Topic: The beginnings of all things are small.

Camui Rei

Date: 2011-01-08 12:07 EST
There are many beginnings. Each person starts new when they enter the story, for it is their beginning. And this....this was mine.

It was a decade ago when I first found Britania. I was wandering the rocky shores of my familial holdings when I saw her small, unmoving figure with the waves lapping at her form. I rushed over and turned her body so that I could see her face, from her size I had mistaken her for a child.

Seen from the front it was obvious she was no child, but she was hurt. There was blood, much blood in her blond hair, and a nasty looking head wound to explain it. Her flesh was cold to the touch but I could feel a pulse and she was breathing, if shallowly. I took her back to our estate and there Obaa-san, my grandmother, tended to the woman.

It was an hour before Obaa-san beckoned me to enter. The woman had been bathed, the blood washed away. She looked serene, almost as though she was simply asleep, but something told me that was not the case. Obaa-san lifted one arm out from beneath the thick covers and what I saw shocked me. There was a symbol of a dragon imprinted in her forearm, it was not a tattoo but rather a part of her, and I knew what that meant, for my clan had seen it before.

Obaa-san must have seen the disbelief in my gaze for she spoke then, "She is of the Western dragons. For now she will not wake, the injury to her head was dire. She may never wake."

"How....how can she be from that clan, she is..." I had been about to say tiny, but my frame was considered slight for a male, and I was, without a doubt, a member of the Eastern dragons.

Obaa-san did me the favor of not responding to my unfinished question. The woman did not stir as Obaa-san tucked the arm back under the covers. In the silence Obaa-san said, "There is one on her other forearm as well, magomusuko."

I found myself dropping to my knees, the wooden floor was unkind in its welcome. "Do you know her, Obaa-san?"

She shook her head at me and those dark, piercing eyes asked me loudly what I would do to or with this woman. Why had she washed up on our shores" What was her intent' Two....two dragons. I found myself staring down at my own covered forearms. Beneath the wrappings there I bore the symbol of the dragon, one on each forearm. My symbolic dragons were slender, agile-looking, black beasts, much like the form I take. The woman on the bed, her dragon had been of a silver-blue color and thick of body, it did not suit her human frame. More important was the fact that two meant royal, or old blood. Power, a lot of power in so small and unconscious a frame.

"I can not help but believe that the fates have washed her up on our shores for a reason, Obaa-san. We will care for her until she wakes. When she wakes, we will hope my belief has merit."

It was a difficult decision. One of the first I had to make as the head of my household, my parents having recently been assassinated. Perhaps I should have suspected that this woman had been sent to finish the job but something inside of me would not, mo, I could not kill her as she slept.

Britania Grey

Date: 2011-01-11 10:42 EST
When I woke I was disoriented. Beyond the pain in my head I was in an unfamiliar setting where even the smell of the room was foreign. I found myself on a mat that had been laid upon a wooden floor, warm blankets pulled up to cover my body. Beside me a man sat and was speaking in a tongue I did not comprehend.

I watched him for a few minutes before he realized I was awake. He had his profile to me and the view I had of him was, well simply put, impressive. It was not that he was a large man, he was not. His clothes were of an unusual cut and gave the appearance that he was swathed in cloth, but the frame beneath was hinted at and gave a slender impression. It was his face that drew my attention; a strong jawline and high cheek bones somehow gave the contradictory impression of masculinity and beauty.

He must have felt my gaze upon him for he turned and in that same foreign tongue asked me a question. When I shook my head it caused me to wince for the pain of it and he rose smoothly, motioning with a hand that I should remain where I was at for the moment. He went to the door, spoke with a guard, or what I assumed to be a guard and then returned to my side.

"Parlez-vous fran"ais?" He spoke the words with an odd inflection and although I could not recall what the language was he was speaking I apparently knew a reply.

"I do not speak french." The sound of my own voice echoed in my ears and a flash of panic hit me as I realized that I did not recognize it. My own words held an odd inflection. The more I thought on it pieces began to fall and shatter around me as I fast came to the conclusion that I could not recall anything, nothing at all about who I was, how I had gotten here, there was a vast ocean of fog in the area that I knew my memories should have been.

The man was speaking again, my consternation must have been evident on my features. "You are British. I know something about you now, good. I am Camui Rei. Will you tell me your name?" His tone was calm, friendly and soothing.

"I do not know." Was the only reply I could supply him.

It was then that an aged woman entered the room and gently pushed Camui aside. He said something in that foreign tongue and she looked at me with a frown. "British?" The old woman tsked and went about prodding me and poking me. She pointed to my head and gave me a questioning glance.

"It hurts."

She nodded and then a pair of servants were there with a tray with tea. She poured some into three cups, handing one to me, one to Camui and leaving the last for herself. Bringing her own cup to her lips and taking a sip before gesturing to me to do the same. I realized she had started because she was trying to show me that the tea was safe to drink.

"Do you remember how you got here?" Camui was speaking quietly, mindful of the obvious pain I was in.

"I do not remember. I seem to be a bit short on answers. Do you know?"

"Sumimasen. I do not. But you are safe, and may remain here until you are feeling better."

It was a bit of a comfort, not much. There was a chasm in my mind that was my past and the thought of trying to cross it seemed insurmountable at the time, still I had a roof over my head and it seemed good company; in that I counted myself lucky.

Camui Rei

Date: 2011-01-25 14:14 EST
We decided to call her Britannia as she was obviously British, all of her words were accented in that distinct way that others from that Isle bore and bashed words.

In the beginning Obaa-san and I thought perhaps Brit was not being wholly truthful with us. She seemed to know a great many things about everything except anything that was personal. Occasionally she would say something to the effect of "My father always said that the sea was a harsh mistress." But when pressed she would state she could not remember anything about the man himself; not a name, a face or when he had said such a thing. After testing her hand at traditional female activities we decided that she was definitely no housewife. Her skills at things like sewing, cooking and cleaning were abysmal. It was quite difficult not to laugh as she sat for an hour with some needlework and continuously stabbed herself with the needle, then cursed. As many of her remembered statements dealt with the sea Obaa-san decided it would be good to bring her on a short trip on one of our ships. We traded up and down the coast as well as our obligations to those we ruled, bringing supplies and warriors when needed. When Brit walked up the gangway to the ship it was like watching a phoenix rise from long dead ashes. Her stride was purposeful and she immediately went to the helm, placing a hand comfortably upon the ancient wood and standing there. In that pose she looked natural, a part of the ship she stood upon. The sun was bright and shone down upon her golden hair, illuminating her pale face and the smile that grew there. For months after that day it was a task to get her off of the ships. She would go from one to another, and although the men were superstitious at first they quickly came to appreciate her skills. The ships she sailed upon would always arrive faster, sail smoother and generally run better than our other ships.

As the weeks went by we debated, Obaa-san and I, on how to tell Brit of her true nature. She seemed to have no inkling that she was anything other than human, that would become problematic when spring rolled around. It was a delicate thing though, how do you tell a woman that she is also a beast without insulting, frightening or infuriating? Brit had displayed a type of flash temper that was like a monsoon; she gave little warning and everything in its path was drowned beheath its wrath.

I had made the decision to transform in front of her before the spring winds began to blow down the mountains and Obaa-san agreed that might be the best path to take. Sometimes even the best path is still a treacherous one...

Britania Grey

Date: 2011-01-28 13:02 EST
It has been a decade now since Camui and his family took me in and gave me a home. It has not been an easy trip for me, nor for them. I can never repay the kindness, friendship and love that they have given willingly and without reserve. For the first few months I felt like a fish out of water trying my hand at things that should have been known but finding nothing that felt right.

Cam tried to be encouraging, tried to give me any and all the resources he had at his disposal. During the day I would spend time attempting to sew, cook, clean, garden, anything that I saw the other women performing. One afternoon I spent a good hour stabbing myself with a needle while Cam sat nearby talking slowly as he tried to teach me his language. He never actually laughed but I could see the desire in those beautiful dark eyes. At some point I realized that I did worse at everything whenever he was near and that began to bother me.

After wrapping my abused fingertips in gauze I followed him to the training yard for every day at the same time he would meet others there and they would spar for hours. That day I was feeling worse than usual, my failures so blatant that some part of my soul cried for vengeance against an uncaring world. I could hear the collective gasp of the men as I yanked one of the practice blades from the rack and strode to the center of the yard. The blade felt too long, and when I dropped into a ready stance, my body remembering something I could not, I felt the lack of a secondary blade.

There was muttering in the language of the land, I was not yet good enough to understand but I could get the gist from the tones. They were not happy that a woman, let alone a foreigner, was there with a blade in hand and waiting. Cam broke the growing wave of ire on the shores of his calm as he stepped in and stood facing me. He bowed, said something too softly for me to catch and then drew his blade.

Belatedly I bowed and prepared. After long moments of the two of us just facing one another I found myself moving. The blade now an extension of my intent, feinting high before reversing the arc and striking at his shin, my body turning to present a smaller target. My right hand moved as if there were a second blade there, a defensive action that had no effect as I lacked a second blade and Cam struck my forearm hard even as my blow landed. We both retreated and seeing my expression of consternation he spoke, "You fight with two weapons?"

"I....I think so."

He nodded. "And that blade is too long for you. Something shorter would suit you better. I will see what we can do. You will need to wear proper attire before you join the practice again. For now, mimic my bow in every way but you must bow deeper, and leave the yard."

For a moment I felt a flash of anger wash over me. After all, who was he to demand that I bow to him as if he were my lord and then send me off to my quarters like an errant child. I suppressed the urge to lunge at him and as he bowed I mirrored him. If my bow was deeper it was hardly enough to notice and the men in the yard began to murmur again. Cam gave me a look that was filled with disappointment and the shame I felt at disobeying his request sent colour racing across my cheeks.

That shame grew ten-fold when a weaponsmith was lead into my rooms later that evening. He had been sent to measure and assess the proper balance for the weapons I would require. How Cam put up with me was as much a mystery to me as my past, and the next few months were spent attempting to abide by all the rules I could remember.

Thankfully Cam was empathic and could see deep into my soul to know that I was trying to make up for the disrespect I showed....and that was when he took me to a ship. The moment I set foot upon the gangway I finally felt as though I landed, it was the first moment since I woke that I truly felt alive and in my element.

That was in January and life was good for a few months....and then came spring.

Camui Rei

Date: 2011-02-02 08:52 EST
As it is with many things when you fear something approaching it hastens it's arrival. The winter was unusually cold in Kyoto and I used that as an excuse to ignore what was going to happen in spring. Despite being highly evolved, those of a dual nature were still chained by nature to adhere to the demands of self preservation. Dragons are not extremely fertile, nor do the females bear many young when they do conceive. This is only right as the world could not support the needs of many dragons, we would surely die out from lack of resources were it otherwise. Still there is a drive that wakes every spring to seek out others of our kind and mate. It is primal, undeniable, and often deadly if there are competing males in the area. We live far apart from one another for this reason most of all (there are others but none as relevant to this telling of my life.)

I nearly waited too long. I was wakened from my sleep with the overwhelming ache that meant I would shift my shape soon if I desired to do so or not. The cry of dismay I heard echoing through the house was barely recognizable as being Brit but I knew it was she that sound of agony ripped from involuntarily.

Obaa-san was at the entrance to my room before I had finished dressing, her grey hair unbound a wild mess around her small frame. "You have not told her yet?" There was a definitive note of distress in her voice, and it was warranted. A woman was about to shift to a form of great power and destruction without knowing how or why and it seemed that she may just do it under the roof of our home.

"I am going. I will take care of it." I usually was not brusk with her but I was concerned and ashamed of my cowardice. It was, I realized, a fear of losing Brit that kept me from having this discussion with her and now I had made it worse for the time was too short to be gentle.

My entrance into Brits room was made with hasty caution and with good reason. I could hear things crashing in the small room and a low growling that I discovered was Brit as she tried to master the pain that was coursing through her body. The change is never easy, there is a lot of pain involved in growing from a human size to that of a dragon. When you were fighting it because you were unaware what your body was attempting to do' It must have been challenging for Brit to retain any sense of self or sanity.

She was in the process of throwing a stone statue that weighed something close to 150 kilograms at me when I saw recognition in those oddly colored eyes and it was sent off course enough to smash through the thin inner wall just to the right of where I stood.

"What' What have you done?" The words were torn from her and full of rage and betrayal.

"Kimi no koto o aishiteiru yo." Was what I heard spilling from my lips before I had a chance to think.

Brit stopped, her breath was coming in ragged gasps and she hunched as though to draw in upon herself. "I....do not know what that means."

She did, I knew that she did but I repeated it in her language. "I love you, everything about you. I have neglected my duty to you and by omission lied to you and I hope you will forgive me. I feared, and....hitorikiri wa, taerarenai. Not now that I have found you."

Brit looked confused and I did not explain further but rather moved forward and swept her up in my arms. She did not protest, not much, and except for the sounds of pain she could not suppress we moved in silence as I carried her out of the house and toward the open fields.