Tsuruhime
Supia Rosy
Backstory:
It is said that after an object reaches its 100th birthday it gains a spirit and becomes alive.
As the future Empress left her mountain homeland to marry the young Emperor of the Moonlight Empire, her dearest friend presented her with a farewell gift - a small doll which has been one of her most prized possessions as it belonged to her mother and grandmother before.
The doll, despite some scratches and stains from years of being well-loved, now became the most important token of friendship for another person and travelled to the Imperial Palace with her new owner. Cherished greatly and dressed in the finest, most colourful silks and a necklace of jade she reigned over the Empress’ private chamber, more precious than all the jewels in ornate boxes of lacquer and gold.
She was a silent witness of the grand wedding celebrations, private, quiet hours spent with a loved one and all of those lighthearted moments of joy. From her spot in the chamber she watched as the days went by, accentuated by the ancient festivals and court celebrations, until the Empress’ warm smile she wore every time she left her pavilion gradually faltered, replaced by a tinge of worry and sadness in her eyes - for the life in the Palace, so often compared to the paradise, can never remain peaceful for long.
It didn’t take long for the life everyone has known to shatter into pieces as the flames raged through the golden pavilions and the lifeless body of the Emperor murdered by his own beloved brother fell to the ground, almost forgotten by the panicked crowd of the common servants and nobles alike.
The Empress left through a hidden passage and the doll couldn’t follow - yet it wasn’t her fate to stay in the Palace either.
Instead, she soon found herself in a village away from the Capital, accompanying an abandoned little boy who was found and taken in by a family of lower-rank nobility.
The child grew, surrounded by ghosts and spirits who seemed to follow his every step, bending obediently to his will - and between the first clumsy spells spoken in a joyful, childish voice when no one could hear and the quiet tears that soaked the silk of the doll’s robes when no one could see them, deep inside her artificial body something has started to stir awake. There was something in the young boy’s warm, cheerful tone, his sparkling eyes - or, perhaps, the way he spoke with the spirits, never treating them with hatred, fear or contempt - that made her dream.
Dream of being something more than just a doll.
Someone more.
Years passed. The child grew up and entered the Palace, the very same one the doll had once lived in, and she followed, always so cherished; the only one who knew his secrets.
He practised his magical arts with determination, while she kept dreaming, suddenly longing for a life she’s never had and feelings a simple doll could never truly experience.
She remained silent and unmoving, while he spoke to her in soft words and quiet spells.
When Tsuruhime opened her eyes for the first time, her gaze met another pair of radiant, sparkling eyes as the familiar voice whispered a heartfelt, “Welcome, my Lady. It's a pleasure to finally meet you.”
And at that very moment she knew that all of her dreams came true.