The overhead sun was an unexpected blessing, in that it had dried Iris's clothes by the time they returned to the city. It did little to keep off the sickly feeling of the smog, clinging to her skin like grimy film, but she was happy not to be so cold. She stopped once - to help a man struggling towards a shop door - but once she'd looked up, Ammy and Issun were gone, no doubt to the inner city.

The plague was getting worse, she thought. Healthy people were dragging themselves inside, turning green and miserable, the children too stuffed up to cry from discomfort. She kept on inward, feeling almost ashamed for her health, that she couldn't help them beyond what she was already doing. If she could bring the vaccine herself... she was no doctor, but there had to be something, some sort of medicine to mitigate the effect. Crossing the bridge again was even more daunting, as people crawled over the wood towards the temple.

She didn't know how it would get out that Rao was missing. Would anyone be alive to hear the news?

She kept on, stepping around the line of people kneeling with their heads bowed, shoulders heavy with exhaustion. She thought about the Emperor, who had promised his aid. How could she find him? Would his kingdom know anything of medicine, of herbs not found on the surface?

I wish I'd gone to medical school instead, she thought to herself, then maybe I'd be able to do something. She sighed and stepped into the temple, eyes downcast even as Amaterasu barked in greeting.

"Girly, you're keeping us all waiting!" Issun said.

"There you are, Iris, I was getting worried the dragon had taken you." Her eyes snapped up, in time for gentle hands to take her shoulders.

"Rao!" Iris couldn't help it - she pulled the priestess into a hug, relief washing over her. A second barely passed before she realized that maybe that wasn't appropriate and let go, taking a step back. "Sorry, I thought... I thought the Emperor got- I mean, the Water Dragon..."

"I'd feared the same for you." Rao smiled, a soft and reassuring expression. "It is good to see that you all survived. That was quite harrowing."

"I'll say," Issun said, and Iris cleared her throat.

"Rao, that treasure you said we were looking for - the Fox Rods. The Water Dragon coughed up this orb - it was this pearl with jade, and he turned into a person, and he was a king and-"

"Iris, Iris." She let out a breath as Rao rubbed her shoulder. "Slow down, start from the beginning. I fell into the water and swam as fast as I could. What happened after that?"

"The..." She sighed. "We fell into the water. I tried to grab the Lucky Hammer, but the dragon devoured it. It started choking - Ammy made a lilypad and the dragon turned into a person, and he coughed up the hammer in pieces, and this massive pearl, and..." she frowned. "These shadows went flying from the dragon's mouth as it was changing, and when it stopped it was a man in these blue robes. He said he was an Emperor, and the shadows..."

She closed her eyes. "Rao, he said the Fox Rods had driven him mad. That the Fox Rods were a force of evil and chaos. Are you sure the Fox Rods are the treasure we're looking for?" Rao's expression turned grim, but she nodded.

"Yes. I am sorry, but I should have told you that before." Her eye was dark and stern, and Iris wondered just how bad things were. "I intend to purify the Fox Rods, to use them as a weapon for good, so that none may use them to hurt anyone else. But if you saw you saw shadows... they may have been separated. That is troubling." She pulled away and walked back towards her small pulpit, staring at the scrolls lining the walls. Iris followed, and Ammy trotted towards her side, tail wagging slowly. "But if we truly have the power of the gods... I believe we can. But we must collect them first, and force them back into their original form." She looked at Amaterasu. "Do you think you can exorcise them, Amaterasu?"

Ammy barked, wagging away, and Rao smiled. She looked at Iris.

"There is hope yet," she said, 'with or without the hammer. But I have been reading since I returned to this temple, and I believe we have the means to tackle the more immediate problem." Suddenly she walked back, clasping Iris's hands in hers. "Iris, you are still all but untouched by the illness that plagues this city. I do not know what force brought you to this time, but you are exactly what I need to control this mist. Will you come with me to face it at the source?"

Iris stared, mentally filing through every insane thing that had happened in the last day or so, before thinking about how she'd cried the last time she was here. She'd felt helpless this entire time, but she wasn't going to be helpless - or useless - now.

"I will," she said, and Rao smiled.

"Wonderful. Come with me - we will take care of this quickly, before it can get any worse." She led Iris out the door behind them, and Ammy trailed behind, into the Aristocratic Quarter.

The air was thick with death. iris could feel buildup in her throat, the warnings of an oncoming cold, but swallowed and kept on. If her health was enough to save the city, she wouldn't hesitate; she was terrified as they approached the cyclone, but pushed it back. The Water Dragon hadn't killed her; perhaps she truly was being protected by something.

She reached up to touch her necklace. Had she asked her?

"Hey, Rao-"

"Shh." They stopped a few feet from a gate, guarded by two men. One was struggling to stand; the other had fallen to hands and knees, shaking and coughing like the strongest in the Commoner's Quarter. "I forgot about the guards. Amaterasu, please distract the one who is still standing; the King has refused all visitors, but we have no choice." Ammy barked and ran over to the guard; she started barking and whining, tail wagging and ears back. The guard tried to shoo her away, and Ammy jumped to the side, the guard's attention following her.

"Now!" Both women ran past the gate, and Iris heard the guard protest; but he was too sick to react, sluggish in his movements. She almost felt bad for running. She still followed Rao through the small garden, up to a curtained terrace. Rao pulled back the curtain, and Iris gaped.

The swirling column of mist was coming from the King's open mouth, his eyes covered with coins like a dead man. Rao stepped forward, beckoning Iris to follow, and pulled a scroll from her robes.

"Have faith," she said, and opened the scroll. "Let us begin the exorcism."