"Excuse me high priestess, a samurai is waiting outside and he wants to speak to you." A small Miko whispered as she creaked open the old wooden door that led to the Heiden, where a group of robed maidens were praying, all wearing red except the one in the middle, who was wearing a beautifully ornate blue Hakama, complete with a gold ribbon. She was noticeably older then the rest, her great wisdom reflected in the various sacred symbols that adorned her. All the other maiden's young eyes were fixated on her, as she spoke, with a bit of coy "Well, let us see them, then."

The small troop of six Miko's and the high priestess made their way down the small pavillion, the Small Fox Shrine was just that, small, but it was the only one in the area, and both villagers from the two nearby villages and samurai who protected them would come for a prayer.

"What brings you here today, Kojima?" The wise maiden asked, knowing full well what the Samurai had come from.

"Honorable Maidens, I ask for your blessing in our conquest of the Usuniko" The village of Mizudori and Usuniko had been fueding for the past year over a petty dispute over the rights to a nearby field that had escalated into constant attacks, the head maiden disaproved of this needless warmongering, and had routinely refused blessings.

"Dear Kojima, you know we maidens do not approve of needless violence." The Samurai was steaming, every day for the past week he had come, he had rallied his troops but was not going to attack without the will of the gods, for they would surely strike him down. A coastal village nearby had been ravaged by a terrible tsunami, and it was thought that it was due to their fishing of a certain rare species of Karp that had been declared sacred by the shrine.

"Bakayarō! They are heathens who are a direct threat to our village and must be put in their place!" He shouted, these maidens did not understand the need for violence to settle disputes, diplomacy always leads to both sides losing, and he'd rather his side win!

"Kojima, you have no right to speak in such a tone. Return later when you have learned to respect the land in which you walk. Be gone." The blue maiden waved her hand, and swiftly turned and began walking back, the young miko's following."Blessing or not, we will strike tomorrow! You have my word! The Gods WILL approve, this is how it must be! Do you hear me!" Kojima yelled across the pavillion as the maidens grew smaller across the distance.

Closing the door, the wise maiden sat down on a fine pillow. She pointed at a Miko standing by the doorway "Fetch me water, there is much that I must say now."

The Miko promptly returned with a pitcher of water and joined the other maidens sitting down around the high preistess.

"As you know, we are a shrine of peace. We have no interest in conquests or violence." She paused "We also do not accept any who disgrace the gods. As you remember, the sacred Karp was fished, and the fishermen were punished using the blue river charm." She reached for a box and opened it, in there were two circular red and green stone charm and a spot for a third. Each had a symbol, the red charm had a simple drawing of a human, the green charm had a leaf. "Each of these three charms represent a trouble that is to come to our shrine. As you know, the blue river charm was for the defilement of the waters." She picked up the green charm. "This charm is for the defilement of the land, when we use more of the land then we give, and violate the land. We will not use this charm for several years." She reachd for the red charm, but paused. "This charm is why I have shown you these charms. It is time for the red war charm." The charm glowed at her touch. "As you can see, it is active, it is indeed time to use this charm." She smiled. "However, as with all charms, it can only be the most youthful of us that can use this charm." The Miko's all looked down in silence, they all knew who was the most youthful. Aiko, she was just 18, having serviced the shrine for only a year, very late for a maiden, and she was by far the smallest and most shy, she had never seen war, never seen greed - she had only ever seen one demon and she was unable to sleep for the next two weeks, despite the other maidens comforting her and assuring her that a demon could never be on sacred ground. The high priestess was looking right at her. "Well?"

"I... Uh... Accept... I think." She whispered. "Well of course you do! There is no other way my child."

"But uh... Wha-...wha-..." She stuttered "What does it do?"

"It will stop this conflict, but it will not be easy. Tomorow you shall head out to the field and hold it to the sky, and you will understand exactly what you must do..." She trailed "Now, all of you need your rest, especially you Aiko, sleep well."

The Miko's all headed to their rooms, every two shared a room. Aiko shared hers with Kamiko, the second youngest of the maidens at 20. "Komiko... Do you know what it does?" Aiko whispered

"No, but the others said that no Miko has ever been hurt using it. They all seemed pretty afraid of the red one, though-" Komiko stopped, Aiko was quivering, she shouldn't have said that.

"But you'll totally be fine, totally!" she smiled, but Aiko had already drifted to sleep.