Tribute

Tribute

Disclaimer:
I don't own Dark Crystal or any related characters, they are proper property of Jim Henson *God rest his weary soul*

The only character I own is Yuri and Sakura. If you even think about taking them, you will have my scepter in your mouth and down your throat before you can blink your eyes three times fast *cute grin*

With that said and done, I command the story to begin
*trumpets play as the princess smiles, very pleased*

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Tribute
Princess Lemon
Part 1) The Cycle

Life on the humble planet changed when eight stars came from the sky and it was followed the next day by the apperance of two new creatures. The gentle Uru and the evil Skesis. The Uru were willing to learn and add tod to their new surroundings while the Skesis just pick up where they left off on Thar and tried to change the land to suit them. Time and patience allowed them to make use of metals and crystals on the planet to resume their own way of life and power as they created new Garthum and Crystal Bats to seak out their slaves as they experimented with new ways to keep their youth and cheat death with the aid of some of the locals.

Yet for one village in the North, life was different.
Ten years priar, the elders went up to the mountains and sought out the dark castle, the Skesis new home. After a day's passing, the elders returned with news that a pact had been made. The Skesis would keep all Garthum from attacking the village in exchange for a tribute. That night, the night of the new moon, ten people went up to the castle. Five men and five women. They went up there willingly and most likely became slaves, though rumors often said otherwise. After that, a new person would be sent up during the night of the new moon. Three days before hand, one of the bats would make itself known and present an simple necklace to the one the Skesis wanted that month. On the night of the new moon, they were to be escorted by two Garthum to the castle, never to be seen again.

For Sakura, this was life in her village...and she hated it.
Sure, her village was safe. But it was like they had sold their souls to a pack of demons just to live in a false sense of peace. Though this planet had two suns, it had only one moon. This hunk of rock orbited the planet in an lazy egg shapped orbit and it would take at least two months for a new moon to occur while the planet's orbit matched our own around the larger of the two suns. Thus, it was natural that the village would fill with a sense of agitation an dread as the first night of the new moon drew closer. Sakura felt highly uncomfortable with this as it made the village feel as if someone had packed it full of blankets and it made it hard for her to breath.

So, more often than not, she'd leave the village and head for the security of the forest. It wasn't untill she saw the Crystal Bat that she'd chase after it and stay by her parents as it sought out the next person to make ready to leave for the castle. Sakura would then stay with the chossen one, comforting them as best she could as the Crystal Bat would stay and watch over the chossen one. In past times, the bat would have left right after delivering the necklace. Yet, there was one time three years after the pact that a stupid young man panicked and tried to escape his fate by running...he failed.

He was caught by the Garthum and taken right up the castle that very same day as everyone could hear him screaming for his release. The next new moon, the tribute went off without a hitch...but the bat stayed and a voice came from it, warning that the pact would be broken if the chossen ones tried to escape.

Sakura was six when the pact was made and the tributes began, ten years had passed and she grown into a lovely woman. Five feet and five inches tall with a lithe athletic figure. Flawless pale pink skin that resembled the silky soft petals of the cherry blossoms which grew near the village, shoulder length chestnut brown hair that curled up on the ends, bright blue eyes fanned by black lashes that curled up and delicate bone structure. Sakura was good natured and well loved by everyone in the village as she was friends with nearly everyone. Though she did most things common for womean her age to do, she was also an accomplished athlete and participated in all the summer games in honor of her ancestors. She was also great with children and her singing voice was said to rival that of the local song birds. It was only natural that the boys she had grown up with where starting to see her a woman and future wife, so they paid new attention to her. Even so, Sakura felt that she wasn't ready for marrage and held them off as best she could.

Yet that was the furthest thing from her mind this night. Sakura was once more back out in the forest, against the wishes of her parents. They didn't want her being out alone at night, now that she was of courting age. Even so, she knew nothing bad would happen. Nothing bad ever happened while she was out in the woods, it was as if she was being protected by some higher force. At times, she felt this same force kept her from being picked, and they made her feel guilty. That's why she stayed with the chossen on, out of guilt. Yet fear kept her wishing that she'd never be chossen. Fear brought on by simple stories she heard about the Skesis and similar vile creatures that plagued a child's dreams with nightmares.

So, here she was. Back out in the saftey and seclusion of the forest as she made her way towards the patch of trees that she was named after. Seeing as how the thin crescent moon had barely enough light to guide her way, so she carried with her a brass latern which held a simple crystal that illuminated itself from having soaked up the light from the two suns that day. Though it was normal in the village to wear an arrayment of garments (depending on what one was doing) Sakura was girly and favored something with a skirt herself. In the past, she had taken a habit of wearing pants and long sleved shirts when she went into the woods like this, so as to protect her skin from thorns and bugs. Cloths that were dyed in various shades of greens and browns so as to hide her better in the woods. This night was different. Forskaing her camoflauging colors, she wore her favourite pale pink yukata with the cherry blosoms threaded into the fabric and a white obi with butterflys. Though vibrant in color, the outfit was still very simple due to the fact that it was made out of cotton and it didn't have the wide sleves at the wrists like her festival yukatas did. Even so, it was her favourite outfit and she couldn't stop herself from putting it on in addition to her emerald green hooded cloak.

While part of her was scolding her for wearing the outfit into the woods, part of her felt special for doing so. That feeling crowded out the scoldings of her consious as she soon found the trees she was looking for. Once at her destination, she closed the cover on the lantern and placed it down on a nearby rock before she removed her cloak and then settled herself down on the ground under a blossoming tree and looked up at the moon through the branches. Though the moonlight was weak, it still gave her skin a radiant glow in the warm air of the summer night. Sakura loved it here, she felt safer here than she did her own home. So a faint smile painted itself on her lips as she continued to stare up at the crescent moon.

All the while, Sakura was so entranced by even this little peice of moon that she didn't sense the approach of a figure that happen to see her own figure under the tree. Holding back an inquizitive hum, the figure decided it was best to keep quiet and approach this figure for a better look. Yet, not looking where they were going only rewarded him with his right foot stepping onto an very dried up twig that let out a loud snap. At the same time, the two gasped in surprise as he froze in place and she whirled around to see who it was, her loose hair swinging around her head like a sort of bronze cloak. For the next couple of heart beats, the two stared at each other. The humanoid girl and the skesis.

Sakura was the first to move, as she hastily got up and made ready to leave. Her movements snapped him out of the trance and he quickly held up his hands peacefully and said...

"Wait! Please, wait."

Sakura stopped in her tracks and looked back him, surprised at the high pitched tone to his voice and unsure as to why she had stopped. Somehshe she had thought his voice would have been deeper, more frightening. Even so, she still kept her distance by staying right where she was.

"I don't want to harm you," he said, holding up his hands peacefully.
"But, you're Skesis," she stated quite a affirmativly.
" I a I am," he said as he nodded affirmativally.
She raised an eyebrow, obviously confussed, "What are you doing here? Usually you have us come to you."

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow when he remembered the pact that had been made with a village. He knew now that he was near it and she was from it, and by the looks of the moon another one of her people...even possibly her...would be chossen as the next tribute and newest slave.

"I was...banished," the skesis said, rather uncomfortably and undoubtly embarassed.
She was surprised when she heard this and her curiosty had been bitten, "What for?"
"I made a mistake," he said as he approached Sakura and he was glad that she didn't run like a startled deer, "And it costed me my position." He stopped just short of three feet from Sakura.
"I'm sorry to heat that," Sakura said.
"As am I," he said. The two then stood there and stared at each other as the silence grew to an uncomfortable. Finally, Sakura shattered the silence she she cleared her throat as she darted her eyes momentarily and brushed some of her hair out of her face.

"My name's Sakura," she said.
"Chamberlan," the Skeksis said.
Sakura raised an eyebrow at this, "That's an odd name."
"It's more of a title than a name."
"I see," she said and she began to sit down.
"You're staying?" Chamberlain asked.
"Yes, I'm more comfortable out here."
"You are?" he asked as he sat down near her and she nodded.
"Why?" he asked and she let out a heavy sigh.
"You see the moon up there?" Sakura asked as she pointed at the thin creasent moon.
"Yeah."
"The thiner that moon gets, the more everyone in town changes."
"Changes?"
"Yes, they becogitagitated when it gets closer to no moon. They have no clue who's going to be chossen, who they're going to have say goodbye to for the last time. That makes this...tension, grow in the village. It grows to the point that it makes the air feel as if it turned to stone and I feel as if I can't breath," Sakura said as she wrapped her arms around her self. Chamberlain frowned as he noticed uncomfortable she was becoming and began to wonder if was such a good idea to ask her that question.

"So, I come out here," Sakura said as she began to relax, "Out here, there's no one but me to worry about what's to come. Out here, I'm at peace," Sakura said with a soft smile. At that same moment, a soft wind began to blow towards them. It blew into Sakura's face and she closed her eyes as she turned her face into the wind. As the wind blew her hair around, Chamberlain couldn't help but watch her. It was as if he was entranced by her all over again. When he first saw her, he thought she some sort of spirit. Yet now that he was this close to her, he couldn't shake this nagging feeling that he had seen her before...but from where was the question.

"Because of that, I stay out here untill it's over with," Sakura said as the wind died and she broke the spell.

"The ceremony?"
"The anxiety. Once that flying...thing appears and drops the necklace, the anxiety is washed away. After that, I stay with the chossen one untill it's time for them to leave."

Chamberlain raised an eyebrow when he heard this, "Why?"
Sakura grew quiet and tensed up again. Chamberlain noted this as he remembered the stories he heard of a girl who always stayed with the chossen one. He thought it was just a rumor, even when he was able to keep watch over the chossen one one time. Yet here she was, living and breathing. Interested, Chamberlain changed the conversation as he sets out to learn all that he can about her by asking her as many questions as she feels comfortable with. At the same time, Sakura takes this time ask questions that have plagued her since the pact was made and many of his answers blow away many of the things she was told.

As the night passed, the two continued to talk up untill the point that Sakura could no longer keep her eyes open. As Chamberlain promised to watch over her, Sakura laid down right where she was. With the branches of the tree over her and the long grass below her as a suitable bed, she soon feel asleep and escaped to the blissful realm of dreams as Chamberlan watched her. Though entranced, his mind was working out a way how to get her to the castle with him...but he first had to reinstate himself...

TBC

Next) Chosen