Futal Japan was never a place for a female child to grow, wars and disputes, distrust and anger had lead many men into battles that included very little knowledge of why they were fighting. This was the world Maria Eriko was born into, a child of General, wounded in a battle that had left him as one of the honored, but unable to continue the fight. He had been offered a prestigious rank and the gift of training the young to fight. When he had discovered his wife was pregnant he had been over joyed, a strapping young boy was in his future, he had believed, a handsome young man who would continue the family's honor and take up the fight where he had been forced to let it turn to those beneath him. After a short seven months of pregnancy, Maria was born, a small weak child, not believed to live more then a few hours, and shunned by her father at the hour of her birth, she was left to die by all but her mother who wept over her as she fed the tiny babe, who fought for every hour of life.

And live she did, not just hours, but days which turned into weeks, which turned into months, and finally into years. The longer she lived and stronger she got the more interest her father took in the small girl. In the evenings he would take her behind their home, away from prying eyes and teach her to fight, to use his sword as he taught his students to, he taught her all he knew, even some of the foreign styles he had learned fighting the strangers in the west. Maria was a fast study, smart and bright she was soon out fighting her father, but before long her mother was again pregnant, at ten she was well trained, and her little brother was born, a strong strapping boy, he immediately took her place in her father's heart, and suddenly it was wrong for her to have a sword in her hand, or a dagger amongst her clothes.

She was forbidden to wear pants and was placed in skirts, a garment she was very unfamiliar with. Her mother was encouraged to teach her to be a lady, and when she couldn't do it she was shipped off, away from the family home, and at the young age of thirteen she was in a Geisha house. Her first day a scary night of chaos, swept from the escorts that took her there she was pushed inside, her clothes removed from her trembling form and was bathed proper, her hair cleaned, her skin scrubbed to a bright pink. She was dried and powdered, laced with sweet smelling perfumes and wrapped in layers of silk so tight she could barely breath, feet covered in slippers and paints applied to her lips and eyes. And so her new life began.

Training took her from a worriers daughter, trained to fight, to a generals daughter, trained to be a proper lady, and in all forms of pleasuring a man, her own needs were a secondary need, she was to play the part of geisha until some man chose her for a bride. As time passed Maria was forced into many arms, and she more then once found herself in the bed of strangers as they groped at her flesh before rejecting her and sending her off. Slowly she began to realize her station in life, she was for the use of men, and each night upon her return she was for her Lady, who would see to her punishment for every complaint of the men, often seeing the end of some lashing rod.

Outside of the geisha house life had gone on for her family, until diplomatic relations had made arrangements for trade between western provinces and the far reaches of Japan. Maria along with other girls, soon found themselves bundled into carriages, with little for belongings they were sent out of the country. Maria at eighteen found herself in India for a short while, in the home of many nobles, she was treated fine enough, though left to sleep in mass homes filled with many women, but learned much. India took sex to a whole new level, and Maria, like in her fighting, learned the new lessons quickly, and for the first time discovered pleasure in the act. In India it was important for the woman to have such pleasures, and she learned them all. She had grown to love the country, its customs its needs, its food and drink, the way it treated its animals.

But before long she was bundled off again, with even less belongings she was once more swaddled into a great carriage and found herself on the road once more. The carriage made many stops, and was even robbed twice enroute. By the time they reached the borders of Arabia Maria had no belongings left, and no money, she had not been given a decent meal in weeks and soon enough they were entering one of the many scattered cities and approached the palace of one of the high sultans. Maria was unaware of the danger she was entering, she did not like this place of sand and heat, but she was yet to like it even less.

The sultan's palace was massive, of gold and sand stone, with many fountains of water and patches of green grass for acres and acres, an oasis in the miles of sand. The carriage had passed on a drive of flat stone and had pulled up out front. It was regarded with an air of disgust, as was she, and it would not be the last time.

She was immediately relieve of her clothes once entering the harem, washed and perfumed and placed in clothes so revealing she was shocked, after years of being fully covered she felt very naked. She was taught by the girls and by the sultan's whips how to dance, learning fast as always. She was often paraded around like a prize possession, and when she tried to bring up pay to anyone she was beat down, being left once chained in the desert for two days without water as her guards tormented her just out of her reach. She learned the hard way that she was never leaving this place, the only thing the man who owned her truly cared about was his horses.

She watched day after day as he saw to his horses, tended them and cared for them. On one particularly cold night he had his harem moved out of the palace and to the stable to make room for the horses inside the palace, even his wives had been tossed from the house. Maria was of little concern to him, he often offered her to his guest for the night, then would try to sell her the next day. She was nothing to him more then something pretty in the background and after close to two years of living a life of total servitude she had had her fill of it. She had been planning for months her escape, choosing a laundry day, and a day she knew he would take his newest wife out for the day. She had seen the guards saddle the horses, but a well placed burr had seen to his prize stallion refusing rider. Believing his animal ill he left him to be seen by a healer he had left with his wife, she was a queasy woman and would not take well to healers or his horse.

The animal was lead back to the barn and the palace guard went to retrieve a bucket of water for the horse. Maria slipped into the barn, bundling into the clothes she was swathed in white, her face covered. She quickly tugged free the hidden irritant and lead the sleek stallion out of the barn through the back entrance. She mounted and rode off quickly, leaving the stall door wide open. The guard returned and fearing he had left the door open he headed for the mare's paddock to look for the wayward horse. By the time the alarm was sounded the horse and rider had already passed through the palace gate with words spoke of taking the animal to the healer, the sultan had mentioned something about a healer so they had passed freely.

Maria rode into freedom long before the bells had sounded. The small foundation stallion had been fast and had stamina, crossing the desert in days without stop. She paused only when they came close to a town, stealing clothes and some food and water she had return to the horse giving him little of the water and small nibbles of the food before changing and getting underway once more. The woman left a trail of crime behind her, the little stallion crossed land as if it was nothing and she soon had given him the new name of kyuusai or savior. Her arrival in England herald in her twenty third year and her purchase of passage for her and her horse to Rhy-Din had cost her almost everything she had. She had eaten little in the past months and had to sell everything right down her last pair of clothes and a couple of tricks to get the money for the trip.

Her arrival in the small town finally gave her pause of rest, here there was no note of the price on her head, she was relatively safe. She scrounged up enough money to get herself a clean shower and a couple of newer clothes, mainly clothes that most would not wear, but after years of being in almost nothing she was well use to showing off her body. She gathered together the few coins she had left and her horse, now in regular leather gear, she had been forced to sell the arab gear, but that was alright, the horse and her had grown attached to one another, she couldn't imagine not having him now, and she headed for the local inn, maybe she could find a room and a bit of food with what she had left, then she'd have to try and seek some kind of employment.