Haruka's page

About Haruka

Spells: -/2
Cantrips: detect magic, read magic, light, guidance
1st level: rejuvenate eidolon, mage armor

Haruka knelt praying to Shelyn, the Lady of Chrysanthemums, while playing her samisen. The small family shrine sat in the easternmost wing of the Shinga estate in Ngon Hoa. She could hear her suitors dueling all the way across the compound and knew that her father had promised her courting to the winner. Right now, that looked to be LiFong, the son of the prefectural governor.

Arranged marriages were rare in the enlightened nation of Xa Hoi, yet her father was exceedingly strict when it came to tradition. Haruka played the samisen and sang as did all the ladies of her station. She was talented at haiku and could perform the tea ceremony awlessly.

Yet she had never been out of this compound, not once, since the day she was born. What friends she had, her tutors, even the physician, were brought to her. She had never met anyone outside her clan and although she did not want to marry, the thought of meeting someone new was admittedly exciting.

Her courtship would last three months after which her father would introduce her at court. A curtained palenquin would come for her and bear her to her husband’s home. Although she would never return to this place, the rest of her life would not change.

A wive’s life was not overly onerous in Xa Hoi, for her husband had no right to force her to the marriage bed nor even really to imprison her on his estate. There were ways for him to get what he wanted however. Upon learning her station, those outside would not speak to her and if she denied him the rewards of a husband, he could set her aside and take another wife. She would then return here, to face her father’s wrath.

The ringing of blunted blades wound down and Haruka knew the dueling had ended. The victory ceremony would last an hour while the defeated
toasted the victor, and then her father would come for her.

“Oh Lady, save me from my fate - why must I marry for duty. LiFong is rich and strong but a terrible bore and his caligraphy no better than that of a child. If I must marry him, then please, make me love him.”

A fresh breeze sprung up, wafting the scent of the fresh cherry blossoms
toward her. Drawn back from her reverie, she heard a faint click as the
locked gate behind her silently swung open. A songbird sat pecking at a crust of bread in the street on the other side.

As their eyes met, the bird gave a high pitched warble and took ight, only to stop on a nearby fence post, eyeing her expectantly. Haruka rose, gathering her kimono, and rushed through the gate, an entire new world there to discover.
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Haruka knelt praying to the Lady of Chrysanthemums, while playing her samisen. She could hear the clack clack of weapons as the monks practiced in the central yard beneath her. She enjoyed the last moments of the cool afternoon, knowing that she would have to attend the dusk ritual within the hour.

Life in the monastery was comfortable and no more tedious than that of her ancestral home. Her welcome was begrudging and she sent a prayer of thanks to Shelyn that Master Samuru had recognized the obligation owed his long-deceased sister, Haruka’s mother.

It was far more customary for young women fleeing marriage to seek out a nunnery, for tradition held that those married to the gods could not then be married to mortal men. Haruka’s father had anticipated that eventuality however and taken great satisfaction when informing her that all of the local nunneries were being watched. No temple would be willing to cross the prefectural governor, at least none of those under his jurisdiction.

Her escape from the family compound had no doubt been the providence of the Lady herself. With the gate magically unlatched, a songbird led her to the river and a small group of travelling troubadours heading north. Trusting the goddess, she dirtied her face and abandoned her silks, pretending to be a commoner. The next six months had been some of the best in her life, playing the samisen for her dinner and staying but one step ahead of her father’s retainers.

It wasn’t until Jyito that she remembered her mother’s stories of her brother, the famed masked fighter and his temple in the Forest of Spirits. It had always sounded so romantic and she hoped that her father, ever the pragmatist, had forgotten the story completely. Passage had cost her samisen but upon hearing her play, the ship’s captain had returned it, claiming to hear the ghost of his daughter in the melancholy notes.

With luck, her father would not think to look for her so far north and she would be able to wait out her birthday in safety here. Something would have to happen then for her uncle would surely consider his duty discharged once his niece reached her majority. The forces of the heavens themselves would not be able to keep her father from marrying her to LiFong if he caught her then, no matter how old she was. Did a land exist where her father’s influence could not pull her back?

Haruka spent the next hour daydreaming, sailing aboard a huge ship with many decks and multiple masts, their white sails billowing in the full breeze. She knew not where she travelled in her dreams, but the men around her were all truly strange to the eye and spoke no language she recognized.

Starting awake, Haruka realized she was almost late for the evening chant. Hurrying down the stairs, she hoped she made it on time, unsure if her welcome could bear disrupting the most sacred time of the day. The giant ship and strange men faded from memory but the feeling of peace remained. Haruka knew it would all work out, somehow, if she simply followed her heart.