Suzurin

[Suzurin]

The Poison Eater Suzurin

Age  24

Gender  Female

Origin  Mist Clan, Aetochi

Occupation  Shaman

A Poison Tree
William Blake

I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I waterd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night.
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole,
When the night had veild the pole;
In the morning glad I see;
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

***

About halfway across the river, the scorpion raised its tail and stung the frog. The frog was both astounded and disconsolate. “Why did you sting me? Now I will die and you will surely drown and die also.”
The scorpion replied, “I can’t help it. It’s who I am. It’s in my nature.”

***
​

IN HER VILLAGE all the woman would gather all the venomous things. Snakes and scorpions, spiders and centipedes, all placed in a large clay pot in a wooden warehouse that smelled of death. The heavy lid would keep all the venomous creatures inside, to fight to the death. While the women waited they would collect all the poisonous things. Crimson rocks and purple frogs, blue octopus and jellyfish, roots and leaves. They'd skillfully extract it, turn it into a drink, each taking turns to sip it, to test their tolerance.

In her village, though belonging to Mist Clan, all the men were sent away. Sons would be given to travelers or shamans from the main village. The women were said to be poisonous, that engaging with them would result in death. Only the women could learn the dark art of Gu. Only women were capable to endure the pain, the night sweats, the vomit. There were rules, of course, these forms of poison and venom stayed within the hidden village, never to be sold, never to be given a cure, never to be given to those pregnant.

In her village a woman named Mio would hide her belly, participate in the rituals. She would skip the rice wine given to cleanse the tongue, pleased with herself for taking most of the poison tea, chewing on the winning scorpion's tail, for not fainting like the others. Tenacious, some could say, crazy was used more than that. She hid her pregnancy until the birth, hiding herself in the woods. The birth was long and painful, lasting days, the final test of Mio's resolve.

Outside of her village, Suzurin was born with a whisper not a cry. She came out suffocating, seemingly stillborn, a purple tinge in her round face. Placed in the swaying patch of lily of the valley flowers, poisonous flowers and leaves framing the small babe. When she took her first breath, Mio stopped holding hers. Beneath the stars, her name was given, a ode to the flower that brought her back to life.

In her village there was a reason why pregnant women couldn't partake in the ceremonies. A promise made so long ago that it was spoken and never written, passed down from mother to daughter because it was a mother's job to do so. It may have been long ago, but a promise was a promise, and with it being broken, something bad would happen. Mio tried hiding Suzurin in the village, getting more and more clever in her stories, everyone thinking that Suzurin was left to die, that Mio's heart was soft to a stranger's child.

In her village it took five years for the unbroken promise to deal out it's punishments. At five, Suzurin was allowed to attend her first ceremony. Already she had displayed her voracious appetite for things she shouldn't, but this Mio was able to hide. The bitten snakes, the dug up spiderweed roots, lilies of the valleys without their berries and flowers. Mio was relieved that Suzurin's appetite could be appeased through the ceremony, a little part of her actually hoped that it would be too much for her daughter and perhaps scare her from consuming anything venomous and poisonous.