Yumeko

There are few creatures in Teleria more enigmatic than the mystic foxes of Yakai. Born out of the chaos of the Dance of Darkness, the exact nature of these shapeshifting creatures is a point of some debate. Perhaps they were once lesser shards of Lumaya's light, sent spinning free during the Dance and allowed to roam through the ancient woodlands. Others say that the foxes are the spirit of the land itself, the essence of the Dawnlands — of Yakai – made into flesh and blood. Others still declare that the foxes have always been there in one or another of their many forms, since the First Dawn. Certainly the idea that the foxes are in some way bound to Yakai, to its verdant forests and mountains and streams, seems to hold some weight, for only a few are known to have ever traveled beyond its borders. One of those few is Yumeko. Yumeko is a peaceful and furtive being, and though her guiles were well-known, few indeed were those who could claim to have set eyes upon her. That changed during the dark days of the Mikage Autocracy, when beings loyal to the Shadow God seized control of Yakai. The Mikage sought not only to kill and enslave the common people of the region, but to bend the land itself to their will. The forests were hacked down, the rivers were dammed, and the mountains were cruelly scarred with mines. As part of the war the Mikage waged against the spirit of the Dawnlands, the foxes too became targets. Hunting parties ruthlessly tracked down and slew Yumeko's kind, their lush tails becoming trophies pinned to the armor and shields of brutal Mikage warlords. Though under the threat of extinction, their non-confrontational and peaceful nature meant that few sought to fight back, until Yumeko met Karato. Among the hunters employed by the Mikage, none were as feared as Karato. No fox had ever escaped his bow or blade. Yet Yumeko detected something in him so many others missed. After one of his hunts, she concealed herself close to where he had slain one of her kin. She was shocked to observe Karato kneeling over the slain fox and murmuring a prayer, asking for forgiveness, hoping that the fox's spirit would know he had not acted out of hatred and malice. Yumeko realized that Karato was a reluctant killer, surely shaped as much by his upbringing and circumstances as she was shaped by the forests. When Karato came for Yumeko, she hoped that by refusing to fight him she would bring out his reluctance, and perhaps show him that the path he walked was the wrong one. She led him on a chase that took them across half of Yakai. Despite the fact that he was a killer of her kind, Yumeko's taunting of her pursuer was always good-natured and playful. She knew that there was a chance to break a chain of violence for good. Karato would awake from a night's slumber to find Yumeko had carved his name and likeness into the bark of the tree he had been sleeping under, or the name of the next location she was traveling to spelled out in leaves and branches across the trail. The hunt had to end eventually. Yumeko was slowly but surely driven from familiar territory, starving and exhausted. Karato finally cornered her on the edge of the mountains bordering western Yakai. It was only then, staring at her, with his arrow nocked, that the infamous Foxhunter finally broke down. Admitting his terrible deeds, he begged Yumeko for forgiveness. She admitted that the past could not be undone, but that it was possible to avoid further suffering in the future. They joined those rebelling against the Mikage, Yumeko reluctantly putting aside her refusal to harm others in an effort to stop the evil infecting the land. She and Karato soon came to trust and respect one another, as they found their talents, as fox and hunter, naturally played to one another's strengths. As they shared the struggle against the Mikage, they discovered their partnership growing into something more, Karato enamored by Yumeko's wits and spirit while she cleaved to his calm certainty and carefully-guarded inner kindness. After the fall of the Mikage, Yumeko and Karato might have known peace, retiring to the forests together, but Karato could not shake off the feeling that he had still not absolved himself. He set out into wider Teleria with the intention of bringing good to the world. Yumeko loved the Dawnlands, but she had come to realize she loved Karato even more. She chose to accompany him, and from that day forth the story of the fox and the hunter became not just a Yakai fable, but a legend told by all of Teleria.