Saeko Hamada's Biography (Closed)

[Saeko Hamada]

Saeko was born to wealthy, and well to do, cloth merchants in Ul'Dah. Because of her parents social status, her childhood wasn't spent like other children's. Instead of running the dusty streets of Ul'Dah, dirtying her dresses and skinning her knees, Saeko spent her hours and days attending her parents sides in high-end social functions and closed door bargaining sessions. She was always included in these things from an early age so that she may be groomed to continue the business once her parents were passed on, but more than that, her parents treated her like an object, a trophy of their labors.

 

Saeko never minded being towed around from one boring meeting to the next, it was after all, all she had ever known. With the time spent observing her parents work she even began to like it, making games of how her Father might come out on his current bargain, or noting how her mother sometimes used more than words to get a reluctant buyer to come around.

 

As Saeko neared her eighth name day, her parents began discussing new prospective uses for their daughter, their greed for gil driving them to view their daughter more and more like a pawn on a chess board. Finally, it was decided that they would send Saeko off to Limsa Lominsa to study in one of the schools of the famed port city. On the surface this appeared to be all for Saeko's benefit, as the school was one of the more acclaimed institutions in Eorzea, but in actuality it was to benefit her parents. They had decided that sending Saeko to live and study in Limsa Lominsa would help to grow ties with the wealthy shipping families there so that their cloth trade might spread further still than the confines of the walls of Ul'Dah. So it was that Saeko found herself separated from all she had known in the strange, but wondrous city of Limsa Lominsa.

 

As a result of how Saeko was raised, the other kids found her easy to speak to, but hard to understand. Saeko had never had friends before; all she knew was manipulation and deceit, something she leaned well from her parents. This had manifested well in their daughter by this time, and so Saeko spoke, and made friends, though she kept them at an emotion distance. The years spent watching her parents bargain had also sharpened her mind. Saeko easily excelled at even the most difficult courses of study, becoming one of the brightest minds the school had to offer as she grew older.

 

One day, while strolling the halls of the school in silent contemplation, Saeko heard the strange sounds of sharp screams and muffled thuds reverberating off the white stone walls. Wondering what they may be, she followed them to the schools Dojo. Inside she found students hard at work mastering various forms of martial arts, a cacophony of sound assaulting her ears, from the clatter of wooden swords, to the muddled thuds of fist on flesh. She was awed by the display, and quickly found herself settled in the corner to watch them at practice for hours on end. There she found herself everyday for weeks, watching, and learning.

 

Eventually, after nearly a month of silent self-tutelage, she was approached by the instructor. He spoke not unkindly to her for some length inquiring as to why she came there day after day, sitting in silence and watching. At a loss for the reason why, she offered this as her answer to him which he took willingly. He explained to her the purpose of the martial arts, not that they were a device to cause harm, but a tool to sharpen the mind and body, to bring the two together in unison. After some lengthy conversation between the two, the instructor offered Saeko a chance to join the class, noting her enthusiasm in the things he had spoken to her about. And so, Saeko found herself a part of the Dojo.

 

Time passed by, the years falling away behind Saeko as she moved on with her life. Her parents would come to visit once a year, though they paid little attention to their daughter, choosing instead to give their simpering adulation to the other wealthy parents of her fellow students. Saeko no longer minded though, her parents meant little to her by this point, so long had it been since they had fostered any kind of real affection for her that her own feelings towards them now mirrored their own. Saeko now only had love for the Dojo, spending hours and days training her body and mind, molding herself into a living weapon. Soon, she found herself among the Dojo's star pupils, exceeding everything her instructor had hoped for.

 

Finally, the years of her schooling begin to come to a close. Saeko, now 17, had reached the majority of her years as a student and would be graduating. Her parents managed to peel away from their busy lives to make the trip to her graduation, though not for their daughters sake, they only wanted their part in the honors bestowed upon Saeko for graduating in the top of her class. With the graduation done, they quickly made their way back to Ul'Dah, leaving Saeko to gather her own things and make her way back home. And so now, Saeko finds herself contemplating what she might do when she gets there. Gathering what little she owns, she makes her way to the ferry, and to the beginning of her adventure.