. Miko then twirled her middle and pointer finger a few times, condensing an invisible rope made of spiritual energy which binded his arms back. Since he could not break his fall, he landed on the floor with a thud, his face crashing onto the corner of a rough cobblestone. Miko immediately dissipated the energy, and turned back fully in surprise along Tashi. Many people in front of them also turned to look at the man, who was with his lover, in concern. This was especially so as gravel could be seen on the man's wound on his forehead, and the rock he fell on was stained red. His lover, slightly embarrassed bt the attention, went to help him, along with several passers by. Tashi wanted to walk down the stairs to help him, but Miko grabbed his arm by hugging it. How could she let him help when she was the cause of the fall? And besides, that man didn't deserve help after being so discourteous to the goddess he was visiting to seek blessings from. Hoping that he would take this as a bad omen, Miko grabed Tashi's arm and climbed up to the shrine.
Approaching the prayer hall's entrance, the two turned left, to where the chozuya was. Under a small triangular roof was a stone basin filled with fresh water, probably obtained from the springs nearby in this mountaineous area that surrounded the lake. Using the wooden ladle hanging across the basin, both Miko and Tashi rinsed their hands before entering the prayer hall of the shrine.
Officially entering the shrine now, Tashi threw in ten copper coins, five for himself and another five on behalf of Miko, before they both bowed before the statue. Kneeling on two out of the many cushions prepared in the hall, both of them silently whispered their prayers. Miko pushed both of her palms together and thought to herself, "May goddess Benzaiten, the kami of love, bless me and my partner with good fortune and much love now, as well as all lifetimes to come." After both of them had finished their prayers, they took another bow at the statue, and proceded to offer some incense. The shrine maiden handed two sticks over, lighting the tips of both them. Miko and Tashi then went to stick both of them into the sand bowl, after wafting incense in front of the statue each a few times.
"Hey, do you want to see the waterfalls? I heard its quite pretty there!" Tashi asked. Without waiting for Miko's response, he grabbed her hand and dragged her to to the back courtyard of the temple.