[center]Hyakune su Jikankizami, Ra[/center]

"Perhaps tonight I will speak of my sister, Kagami. I'm sure it is a story that you have been longing to hear, sweet thing." Ra replied, allowing the musical timbre of happiness to ring out with her voice as her lips curved upwards into a smile. After a brief second of holding the look, she turned to the devout worshipper of chaos before her and let out another laugh - but the musical timbre was gone, replaced with a malevolent resonance that was sure to mean one of many things for Izari - none of which could be called 'good' or 'pleasant'. Her stance did not change, nor did the air of authority that she emanated, but the mood shifted almost imperceptibly in the room - but Izari did not seem the type to notice such things with any frequency.

"Your god does not exist, sweet thing... And you know the Empress' rules on the imposition of one's religious beliefs on another, do you not? I recommend that you hold your tongue before she has Yakoul rip it out through your teeth... Or worse, has me remove all memory of your false idol from your empty little head." Came the reply, the tone similar to her more musical, happy side but echoing with the smug tones of authority that she was all too happy to abuse in the correct times and places. Whether or not Izari fully understood the depth of the threat was largely irrelevant, for Shoko would punish him gravely enough when Ra reported back the activities of the evening. It was not her place to carry out punishments in the Empress' name unless it was deemed necessary - perhaps Ra's lack of desire to impose upon Shoko's will (and subsequent lack of doing so) were among the factors that had earned her the esteem that she'd accrued. Advice was only a single service that she offered to Shoko - her network of spies stretched far across the lands also, and in times of need she had acted as a confidante. While most would be hesitant to place their trust in a woman like Ra, for charm did not earn trust, Shoko had a way of knowing about a person - and it was clear that her vision was one that the self-proclaimed Genjutsu Mistress avidly shared.

"I must return to Shoko, sweet Remi - she has requested my presence by her side for the trip to Sunagakure. When we arrive, I will tell you of Kagami and give you another book to read. Perhaps you would like to read the Jikankizami's treatise on the applications of shortening the length of telomeres for the purposes of genetic modification and reduced senescence? I know that the genetic aspect of the breeding process has always struck your fancy?" she added, turning away from both her and Izari as she begun walking towards the door - slowly enough for Remi to reply, but quickly enough that Izari would have to take action quickly if he wished to say or do anything else before she left.

[center]Windspeaker Touho[/center]

The Windspeaker had taken it upon herself to guard the civilians of the village while the majoity of the fighting had occurred - carrying them to safety on the winds and repelling the Imperial forces as were necessary in order to ensure that every soul who needed to be protected from the battle and any collateral damage that might have occurred as a result got to the designated position. She had guarded them throughout the course of the battle, helping to keep their spirits high while their village was liberated. In truth, the fate of Konohagakure was hardly her first priority - it was, of course, fantastic that the village had been freed form the shackles that sought to oppress it, but it was the defeat of the Empire that had truly made Touho's heart sing with joy. Every loss they suffered was a death that she would mourn, but it was a step closer to a better world - and those deaths would be a small price to pay for what the Empire's defeat meant to her.

After the battle had finished, she did not bother to join in the festivities that were surely going to take place. Despite the victory they'd achieved, the death of even a single person was a tragedy that she would mourn in her own time - each life extinguished was a spark of the divine returned to the heavens, and each spark that returned to the heavens made the world a dimmer place to live in. Windspeaker Touho was placed in an awkard position when it came to war - she was willing (and capable at doing so) to fight for what she believed was right, but each death - regardless of which side of the battle it occurred on - was not something to be taken lightly. It was not something that one could simply forget about, or sweep under the rug. It was tragic, and too few people saw death with a fascination or glee. It was not an attitude that Touho hoped to promote to anybody.

Rather than walk to her destination, the Windspeaker lifted herself off of the ground with a surprising grace for so melancholic a figure and soared off towards the newly rebuilt house of her friends Suishou and Shadan. The pair were a remarkable couple who shared her passion for the cause, but loathing of the methods needed to reach it. Shadan in particular did not enjoy death unlike many of the combatants of the Rebellion, and for this reason the pair got along quite well. That was not to say that she did not get along well with Suishou, however - the two shared a maternal instinct that few could understand.

It did not take long for the priestess to arrive at the domicile of her friends and touch down lightly at the entrance to their home, gingerly knocking at the door. She knew that the house had only been rebuilt very recently and she wanted to avoid knocking too loudly for the fear that she might knock the door over, as ridiculous a notion as that was.