The end of a story...

[Xing]

Isabelle smiled unconsciously as she sat against Jimmy' body on their bed. They talked about trivial things, anything to keep them away from the truth of their new reality in a world of mystery that barely knew anything of them.
Though eventually, despite all the comfort the warmth of her lover' body provided to her, Isabelle couldn't keep the soon-to-be fact away from Jimmy.
Her smile turned somewhat hesitant, but she wasn't ashamed at all to reveal her new name.
She tried not to think of it as an obligation, but more as a symbolic act. It is true uncle Daite had raised her since her youth. She spent nearly half her youth here, in the domain of the Dai-Taisho - in practice, she wasn't that much a stranger to Kusari than she thought of herself to be.

She was just away from home for too long.
Looking around, the walls made of ancestral wood instead of artificial stone, the unusual clothings and the feodal-styled decorations didn't seemed that out of place to her eyes anymore...
The apparent shy attitude of the common citizen, the commendable respect offered to the elderly and sick and the dizzying obsession of honour and nationalism didn't seemed that mysterious, nor did the alien-like language.

Kusari had always been a second home to her.
It was now her only home.

She kissed Jimmy gently as she told him of her choice, one that didn't took that much of a few hours to confirm.
Any doubts she had dissipated... at least, for herself.
She knew, perhaps some of the old friends she had in Kusari would still remember her...
She knew, her life could easily start anew here, where she was raised with a kusari warrior.
how about her love?...

--

A few days went by without much hapenning. Fleet admiral Mitsurugi was often away to deal with the naval administrations and the war against Bretonia, leaving both libertonian much freedom.

Isabelle, knowing the ways around the metropole that was New Tokyo, went on a somewhat enthusiastic ride around the city, an enthusiasm she had lost somewhat as the matters in Liberty required more and more of her attention... an enthusiasm she used to have before she became a member of the White Wolves, and an enthusiasm she was regaining now that she was moving in a new life...

Merely walking in the Old Temple' pavement, enjoying the silence of the sacred garden, was enough to make her smile, and she hoped Jimmy shared her contentment, but knew her lover would have much more trouble adapting to this new world...

--

A few days went by, until the Fleet Admiral Mitsurugi sent a message back suddenly in the middle of what was supposed to be another skirmish in bretonian territory...
"Isabelle... Jimmy Patterson... seems like both of you will soon have duty coming directly from the Emperor."
"congratulation."
And the short recording stopped, leaving Isabelle in wonder.
She would soon begin her service for a new master...
How much better would this autocratic leader be in contrast to the so called "free" Liberty?

---