Chapter 10: The Legacy Continues
A year after Guen left the palace, along with his youngest brother Zeno, he found a nice little grove between the earth and fire tribes. It had a beautiful view of a waterfall, a natural river that turned into a stream in the summer. A perfect defending point of view that was nestled into the mountain. He began to build his village little by little. First building a home for himself, then smaller huts for the villagers that would one day fill the village, along with a library where anybody could come to read things of the past.
He ventured out into the nearby villages, sometimes hearing rumors of battles occurring, but that nobody was ever hurt on their country.s side. Another rumor that a single youth stood between them and death. Zeno? he often wondered if these rumors were of him, but could never bring himself to investigate.
He met his first wife at a slavers market, bought her, then freed her and all of the others who had been wrongfully enslaved. Most came with him into the mountains. His second wife amongst them as well. It was two summer's after he had freed the slaves that most moved on from his village to find permanent homes for themselves. His first wife was named Lili, his second was named Fe-ling. Both were beautiful women. Fe-ling had deep brown eyes and midnight colored hair whilst Lili had mud brown hair, but had the bluest eyes he'd ever seen in his life. Both women knew who and what he was, and accepted him as the man he was.
His first son was born five years after he left Kuuto. He had sand colored hair, and blue eyes that came from Lili. His firstborn daughter came from Fe-ling. She had her mother's looks but had deep brown hair like that of which he had once had before he'd drank the dragons blood. Both children were strong and brought him great joy. Three years later Fe-ling gave him twin boys, but she became sick afterwards and could no long bare children. This meant nothing to him, as Guen loved her anyways.
Years passed for the Hakuryuu warrior, he grew older and older and As the days passed he began to wonder why Zeno never came to visit him. Did not the youngest remember the promise he made all those years ago? He could feel the warm ball of yellow energy bouncing around the capital, though some days it raced off to one of the borders; only to return home.
When fifteen years had passed since he had left Kuuto he was surprised by Lili when she became pregnant in her later years. Overjoyed he laid his hands upon her belly, her hand clutching his dragon claw, stroking the scales gently. Her eyes never betraying anything but love towards him. Her pregnancy was harsh on her, having to stay in bed most of the time in the later months of the pregnancy. She was catered by her and Fe-ling's children who couldn't wait to meet their brother or sister.
By the time it was the moment of birth Guen found himself feeling as nervous as Hiryuu had been when Prince Yak-shi had been born. He found that his arm tingled and felt like it was being poked by needles during the entire birthing process. As her screams ended, Guen waited impatiently at the bottom of the two story home for word on what she'd just had. Rubbing his hands together to keep them busy, he looked up as his eldest daughter brought him a bundled baby.
"Is it a he or she?" he asked the little girl as he was handed the babe.
"He." she answered with a smile at her father. "He's got a surprise for you papa."
Raising an eyebrow he slowly unwrapped the bundled baby in his arms. His eyes widening as he took in the white hair and tiny dragon claw right arm. "My son." he breathed before grinning. "He's going to return." his eyes began to mist over as he brought his sons forehead up to his lips. "You are my legacy. You shall either meet King Hiryuu when he returns or it shall be your son who meets him." He touched his daughters head and spoke to her. "He'll need help in protecting this village. Will you protect him?"
Grinning brightly, his daughter nodded vigorously. "Yes papa." she then turned to go see if she was needed by either of her mother's.
"My son." Guen whispered as he gently swaddled the babe and held him ever so gently in his arms. His son was the next generation, this meant he was no longer needed and soon would leave this world for the next; but before he could get sad his son slowly opened his eyes and suddenly Guen was left breathless.
Shuten had always been a free spirited man, this meant he drank when he wanted, slept where he wanted and went wherever he wanted. Nothing could tie him down for very long. He married one woman and tried to stay and be a good husband, but he wasn't a farmer or much of a fisherman. He provided meat he hunted and she cooked it. She then got pregnant within the second year together, but the child was born weak and died within his first day of life. She took her own life by the month's end.
After that he didn't marry again; instead he found prostitutes to take care of his needs with. One in particular, Mei-soo. She had long black hair, ruby red lips and painted eyelids that were as blue as her eyes. Her skin was soft as silk and she always smelt like flowers. Turned out, he couldn't trust her not to get pregnant. She did and it was his son for the child born was as ugly as he once had been as a child. He felt sorry for the boy. He paid her master of sorts and took her to find a safe place to live, away from the cities. He made his home in the valley of a mountain in the wind tribe, near the big river that ran to the capital of Fuuga.
After his first son was born, a daughter came. She had her mother's beauty, but his sense of adventure. He taught both children how to hold a bow bow by the time they were four and how to hunt by six. Mei-soo died from fever just months after their third was born. Not knowing what else to do, Shuten found a widowed mother who had a child and had her nurse his second son. She later became his next lover.
By the time ten years had come around Shuten had three lovely ladies as his lovers, and nearly a dozen children. He never lost his sense of freewill and would vanish from time to time, but always came back with money and food. Money he won by gambling and food he had hunted. His family never went hungry like he had gone as a kid. He may not have been around much, but his children always knew he loved them and would never harm them.
One day, fifteen years after leaving Kuuto, Shuten returned home to find a new mouth to feed. Walking over to the cradle he was shocked to find a green haired baby boy laying there quietly. His green scaled leg was proof of who he was. "Tch." he scoffed. That explains why my leg hurt. He thought recalling how it had felt like needles poking his skin a few days prior. "So the dumbass is coming back." he mumbled as he picked the little one up. "Guess I'll have ta teach ya how ta fight so ya can keep yourself and the others safe." he stroked the little ones cheek before a shot eating grin crossed his face as he thought of all the trouble he and his son could get into together.
Abi avoided people the best he could. Without the added protection of the family unit and without wanting to endanger himself, he made his way into the plains of the northern territory of the fire tribe. Far from home and without anybody to depend on besides himself, he was as safe as safe could be.
It was only a month later that he saved a woman from being ravished by three men. She was scared and naked. He gave her his cloak, and started a fire. By morning she was curled up next to him. She had a scared face and the left side of her torso was scared from being burnt, but her auburn colored haired and bi-colored eyes left him breathless. She was beautiful. Her name was Anya, she was from beyond the borders and her accent made her sound exotic.
A year later he made Anya his wife by taking her to a temple and saying vows to her like his family had done for many years. The stayed on the outskirts of a village near a lake in the fire tribe until somebody recognized who he was. They left soon after.
They were together for a decade before they tried for the first child. As Her belly grew round with his child he'd often use his eyes to watch the child's development inside of her. She was sick often, but never complained. He went for a midwife when she went into labor.
As he stood outside the cabin that wintery night, he looked to the heavens and wondered if Hiryuu was watching over them or if he was waiting for them to join him. He longed for that day, but also didn't want it to come too soon.
His thoughts were sidetracked when he heard a cry echo through the night. A smile spreading across his face as he opened the door and re-entered the home. In his wife's arms laid a blue haired, golden eyed child. Plucking the little one out of her arms, he saw his own features reflected into his daughters eyes.
He looked at Anya, "She's perfect." he announced, gaining a pleased smile from her.
The left a week later when Abi saw a group of soldiers heading up their mountain, the midwife having told somebody where they were. They would head for the heated mountain plains near Saika where they would have six more children before his death and create the first Seiryuu village that would remain for centuries to come, even after it was abandoned. One day though, it would be revisited by a future Seiryuu and the reincarnation of his beloved king.
M-Angel: Figured since the previous chapter was so short that I'd finish this story up with the final chapter. Now I can focus my time on the other Yona stories I have on my plate before posting any new ones. ^_^