Owl

**The** **Owl** (梟, *Fukurou*?) is a resident of Kakurenomiya and the older twin brother of the Raven. In order to come to Shou, which is off limits to residents of Kakurenomiya, he created a mud doll and sent it there. The clay doll was named **Hou Shougetsu** (封宵月, *****Hou Shougetsu*****?) by Hou Ichigyou and was made into his apprentice.

## Biography

### Early Life

The Owl and the Raven were born from a single bubble on the sea, split into two. In Kakurenomiya, the Owl was given the role of executioner, while the Raven was given the role of guiding souls of the dead as they drifted to Kakurenomiya on ocean currents and winds. Neither the "Owl" or the "Raven" were their real names. One day, however, the Raven was tempted by the souls of the dead and sent one back, reviving it. Because she committed a crime, the Raven was exiled to the island of Shou, where Kakurenomiya exiles are banished to. Since he was forbidden from interfering, the Owl couldn't do anything except watch over her from Kakurenomiya. He witnessed the first Raven Consort, Koushou, imprisoning the Raven inside her body and continually feeding her flowers to cause her to lose herself.

### Arrival in Shou

After a thousand years, the Owl sensed the rampaging power of the Raven and her anger and pain inside the current Raven Consort, Ryuu Jusetsu, when she was furious over Ran Hyougetsu hurting her friend Jiujiu. Unable to bear it any longer, the Owl decides to cross the sea in order to put his sister out of her misery by destroying her vessel. He used his power to create a mud doll (*tsukaibe*) and sent it across the sea with the Raven's *toribe*, Sumaru. This exhausted all of his power, so he was found collapsed in the streets of a port town by Hou Ichigyou, a former shaman who worked for the Ran Dynasty. Hou took him in as an apprentice and, thinking that he lost his memories, named him Shougetsu, taking a character from his former apprentice Hyougetsu's name. In reality, Shougetsu was more like a servant doing chores for Hou.

About a month later, on the night of the new moon, Shougetsu opened the shutters of the house he shared with Hou and spots the Raven, now known as the goddess Uren Niangniang, flying past him during her monthly release from the Raven Consort's body. The Raven was frightened back to the inner palace. Shougetsu asked Hou about getting to the imperial capital and told him that he had business in the inner palace. Hou was bewildered by this request and told him that he needed travel papers in order to get into the capital and that he must become a eunuch in order to enter the inner palace, but supposed that Shougetsu would be able to get into the palace because of his body lacking any sexual features. But despite his misgivings, Hou wrote a letter to an old friend who worked in the palace, Setsu Gyoei, who asked his former student Shuku Kou to forge travel papers for the both of them.

The two of them arrived in the capital, with Shougetsu under the guise of Hou's nephew, and met with Gyoei to ask him to help get Shougetsu into the inner palace. Gyoei realized immediately that Shougetsu wasn't human and learned his true reason for wanting to enter the inner palace: to kill the Raven Consort. Deciding to leave Jusetsu's fate up to destiny, Gyoei asked Shuku Kou to give a recommendation for Shougetsu so that he could enter the inner palace without having his background be scrutinized.

### Activities within the Inner Palace

The palace of the Magpie Consort, Jakusou Palace, employed him based on Shuku Kou's recommendation. During that time, the Magpie Consort, Kin Keiyou, was grieving the death of her older brother. Pitying her, Shougetsu approached her with an offer to bring him back to life. Though Keiyou was skeptical of him at first because he was a new eunuch, she followed his request of giving him a lock of her brother's hair, and was overjoyed when Shougetsu created a mud doll that looked exactly like her brother. Her "brother" could move but not talk, and because he was made to be a human, he needed blood to be kept "alive" or else he would turn back into mud. However, what Keiyou's brother really needed was human blood, and he went berserk without it. In those situations, Shougetsu was the only one who could control him, which led Keiyou to insist on him staying by her side at all times and keep her other attendants and eunuchs at a distance. Because he was a mud doll, he wasn't given his own room or even seen eating.

After Jusetsu sealed the ghost of An Keiran in the neglected pond behind the palace, Shougetsu breaks the seal and destroyed the ghost, who was on the verge of becoming a demon and could cause harm if left alone. Jusetsu sensed the seal breaking, but was unable to find him.

Some time later, in his thirst for blood, Keiyou's brother killed Jo Sei, a Jakusou Palace court lady, by tearing out her throat. Shougetsu had arrived too late to stop her. Keiyou ordered eunuchs to take the body away to avoid a search of the palace.

### Confrontation with Jusetsu

The body was discovered at night in the woods outside Yamei Palace by Eisei and Onkei. It was believed that Jo Sei was attacked by a beast. Jusetsu suspected that there was something suspicious going on inside Jakusou Palace and sent Onkei there to investigate, but he was knocked unconscious by Keiyou and tied up in her palace. Because Onkei hadn't returned, Jusetsu, along with Ka Koushun and Eisei, went to Jakusou Palace to find him. Shougetsu wasn't present for this confrontation. After the Keiyou was killed by the mud doll that was her brother and the mud doll itself was destroyed, Shougetsu fled the palace.

As Jusetsu and Onkei were returning to Yamei Palace, Shougetsu shows himself to them for the first time. Jusetsu used her arts to attack him, but it didn't work. He explained who he was and the truth about the Raven Consort--how she was actually a vessel for the Raven. He told Jusetsu that in order to bury the Raven, he had to kill her. He summoned Sumaru and transformed one of its feathers into a sword, but Jusetsu managed to stall for time by questioning him more.

Just as he was about to attack her, Koushun, Eisei, and several eunuchs with bows and arrows arrive in time to help her. This annoyed Shougetsu as even though he wouldn't die if he got hit by an arrow, he would have to remake his vessel's arms and legs again. Koushun narrowly saved Jusetsu from getting killed, earning a cut on his arm in the process. Xingxing, who Shougetsu called Harara, suddenly appeared, and Jusetsu followed Shougetsu's example and transformed one of its feathers into an arrow. She threw the arrow at Shougetsu's shoulder, causing owl feathers to burst out. Jusetsu threw a second arrow at his solar plexus, destroying him completely this time. Before he disappeared, he mouthed the Raven's name.

## Appearance

The mud doll Shougetsu is a young man with androgynous features. He has long black hair and a pale face with sharp eyes. He has the same build and apparent age as Ran Hyougetsu. Due to being a doll, he never shows any emotions on his face.

## Personality

The Owl acts cold and curt, but he seems to have a sense of fairness and morality, such as answering all of Jusetsu's questions during their confrontation and showing reluctance at having to kill her. He also has a distorted sense of compassion, shown when he felt sorry for Keiyou and created the mud doll in the shape of her brother. As Shougetsu, his lack of knowledge about the human world caused him to question his master frequently.

## Abilities

* **Creating mud dolls:** The Owl has the ability to create mud dolls that can move and talk like humans, although their faces are generally expressionless.
* **Fighting:** The Owl can fight well, even when manipulating another body from afar.

## Relationships

* The Raven
* Koushou
* Hou Ichigyou
* Kin Keiyou
* Ryuu Jusetsu

The Raven is the Owl's younger sister. They were close, and the Owl was deeply pained when she was exiled from Kakurenomiya and he couldn't do anything about it. He continued to watch over her for thousands of years, even after she was fed poison and imprisoned within the body of the Raven Consort by Koushou. After hearing the Raven's cries of pain and anger in the body of Ryuu Jusetsu, he couldn't take it any longer and decided to go to Shou despite it being off-limits to put his sister out of her misery.

Though he frequently calls her foolish, it is clear that he is very protective of her.
The Owl hated Koushou for poisoning the Raven and trapping her within her body. He showed disgust for her inflicting that fate on successive Raven Consorts as well, and called her a crafty woman for concealing the truth from them.

Hou Ichigyou was the one who found Shougetsu in the streets, gave him his name, and took him in as his apprentice. Shougetsu would frequently ask him questions about everything he saw, as he was unfamiliar with the human world. Shougetsu seemed to have respected him, as he did whatever Hou told him to do.

The Owl, in the form of Shougetsu, was employed by Jakusou Palace, home of the Magpie Consort Kin Keiyou, after entering the inner palace as a eunuch. He felt pity for Keiyou's deep grief for the loss of her brother and decided to create a mud doll in the form of her brother to console her. Though the mud doll had no soul and required blood in order to maintain its form, he seemed to sincerely believe that he did the right thing and made her happy. He also seemed to help her feed and restrain her "brother" whenever he went berserk for blood of his own accord.

Ryuu Jusetsu was the current Raven Consort and the latest vessel for the Raven. The Owl felt the Raven's power rampaging in her when she was enraged at Ran Hyougetsu for harming her attendant Jiujiu. In order to free the Raven, Jusetsu had to be killed. The Owl showed regret at having to do this and was angry on her behalf at Koushou for having that fate.

## Trivia

* According to the Owl, mud dolls are easier to move during the night of a new moon, because the waves and the moon "get in the way."
* Unlike Keiyou's brother, Shougetsu doesn't need blood to maintain himself. According to Onkei, he has never been seen to eat or drink, or even sleep, and wasn't given a room at Jakusou Palace.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Volume 2, Yearning Aroma
2. ↑ Volume 2, The Blue Swallow