Aiko no Miya

Class: Monk / Elementalist

Favorite Colors: Purple & White

Pet: Kage (Melandru's Stalker)

Sign: Pisces (Mutable Water)

Background:

Aiko is the daughter of the ruler of a distant, eastern kingdom. She was raised in a palace, but on the day before she was to be married to a man she despised, she fled into the mountains. After several days, starving and half-delirious, she came upon a secluded monastery. The monks took her in without question and cared for her. When she was well enough, they asked her why she had come to them, and she lied, giving a false name (Toshi) and claiming she wished to become a monk and devote her life to the gods.

Over the next several years, "Toshi" became very adept at her monastic duties, healing those who came for aid, and helping with the monastery chores. She also studied the ways of Nature, and learned how to befriend and aid the animals in the wild. When not in prayer or performing chores, she would always been found in the wilds near the monastery. She befriended a tiger, who she named "Aiko", because she often wished she was a tiger herself, powerful and free.

One day, the head of the monastery summoned "Toshi" to his private office. He asked her how she was doing in her prayers and studies, then he asked her, "Are you happy?" She was taken aback, because she realized the answer was, "Yes." Her lie had become her truth, she wanted nothing more in life than to devote herself to the gods and to do their will. This is what made her happy. And she said so.

"Good. You have learned your lessons well, Aiko-no-Miya." She gasped, and he laughed. "Yes, I know who you are, princess. I knew you were lying when you first came to us, and it really wasn't that hard to figure out. The Emperor's daughter goes missing on the eve before her wedding, and a young lady shows up starving on my doorstep three days later, lying about her past and needing to be taught how to perform even simple tasks like washing clothes." She blushed, remembering what a spoiled child she had been when she came to the monastery, and he gave another good-natured laugh.

But his face quickly turned serious again. "I'm sorry, 'Toshi', but it is time for you to move on. It is time you shared the gods blessings with the world, through your adept hands. It is past time, in fact. I would have sent you sooner, but I feared for your safety. Your father still has a handsome reward out for your return."

She looked surprised at that. "I didn't think he'd still care."

"Oh, he cares, alright, although not perhaps in a kind way. The Emperor does not suffer to see his will denied in public. Earlier today, a fortune hunter passed by, looking for you. I'm afraid even this secluded corner of the world is no longer safe for you."

The first tugs of panic began to pull at her gut. "If not here, in this secluded place, then where?"

"I am sending you on a ship, across the oceans to a distant land called Ascalon, well beyond the reach of our Emperor. It is a blasted and war-torn land, in great need of someone with your talents. Indeed, the gods have whispered to me, they will be in even greater need of you, very soon. You will leave tomorrow. Now go and prepare for your journey."

The next day, after a tearful parting with her friends, including her beloved tiger, she began her journey down the mountain, in disguise, neither Aiko nor Toshi, a nameless wanderer on a journey. She wondered if she would ever see "Aiko" again...