[She nods, and falls silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts as she tries to figure out where to start.]
Hiruiseki are... rare. Usually, a Koorime only sheds a single tear once every hundred years, when she has a child... and there aren't very many of us to start with. So to own a jewel like that... even just one or two could make someone very, very rich.
[To put it mildly.]
Especially because... my people tend not to be very warm to outsiders. We are forbidden from interacting with them in any meaningful way, and as a result there are only a small handful of jewels that have ever left our island.
My mother broke that rule. And... everyone knew it, because she gave birth to twins. Me, and my brother. Male Koorime are unheard of... to give birth to a son is proof that you have been with a man.
[Her expression becomes a little harder as she speaks - less fragile, and more quietly furious.]
My mother took her own life, and our elders... they threw him from our island when he was an infant, but... I have no doubt that he survived. And I wanted to meet him, so I... left, on my own, to search for him. And that was when I was captured by someone who knew what I was, and who knew what he had to do to make me produce those gems for him.
[Yukina takes a breath. Her voice is a little shaky, now - it's difficult to talk about, even this long after it's all over.]
He grew rich off my tears at first. But I learned to stop crying... that's why my profile mentioned that I have a high tolerance for pain. And that's why I've been able to bear the sacrifices we've had to make each week.
no subject
Hiruiseki are... rare. Usually, a Koorime only sheds a single tear once every hundred years, when she has a child... and there aren't very many of us to start with. So to own a jewel like that... even just one or two could make someone very, very rich.
[To put it mildly.]
Especially because... my people tend not to be very warm to outsiders. We are forbidden from interacting with them in any meaningful way, and as a result there are only a small handful of jewels that have ever left our island.
My mother broke that rule. And... everyone knew it, because she gave birth to twins. Me, and my brother. Male Koorime are unheard of... to give birth to a son is proof that you have been with a man.
[Her expression becomes a little harder as she speaks - less fragile, and more quietly furious.]
My mother took her own life, and our elders... they threw him from our island when he was an infant, but... I have no doubt that he survived. And I wanted to meet him, so I... left, on my own, to search for him. And that was when I was captured by someone who knew what I was, and who knew what he had to do to make me produce those gems for him.
[Yukina takes a breath. Her voice is a little shaky, now - it's difficult to talk about, even this long after it's all over.]
He grew rich off my tears at first. But I learned to stop crying... that's why my profile mentioned that I have a high tolerance for pain. And that's why I've been able to bear the sacrifices we've had to make each week.