Shimoko
霜子 (frost child)
Reizei
"W-were you always a yokai that hunts humans?"
Shimoko
(frowing) "No."
Reizei
(leaning in) "Will you tell us wh-what happened? There must be a story, and y-you know from my master's books what I'll risk to record a tale for him."
It was autumn and the leaves were turning in the valley below my mountain. A lone traveller made his way up through the pass. When I swooped down on him with a blizzard for cover, he stopped. It dawned on him that he was in the presence of a dangerous yokai. So I waited for him to run, just like all the others. It was easier when I didn't have to see their faces.
Instead of fleeing, he pulled out his shakuhachi flute and started to play. I was taken aback by his boldness and I'd never heard something so lovely or so haunting. It spoke to me as if the music he played understood my lonliness and walked alongside me through it.
When he offered to play for me in return for sparing his life, I was so taken aback I agreed on the condition he'd play for me alone. The fool tried to bargan past it, saying he had someone important to play for. But I was determined to ensure he honored the bargain.
His music filled the cold void of my heart. As time passed, the power returned me to my original form. Finally, he said he couldn't remain a prisoner anymore. The music changed as he pleaded in his song. I don't have the words to describe the change in his music, but it filled the whole hut with light.
Afterward, he fell to his knees weeping and thanking me for helping him. I'd pushed him to change the magic in his music. My resolve to force him to stay broke. He'd given me a gift, too. Humanity. I couldn't go back to hunting. I just couldn't!
In the end, he relied on me as much as I depended on him. His music bound us together and lead us on adventures, even to the Emperor's palace and beyond.
You will live to play for me alone.
Interview
"Thank you for agreeing to chat with me. I'm Reizei Wasuke, representing the author Shitani Daisuke and the Nonogawa River Valley Historic Society." The tengu historian mutters, "Whoa. There's frost on my feathers!" Then, he startles upon spotting the recording light that denotes the mic is on, and clears his throat. "S-sorry. Shimoko-san, are you alright? You're so pale, right now," Reizei asks as he shivers. Shimoko's eyebrow lifts. "I'm a Yuki Onna, a snow maiden. Why wouldn't I be pale and the room be cold?"History
My mother and I were human, before father left us to fend for ourselves. It happened when I was a baby and mother refused to speak of father, save once—to tell me her story. You see, he cast us aside. After he was promoted to a samurai, father and his family were all to eager to be rid of us and marry into a higher ranked family. No high-born lady would want to have to make way to a peasant woman, like my mother. Evidently, father didn't ask mother if she would consider being the second wife, instead. Knowing her, she wouldn't have stood for it. So father commanded his guards to dump us at a little shack in the pass, near Mt. Minako, with only a month's supply of food. When that was gone, Mother foraged until the pass was snowed in. She said a wicked mountain spirit offered her a chance for survival, and she didn't ask what it cost. She was so desperate. Being nursed by a yuki onna turned me into one, too. As I grew, I learned how to lure travelers to our hut. Even though we'd feel sorry for the victims as they pleaded, we knew we couldn't let a one of them go. One night, my mother found a man struggling to carry a crying baby girl about the age I was when we were so cruely thrown to our fate. Not understanding her intent to give him energy instead of drain it, he struck her down. I found her as she lay dying, and she confessed her moment of weakness. With her last breath, she told me to flee. But I was consumed with grief and rage. When the village sent monster hunters, I stealthily picked them off, one by one.
(interview continued)
Reizei
So when did th-things turn around for you?
Shimoko
Not for many years... (She hands a leather bound journal to Reizei.) It's all in this book. But I'll quickly give you the gist as I can see you're interested. Then you should go before you freeze.
Mesmorizing Music
Over the years, the villagers gave up hunting me. Instead, they left offerings at a little shrine at the base of the mountain. They weren't consistent about it though, so I was still forced to hunt. I'd wait until hunger drove me. by AWV + Hero Forge
(interview concludes)
Shimoko
"His name was Usami no Genmaru and he wrote our story before he passed away. What you have there is his hand written account."
Reizei
"A Bard's Magic. Th-thank you so much for entrusting me with the original! M-may I publish it?
Shimiko
"As long as Usami gets credit. His memory deserves that much and more. (A flute begins softly playing in the background.)
Reizei
(shaking violently) "Wh-what s-song is that? Wh-who's pl-playing?"
Shimoko
(She zips over to the front door and motions for him to go out of the house.) "Oh my, you're almost frozen through! Time to get you on your way so you can warm up!"
(click the book to read the bard and Shimoko's tale)
by AWV + Hero Forge
Contains Spoilers
For the two first chapters of The Bard's Magic. But they're from a different perspective than the character POV in which the story was written.
Species
Ethnicity
Age
Unknown, she wasn't taught to track time before her mother passed away
Children
Current Residence
Lake Biwa
Pronouns
She/her
Gender
Female
Eyes
Black, when in yuki onna mode her pupils are white
Hair
Long and black. When she was a huntress, her hair would flow in wild waves around her. Now that she's more civilized, she keeps it up and "under control".
Height
4' 10" / 147 cm
Traveling
Reading (once she learned)
Grilled salmon
Hot baths (when she's in human form and Usami's recently played for her to protect her from the heat)
Summer (it's taxing on her.)
Nekomata (a cat yokai)
Fires bigger than needed for cooking
A ukiyo-e print that Usami commissioned of Shimoko. (She says it's much too fanciful. She's never dressed like a princess.)
by AWV + MidJourney
Shimoko in her mostly human form.
by AWV + Hero Forge
Shakuhachi music like Usami would play
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