Farewell My Concubine

 "Ahh a sentinmental man who are the first to die on the battlefield... What she need is the truest of men, someone who will protect her from everyone for eternity, I much rather deliver her 100 hearts of my enemies to prove my love then pick flowers" Those are the words of Lord Aizen... the Jinn that owns my free well...


I keep going back over these words in my mind... But for some reason I still question... How could such a fearsome being? Was it more then chance that we meet that faithful day? Aizen mentioned knowing of my skills... so does it mean he knows of my days as a Concubine? Or further back... my days spent in the red light district of Edo as a high class courtesan?


Added to my sea of going questions is the main fact that marriage still frightens me. Dare I say...I find my heart softening for him... but is this growing feeling enough to tie myself to a being for all of eternity?


I still feel... torn...Lord Kito has also returned to the Sands. So... how... what am I to do? I wonder how he will react to this news... More questions that can't be answered. Maybe I should seek out a good fortune teller...

Freedom... free will... the ability to move about unrestricted on unbridled... to ability to think for one's self. Truly, freedom is such a simple yet profound idea... one I have taken for granted up until now...

It feels like a dream I can't wake up from. Or dare I say nightmare?


And now... my future seems more muddled then ever... In the back of my mind.. I can only ask one thing -- how do I mange to land myself in these situations? Well... this situation.

It all started one fateful day...

I had ventured out into the city to find a few new subjects to sketch. I had managed to find a rather charming knight, friendly bar maid... and a few other faces that caught my interest.

Yet, as I was about to return to the palace I came across a Jinn... or, dare I say it was the other way around? Oddly enough we managed a small conversation. I mentioned that I was an artist... and Aizen agreed to be my subject. He then lead me to a private place to take pictures...


A sudden swirl of wind carried us away to the realm of the Dijinn... as massive space where few mortals have seen. Ah -- dare I say it was a heavenly realm?

In a perfect world... this would be the end. But no, it's not the end.... it turned out this was a trap! The fiend then entrapped me in fast moving winds that tore at my very clothing! Nipping at my flesh...


He gave me two options. One, death... the second -- giving up my free will. I didn't want to die... so I gave up my freedom, accepting his collar. He then ravaged me... sensually...

Once he was finished exploring my body I was allowed to return to the palace until I was needed... and he said I would be needed often... He event went so far as to abduct me from the palace..

Aizen would later announce that he wanted me to be one of his wives... something that I do not wish. Just the thought of being tied to one person, let along such a fearsome Djinn scares me!

Talk of war wafts on the breeze... will that be enough to call this "union" to an end?

I cannot be sure... I just don't know any more. I just wish to free myself...  without having to resort to darker means... ending my life.

When you're little they tell you not to stray to far...  that you are always safer in a group then on your own. As I grew up I slowly stopped believing in this. My curiosity took me farther... and farther away from everything and everyone... well almost everyone.


Looking back... I want to say that she is the only one who really tried to stop me from leaving. Actually, I was the one who tried to get her to follow me... away... from everything.


Regardless, thanks to fate -- we have found each other once again. And this time around she is the one who is tempting me to follow her back to the seas. I remember that day... I felt the touch of her fingers right before I took my final assent to the world above.


I finally ended up telling her about that dream... I went so far to say that it was a bad omen about my returning to the waters. Which -- she quickly countered by saying it was a message from the gods that I should return to the merfolk.


"The tree dark pillars are the three dark deeds of man; lust, greed, and wrath... if you stay amongst them these three sins will consume you. The only way you can avoid that fate is to return... return to the form the goddess gave you!"

Needless to say... We're no longer on speaking terms. How can the world of man be that evil? I've seen so much beauty over my past travels... it truly warms my heart.


Although, I would be lying if I said I was not deeply considering this offer. The elegant harem has fallen into neglect...  The only stories concerning the palace... are attacks on the princesses. Princess Page as been kidnapped by the undead -- again. The same person who as kidnapped her repeatedly in the past. I sense there is another darker reason for this... but honestly... am I the only one who wonders this?


To be honest, there is only one person I am truly staying for -- but is that really enough? Is it love... surely someone from the Yoshiwara would be displeased. "Love is for fools and old people" I can recall Liang's words now...


I still need to seek a wise mystic to tell me the meaning of that dream. I need to find someone I can really trust.