Chapter 1: 18 Years Later
Suu has grown into a young woman, but one could not say that she had the beauty of her mother or of her father. In fact if he hadn't taken her purity he would've doubted that she was his. Hair thin and brittle, her light wheat skin had a visible pallor to it, her cheekbones and chin were slightly pointed from lack of weight, her eyes however were an interesting shade, a light and bright brown like amber resin and was the only feature that resembled her father as they were so very soulful and surprisingly gentle. Her clothes hide her small frame, none of which had any similarities to her mother.
And yet she was never tormented, starved, beaten or abused. Simply not paid much attention to. Many brushes with death and sickness had lead her to be shorter and smaller than many her age. Suu only hoped that the family she was to marry into when she was a little older, would treat her just a little better since she brought an important connection to them. Even if many of the Capital assumed that she was a slave as long as she was left in peace to survive without any interference she'd be happy.
It was simply such that she couldn't believe that having made it finally to 18 Winters, that a bout with sickness would end her life.
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Sometime later Suu slowly pushed herself up from the bed. She was stunned to see the room before her eyes had changed from a gentle blue, filled with knick knacks, and slightly messy to a neatly styled Ancient Asian room. For the life of her she couldn't fathom just what had happened. The screen doors and delicate things that sparsely decorated the room were so different from her room filled with books and clothes strewn everywhere.
The faintly sweet scent of lavender filled her nose as she swayed before slapping her hand onto the ground to balance herself. It stung fiercely, and stunned her even further. She looked down at her hand slowly and saw that her hand was not her own. Her own hands had been darker and bigger. Her coffee colored skin and long cornrows were gone as well as she ran her shaking fingers through the scraggly black hair that fell into her face. It took all her strength not to scream and cry. Perla Mann had been sleeping peacefully in her soft and fluffy bed, smiling to herself after having finished her thesis on the effects of Nature VS Nurture and how it effected the world as a whole.
What had happened? She couldn't remember at all. Perla slowly rose on wobbly legs and shuffled her way over to the vanity, her breath felt as though it was trapped inside her chest and she couldn't fully breath in. She was sure she was suffering from either asthma, bronchitis or from pneumonia. The vanity mirror wasn't clear like the glass she was used to, instead it was polished copper. And as she took in the features of a face that looked like her own but the color of wheat or sand, and she felt as though she has been punched in the gut. Perla began to cough violently, her body collapsing into a heap on the floor as she struggled to breath. Faintly she could hear voices and footsteps hurrying towards her, but she was too weak from lack of oxygen and the fever that she hadn't noticed before that made her shiver and curl into a groaning ball.
The door opened to reveal a tall dark skinned woman who dashed to her side and lifted her gently. She brushed the hair from her face slowly and leaned down to press her lips against her own and passed her breath into her. She felt her chest being rubbed as the woman performed her task.
Finally what seemed like ages later she could breath. As the woman looked down at her with tears in her eyes, she began to speak.
"Are you alright Suu? Why were you out of bed. You know you're sick. You should have waited for Mother to come back." The woman lifted her slight body and carried her to the bed. With care she was tucked into the bed, and the woman turned to the servant and her face turned cold. "Ki, it is your job to stay by her side when I am working. It doesn't matter how much you don't want to serve unfavored masters... she is still a young lady of the Fang estate."
The servant girl winced slightly and bowed her head in silence. "I may not be able to receive much of anything as a Concubine, but I can make sure that you have an extremely bad experience here after failing to do your duties. If I find my daughter in peril again, or alone when she shouldn't be... I will make sure that you realize why I have no need to fight with the others here. Do we have an understanding?"
"Yes Concubine Kasi. I will not leave the young lady again without permission." The girls voice trembled as she bowed down as low as she could, prostrating herself before the older woman. Perla had not spoken yet and simply watched all of this. The dark skinned woman said that she was her Mother, her name was Kasi. She and her mother were not welcome here even though she was a Lady.
"Mother... Suu is... Suu... doesn't remember anything Mother. What Lady, what Concubine? Mother I don't know how I am, or who you are... what's going on?" Perla finally spoke in a rusty voice that cracked and grated on her dry throat. Kasi looked at her daughter and felt all the blood drain from her limbs. Her baby didn't remember her? She didn't remember anything! The fever must have damaged her brain, oh why did this happen to her sweet baby? She'd done nothing wrong, and had been obedient for all her life. Though they weren't treated with much more respect than the servants, they at least didn't have to worry about being out in the cold or going hungry.
"It's alright Suu. Mother will take care of everything. You just rest. Ki, light the warmers and tend to your Lady, as you heard she remembers nothing. I must go and inform the Elders and Lady Feng about this. You should make sure to do your duty well while I am gone." Kasi said with a slight sigh as she closed her eyes and stood. She was grateful that they had summoned a doctor to prescribe medicine for Suu, but it was too late. Her daughter had suffered. She took one more meaningful look at the servant and a glance filled with love swept over Perla quickly before she left the room.
"Water..." Perla croaked at the girl who remained behind. And closed her eyes to rest and organize her thoughts. She heard the door close again and assumed that Ki had left. Nothing made sense. She had been fine! She had fallen asleep in her bed like every other night and had woken up in someone else's body. How could that happen? She believed in the afterlife and reincarnation based on sins and merits... but becoming someone else? Was this a bad dream, no the pain and hunger were real. Just what was going on?
As she was being helped by Ki, in another part of the estate her Mother was going through hell just to save her.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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Tiamat_The_Goddess Happy reading and have a good day!
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