Dressed Like a Boy

- "I hope you appreciate the fact that I changed her nappies," Winski said, as he put the contently smiling Umikaze into Peri's arms. "Really, there must be another way... to change the waste into negative matter upon arrival or..."

- "You are starting to sound like a gnomish inventor," Peri said. "Anyway, thanks for changing Umi. I'll take her with us to visit Chen, she might miss me and start wailing if I am gone for too long."

- "We will hold a family meeting about whether or not to get moving on," Jelena said. "When you are back we can discuss it some more."

- "My mother, may there be a good harvest of rice for every one of her years, thinks very highly of you, chanshi Sarevok," Shui said evenly.

- "I have a great respect for her myself," Sarevok replied. "I used to be a warlord before, and the best commanders shared many of her qualities."

- "A great honor," Shui said, internally unsure whether the armies of the barbarians were anything compared to the Shou ones. Chen had said that from what she knew many nations in Faerun had very competent and sophisticated armies, and it would be folly to underestimate them, however. This was not how Shou officers generally thought, so Shui was unsure about it himself.

- "Okay, let's go then!"

The female warrior Peri, carrying her small daughter in her arms, emerged from the inn.

She was another strange one. Her manners made Shui inwardly shudder, she talked like a harlot and ignored all the proper polite ways of behaving, treating everyone as an equal and looking them into the eye without deference or fear. Still, she didn't seem to do so out of malice. Shui supposed barbarians just didn't have manners. But her lack of manners hadn't certainly prevented her from developing admirable skills as a warrior. So far Sarevok had been evasive about their past. But Chen was certain, as she had told Shui, that they had fought battles of epic proportions, and all their power was not just a result of hard practise and natural talent.

Not even motherhood had made Peri more demure and soft. She acted almost like a street urchin, dressing like a boy. Her long shiny hair cascaded freely... Shou women let their hair down only in bedchambers with their husbands or lovers... the thought made Shui blush and look away from Peri.

- "How pleasant to see the two of you this fine morning, your presence making it only finer!" Chen greeted her guests. Her greeting and manners were little less formal now, indicating a developing friendship between her and these two.

- "This is my daughter, Umikaze," Peri said, proudly representing the child.

Chen smiled, a sudden flash of melancholia and reminiscence drifting by her eyes, and touched Umikaze's soft cheek with her finger.

- "Precious. Beautiful. May the Celestial Dragons look favorably upon her and let a lot of good fortune pave her path."

Peri nodded her thanks, when Chen's eyes became more focused and sharp.

- "Interesting. You gave her a Kozakuran name."

- "So I did. We are on our way to Kozakura, and you have heard the story about Sarevok's... lost love."

- "The samurai lady."

- "Tamoko is... was... everything I could want in a woman. Do you know, commander Chen, how it is to find the one who is the only one for you, and lose her to your own folly?" Sarevok cut in, not able to hide the pain.

- "As everyone, I have a story to tell," Chen replied. "Please, do sit down. We will be served the dinner in a minute."

- "I saw Tamoko when I was in labor," Peri said. "She smiled at me, said that my child is... important. That she will give hope and purpose for us all. And that I should name her Umikaze, Sea Wind in common. She... was initiated at the sea."

- "Do you miss her father?" Chen asked.

- "Not any more than any friend of the past. I am content. I didn't plan becoming a mother, but I did and I feel I was lucky after all that it happened," Peri said.

- "What was your Tamoko like, Sarevok?" Chen wanted to know.

- "Brave. Proud. Passionate. Wise. Beautiful too. Honorable to the core, for I can not see it as dishonor that she wanted to save her brother, and threw all away for that. But... I am talking too much. In fact, Chen, you remind me of her somewhat. A true warrior, faithful to what you believe to be true, not what is expected of you."

The silence was tense, as everyone was uncomfortably aware that they had never shared this intimate discussion before. Only Umikaze, trying to stuff a chopstick into her nostril, seemed unaware of the tension.