“Beautiful Sunrise”

After years of waiting for her heiress, Suzu finally held her daughter in her arms. Before meeting Orion, she had dreamed of naming her daughter Oriana. Instead she chose to name her daughter Akemi, which means beautiful sunrise.

 

After several moments of just holding her daughter, Suzu placed her in the cot and stepped onto the deck outside the women’s quarters to wave at Rigel excitedly. Down in the courtyard he grinned and happily swung the heavy mallet against the gong, a loud tone sounding throughout the air. Now the whole village would know there was an heiress in the clan.

After resting for a while, Suzu summoned Elon to greet his daughter. He was thankful that his arrival to the clan had helped them and that he had the honor of being the father of the next heiress. He would have such an honor bestowed upon him wherever he went next.

 

The clan decided to save their heiress feast for when Akemi was a little older. The gong would suffice for now and Suzu would meet with guests as they arrived over the coming months.

---

The time could not have been better for Akemi’s birth because Yela grew into a child just after. Suzu had been writing to and meeting with both shamans and herbalists and one had actually promised to send the clan a recipe for a potion for Yela’s skin tone within the week.

 

Suzu relayed this information to Yela who was excited to finally become like the others in the clan. Yes, she enjoyed this particular shade of purple but she yearned to meet more people.

 

Yela had managed to keep out of sight when visitors came to call but she was beginning to become discouraged that she wasn’t allowed to meet people from outside the clan. Within the clan, however, she was very happy. Despite her mother’s nastiness, the members of the clan were very kind to her.

Yela didn’t know much about her mother (and nothing of her father) but Suzu had told her that she had needed to leave the clan and it was unsafe for Yela to join her. Yela often wondered if her mother would come back for her and Suzu didn’t know what to say to that. Yes, it was possible but she didn’t think Jana actually cared that much. Maybe some day when Yela was much older Suzu would tell her what had happened…

---

Soon it came time for Elon to leave. They had let him stay for a while longer than was typically allowed as a perk of fathering the heiress. Everyone gathered in the courtyard near the entrance gate and Suzu gave an exuberant speech about how pleased she was that Elon had come to them. The other members of the clan each said some words about him and wished him good fortune at his next assignment before he left them for the tea house.

 

The mood in the clan after Elon left was almost joyful, quite different than how they felt after Orion. They had been quite attached to Orion and it had taken a while for everyone to get back to normal. Atlas, on the other hand, affected everyone differently: Tatiana was sad, Phoenix happy, and Suzu indifferent. Of course, that had been right after Jana left them so feelings were all over the place.

Suzu had finally put together the omen regarding the fire all those years ago.

“You must be careful of who you bring into the clan. The future may seem to be smooth but you do not know who may shake that calm with their arrival. If you are not careful you may have turmoil in your future.”

Although she didn’t think much of that sort of thing, she now felt that the advice had been sound. Jana’s arrival had really shaken things up. From now on she would have to be extra vigilant on who came into her clan…

---

Later that morning a messenger came to the gate with a message for Lady Suzu. It was the recipe for Yela! Suzu pulled Phoenix into the kitchen and handed him the recipe.

“Phoenix, this is a recipe for a potion to change Yela’s skin tone. I think she will end up looking so much more like you… Will you make it for her?”

Phoenix closed his eyes in thought. He tried to not interact with his daughter unless he had to. He didn’t want to become too attached to her, especially since she didn’t know their relationship. However, he wanted to help her feel accepted in the community so he agreed and got to work, following the instructions to a T.

 

When he finished he brought it to Suzu and headed up to the deck to watch from afar. Suzu called over Yela and handed her the potion.

“Are you ready, little one?”

“Yes, Lady! I’m very excited!”

And with that she downed the potion.

 

After several minutes her skin slowly paled to a peachy color that matched Phoenix’s almost identically.

 

From his place on the deck, Phoenix smiled widely. Now she could have a normal life outside of the compound. Suzu also was happy for the girl but she wondered who Yela would resemble as she aged. She might have to explain her parentage sooner than anticipated…

previous | next

---

Note: I hope to get back into including more dialogue soon! I’ve been working off of old screenies and had to get the Jana stuff figured out before I could move on PLUS I’ve been struggling a little to find time and motivation. SO, hopefully I can get going again with dialogue (for those that came for dialogue and have been disappointed… 😉 )

PS: I just wrote “dialog” three times before recognizing that wasn’t quite right… >_<

BONUS:
This is from the last chapter, but it looks like Suzu cast a spell on Elon!