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 Humble Beginnings       

A Miqo'te in Doma is already a rare sight; for it to be a Seeker's birthplace is rarer still. Yet Tsubaki hails from Doma all the same, as the daughter of Corvosi refugees who fled to Othard following the Garlean subjugation of their kingdom. Her home was a patch of remote farmland — not even connected to a proper village — chosen to avoid unwanted attention.

For a time, it worked. Tsubaki was born just a year after the Garlean occupation of Doma, but she would spend her childhood largely ignorant of their presence. Their farm didn't appear on any map, was malms away from any other settlement, and the Kakimotos had no enemies. As far as the Empire was concerned, they didn't exist.

Until one day, they found out.

 Idyll Vices       

Tsubaki would personally recount the night the Garleans attacked their home several times in her travels. When the event occurred, she had only seen thirteen summers.

Tsubaki's mother went to confront her husband, but sent her daughter into the wilds to escape. For a mercy, Tsubaki was extremely familiar with the surrounding land and the skills needed to safely traverse it, having been a hunter since she was younger.For now, the Kakimoto patriarch's motives remain shrouded in mystery, as does the outcome of that meeting. If Tsubaki learned aught, she did not share it.

 Stoking the Embers       

Tsubaki ran as far from her childhood home as she could, and would lie low in the wilderness for several moons before seeking aid at the next settlement she stumbled upon. Sources say she would often point to that time in the wilds as one of deep sorrow, and deep reflection.She survived afterwards by roaming from village to village, lending a hand in exchange for food or other necessities. She would never stay in one place too long, fearful of discovery by the Garleans — or worse, others being punished for housing a Corvosi descendant.Accounts from those she helped all recall her as a quiet child who had clearly been affected by the occupation; but many noted that despite her grief, there was a growing fire burning in her eyes.

 The Light of Hope       

Shortly after swearing her personal oath, Tsubaki claims to have heard a comforting voice — one she'd later attribute to Hydaelyn. The Mothercrystal bade her travel to a distant land named Eorzea, where she would find a wizened mentor of swordcraft; she would recognize him by his Hingan blade and garb.Tsubaki would later tell friends she was hesitant to trust the voice at first, but with no family remaining in Doma, what did she have to lose? Scraping up just enough koban for fare (and making up for what she could not pay with labor on-deck), Tsubaki set sail for Eorzea on a commercial vessel.Tsubaki's vessel would make port in Vesper Bay, where she'd depart for Ul'Dah. She found her promised mentor soon after — none other than the master samurai, Musosai.What happens after her arrival is a well-known matter of record, but to briefly recount — Tsubaki would join Musosai and his companion Momozigo in their travels to excise evil from the land, eventually catching the attention of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn... and the rest, as they say, is history.

 Kenki Spellcraft       

Do not let her lack of formal education fool you — Tsubaki was (and is) possessed of a sharp mind and an insatiable curiosity. There is no better example of this than her development of kenki spellcraft, a form of spellcasting that draws aether from the katana's scabbard and manifests with properties based on the katana's own.When Tsubaki joined the Scions of the Seventh Dawn she reportedly knew very little about aether, having first heard the term after landing upon Eorzea's shores. Her fellow Scions took it upon themselves to teach Tsubaki the basics of aether as the needs of her duty demanded, and over time she came to realize that a samurai's "kenki" is simply another expression of this essential force.With assistance from archons Y'shtola Rhul and Urianger Augurelt, Tsubaki would learn to channel stored kenki into simple spells. As the properties of these spells were greatly influenced by the composition, shape, and other quirks of the blade, Tsubaki referred to the art as "Drawing Out" the spirit of the katana.Records are sparse regarding the effects of many individual katana, but Tsubaki was known to be fond of the Kiyomori — which produced a potent barrier effect she named "Purifying Breeze" — and the Murasame — whose "Rain of Wisdom" mended the wounds of nearby allies.

 Improvisation       

Having spent several summers as a self-taught samurai, Tsubaki was accustomed to adapting her fighting techniques for the problem at hand... even if that problem was self-inflicted.One notable example comes from her rowdy youth, when she traveled across Eorzea with her mentor, Musosai. An inebriated patron of the Coffer and Coffin — a tavern situated just outside of Black Brush — had singled Tsubaki and her mentor out as foreigners, and took to haranguing them. Tsubaki, reclining with her feet on the table, warned the man that she could cut him down without her feet touching the floor.The problem, Tsubaki would recount, was that she boasted as much without thinking through how she would actually accomplish such a feat. Musosai was also curious how she would fulfill her claim, and bade her demonstrate.And so in front of a crowd of leering onlookers and her skeptical mentor, Tsubaki unsheathed her blade and slammed it into the ground. She then hoisted herself up to its grip, her legs spread and feet resting on the sides of her blade, as if she were using it as a stilt. The drunken aggressor was reportedly so surprised by the maneuver that Tsubaki needed only to sock him in the face from her position to lay him low.Thus was her "High Tide Stance" developed. She would use the technique several times in her adventures as a surprise tactic, but never excessively; as one might expect, the technique puts a significant amount of wear on the katana used, if the blade is not outright unusable after.

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