The Vale of Flowers (Saber Arturia and Dancingrain)

[Revelations]

With the winds of winter gradually giving way for the warm embrace of spring, Izami had found herself on the road again, blonde hair billowing behind her with every step. A swordswoman with no master and no home, she was fond of wandering and acting as a wandering problem solver – assuming that the problem could be solved with the swipe of a blade, and the shedding of blood. With distant smoke on the horizon, she knew it could have meant any number of woes. From bandits and brigands, to slavers or worse – such a glut of smoke could only mean one thing, that a town or a village had been attacked… And while she was not a predatory woman, a village in distress usually meant ample work, which kept her afloat and with a bulging coinpurse.

The woods around her were a little dark with their enveloping canopy, but she knew the direction she was to go in. Eschewing the roads in case they had trouble, her steps carried her quickly and efficiently through the woods, her straight blade cutting through dense vegetation and forestry as she darted onward for her destination. A tall and statuesque woman, Izami was a beauty, between her golden colored hair and green hued eye – the other covered by a leather patch. Her armor was light, eschewing heavy protection for mobility and keeping key parts of her body safe. Normally she wouldn’t even be armored on the road but between the rumors of beasts becoming more aggressive, plus the ever present threat of bandits, it was better to be safe than sorry, no?

Strangely however, the forest seemed… Quiet. No birds,no animals, nothing. Whatever the reason, it was unnerving to say the least, and even as she cut down another vine in her path, the woman was prepared to deal with the unknown that caused the quiet.

 

[DancingRain]

Asuka was running through the forest as fast as she could. But it was to no avail she could still hear their voices shouting out after her. She couldn’t believe her bad luck. It had been almost two months since she finally was able to escape from those slave traders. Yet somehow they once again found her. She really couldn’t believe how horrible this last year had been. After all almost a year ago she had been living a peaceful life. Her father and mother owned a simple tofu shop and everyone in town was friendly with them. And then out of nowhere there was this bandit raid on her village.

She had been sleeping peacefully when her dad suddenly barged into her room, telling her to quickly come. Half asleep she didn’t realize what was going on until she stepped out of the house. The night’s darkness that she expected wasn’t there. Instead there was this eerie glow from the fires all around the town. The smell of blood, fire and something she couldn’t define surrounded her. Screams, the sounds of metal clashing against metal were all around her. All this combined with people running around, others riding horses, Asuka finally understood that the stories people told of raids like this never truly did them justice. She thought it might be scary but if she kept calm she would survive. But now she knew, it was scary, it was terrifying.

Listening to her father, Asuka ran and kept on running. Even after she got to the safety of the darkness, she kept on running. However until she finally calmed down, she realized she was all alone. In her panic, she didn’t check to see if her father and mother followed. This once again caused her to panic. She cried, she begged the Gods for help, she cried some more before realizing that crying and begging for help wouldn’t actually get her somewhere. First she needed to learn if her parents were alive. So she steeled herself and went back to the village. The entire day she moved from corpse to corpse. Each time she saw who it was, she was sad that it was someone who she knew yet at the same time happy and relieved it wasn’t her family.

In the end, her mother and father weren’t among them. This meant that they were alive somewhere. Happy about that, she went out to search for them. Six months she travelled, trying to find them to no avail. Then another calamity stroke. As she was camping out, she suddenly was jumped by slave traders. At that time she really thought her life was over. She probably was going to be sold to some dirty old man. Who knew that the boss instead would keep her for himself. Night after night she was forced to service him if he wasn’t to drunk. In the beginning she was horrified. She even wanted to take her life. But she couldn’t. She had to endure if she ever hoped to find her family again.

That’s why now she was running like crazy. Her kimono was torn up from running through the bushes. She lost one of her shoes a long time ago. But she didn’t care, she was damned if she was going back to be that horrible man’s personal toy. As she rushed out of another group of shrubs, she suddenly found herself standing face to face with another woman. In a few seconds she saw the sword in the other woman’s hand and she didn’t hesitate and rushed towards her. “Please help me! I’m being chased by some bad men! Save me!” She begged.

 

[Revelations]

As Izami moved closer to the source of smoke and flame, the subtleties that were brought on with it were not ignored. The scent of the smoke was a thick one, not just a simple wood fire but clearly things were burning which weren’t meant to be… While the scent of smoke wasn’t acrid enough to be the stench of a town on fire, nor did there seem to be signs of battle, whatever was making the smoke made her wary, and the darkness was not a welcoming ally as she moved through it, seeking to find the source of the scent, and to see if her worries were true.

Yet while she darted through the woods, and inexorably closed the gap between herself and what looked to be hell, the flash of something approaching and a sudden figure infront of her caused her to near stumble and trip - “Shit!” Cursing as she felt her body reeling forward, her blade was ready to strike out on instinct before she purposefully caught herself, assessing who was infront of her. Torn kimono, a weary, panicked look, and a pleading voice. Her heart began to sink, as this more or less confirmed her worst fears about what she was looking to dive into; bandits had attacked someone, and it apparently took everything in their power to get to safety.

And yet Izami was not a monster. Standing there for what felt to be an eternity, the mercenary slowly eased herself. “You’re damn lucky I didn’t run you through!” Izami spoke in a heated, quiet tone – the adrenaline still coursing through her. “If you’re running, come with me!” This didn’t seem to be a trap, and for now the blonde haired woman was quick on seeking to at least offer some help to a stranger. Being this far out in the kingdom meant bandit raids weren’t uncommon, but depending on where this woman came from, it could have meant a worse thing, were bandits attacking towns? Or had she been an unlucky traveler?

“Wait.” In the silence of the woods, she heard something else – the sound of imminent footsteps, and these ones were actually noticeable. Darting forward, one of her hands moved to grip the woman by the wrist, shoving her back and behind the armored woman. Barely seconds later, a trio of armed and armored men approached from where Asuka had emerged from, blades brandished as they saw the situation. Rather than seeing their prey alone, it was easy to see the statuesque woman infront of her, blade level with the group.

“Well, well,” One of the men, evidently the leader of the group approached – an older looking man with a fair number of scars upon his face. “Seems the flower found herself a hero.” Keeping his fierce looking eyes upon Izami, the one eyed woman didn’t budge. “Leave her to us, you get to walk away with your life.” The man said, his blade sharp looking and cruel, a true slaver’s weapon.

This wasn’t her fight, Izami knew that. She briefly looked back to Asuka, then the men… And simply dug her heels in. “You’re making a mistake. Leave now, and you leave with your lives.” The woman simply spoke, knuckles whitening for a moment as her hand gripped her blade more firmly. Even though it wasn’t her fight, it was one she could not ignore.

 

[DancingRain]

Asuka let out a scream of terror when she saw the other woman move forward and intended to strike at her. When it turned out that the other woman stayed her hand and didn’t cut her, Asuka felt all strength leave her body. Her legs gave out under her and she sank to the ground. When the other woman said that she needed to run with her, Asuka could only look up. “I can’t, my legs won’t move anymore.” She looked up with teary eyes.

Though before she knew what happened next, she was pulled to her feet and pushed behind the other woman. Before she could even ask what was wrong, the men that had been chasing her appeared. When she heard them say that they wanted the woman to walk away and leave Asuka to them, she gently grabbed the arm of the woman in front of her. “Please, don’t. Don’t let them have me.” She begged. “I can’t go back. I have to find my family. Please don’t make me go back with them. Please.” Tears streamed down her eyes as she begged.

When she saw the other woman look back at her, she feared the worst. Asuka expected to hear her say that this wasn’t he fight, that she had nothing to do with it and that she wouldn’t risk her own life for a stranger. But to her surprise, the other woman just faced the group of men and said that she wasn’t going to leave. Instead it sounded like she was going to protect Asuka. Tears kept on streaming over her cheeks. But this time they were tears of happiness. She couldn’t believe this stranger was willing to help her.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She kept on saying while the battle took place. Afterwards she went to the other woman. “Thank you a thousand times. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to repay the debt I am in now. I have no clue as how to repay it, but I will. So thank you a thousand times euhm….” It was then that she realized she didn’t even know the other woman’s name. “Might I ask your name? Mine is Asuka. Hatamori Asuka.”