Akane Kuroki

Akane was born on the northern island, deep in the black pine forests between Ice Bay and Stump Fields. Her pack was small, insular, and deeply rooted in traditions that stretched back centuries, carried into the present through songs and stories repeated often enough that they were cast into memory like fingerprints in fired clay. Woven through that cultural tapestry was reverence — an equal mix of fear and awe — for the forces of nature that had long ago been sealed within the Kami Shrine, whose ancient blessings still touched the land…and whose rage echoed forth, even so long after that great and terrible war.

The only child born to parents of modest standing within the community, Akane spent much of her childhood learning, through instruction and play alike, about the beautiful and perilous land that sustained them all. She was trained to recognize which fungi could be safely eaten and which would end a life, the plants that could heal and what amount would cause harm instead, among many other lessons, both spiritual and mundane; as she neared adulthood, she distinguished herself within the community as a healer, such that others would seek her advice and aid when a family member took ill.

Through it all, a question began to wind its way through the pack: who would Akane wed? There were several young men close in age who would make suitable matches, and her parents had been in talks with other families, but no one knew which man would become her husband. Perhaps, they whispered, they were being choosy — with a daughter so skilled, after all, they could perhaps marry into a family of higher standing, and elevate their own place in turn.

None of them asked Akane who she wished to wed, though. Not even her parents. If anyone had, she would have told them that she had no interest in marriage at all.

In the end, it did not matter. Before her eighteenth year, when she would become an adult and take her place within the community as a woman wed, illness swept through the village in the depths of a bitter winter; for all her knowledge and all her skill, Akane could not keep her parents from departing to the realm of spirits, taking with them whatever choice they might have made for her future.

All who might have sought her hand were quietly rebuffed. Eventually, they stopped trying. Lonely though it was, Akane found contentment in her solitary life: foraging, cooking, embroidery, interspersed with calls for aid from her neighbors and the pack at large and visits from those she called friends…

And then came Yasu.

Akane had lost any interest she may have had in marriage, and had not considered motherhood since. But when she first took the little Zorua in her arms, she felt as though she had been waiting all her life for the moment of their meeting. She treasured him, carried him everywhere until he could walk, and then brought him with her wherever she went once he learned; as the seasons passed, the pack taught him about fishing, tracking, and hunting in the same forests where she taught him to forage, and though the knowledge was traditionally passed from mother to daughter, she imparted the same lessons on healing she had learned in her own youth.

Yasu was six when another bitter winter beset the village, and with it another wave of sickness. A blizzard swept over the land, its driving snows and howling winds cut through by roars of thunder that kept them shaking in their homes for days as firewood dwindled. Through it all, Akane tended to her ailing son; even after the embers died with nothing more to feed them, she cradled him within a nest of furs, crafting the illusion of a crackling hearth to remind him of the warmth that would return…but eventually, she needed to sleep.

When she woke, the storm had broken, and Yasu was cold within her arms.

Fear gripped her in the dark as she struggled free of the furs, searching for any trace of life and pleading with her child to open his eyes…

Yasu did — and those eyes, once the color of the shallow sea, were gold.

The pack dug free. Fires were rekindled, and warmth returned to the village. But Yasu, his hair gone white as snow, remained cold. Akane had never seen such an illness before, and sought the advice of the pack's leader and his wife, the oldest and wisest members of the community; they, in turn, told her that her son was gone, and all that remained was a resentful spirit to be cleansed.

Akane refused. Ill or not, changed or not, Yasu was still her son: if the pack would rather dig his grave, they could dig hers, as well, for so long as he suffered, she would seek a cure.

Akane left with her son as soon as the snows allowed, traveling north to Ice Bay in search of passage to the mainland. She has now come to the heart of Gale Springs, hoping to apprentice under an established healer that she might find a cure for Yasu's lingering illness; unfortunately, few clinics seem willing to take on a woman with no connections, no references, and no training in modern medical practices. For now, she is making her way as a common worker, foraging for medicinal plants and fungi the established local clinics rely on, and ever ready for a chance to learn so that her son might one day reclaim the childhood his sickness has stolen away.

Likes: Cold weather, clear nights, gentle snow, soft textures, sewing, fish dishes, dry berries, hot tea
Dislikes: Blizzards, rough textures, loud noises, alcohol, shameless flirts
Voice Claim: Minami Takayama (JP), Kari Wahlgren (EN)

• Akane's face markings are not paint, but tattoos traditional to her pack.
• As her pack has few interactions with the Ice Bay community and does not have a writing system of their own, Akane is illiterate.
• Akane learned to embroider as a child, and uses it as both a calming exercise and a creative outlet: she sews all the patterns on her clothes, and does not consider an outfit complete until she's added her own embroidered flourishes.
• Akane is fascinated by plants and fungi, and not only for their healing properties. She enjoys cooking using safe mushrooms and herbs to create interesting flavor profiles, and experiments with various plant parts to create dyes for her sewing.