The tribe that was gifted with the ability to navigate these waters freely was that of the Star-Seers. They had eyes with the power to sense and see the shiun that flows dormant in the world. But with great power, comes those who want to use it and take it for themselves. The Syndicate was one of these people, whereas some were content with their own methods of navigation on the sea, others were greedy for it, the power of the star-seers.
The very last of the tribe lay low on a small island in the Setting Tide with their leader, Roha Hoshiko. A slimmed up man, his short gray hair that confused others of his age flowed gently with the wind's direction. His build was that of an average man, with his height stuck at a tall 6 foot 3. His average build had one… or rather two special characteristics. His three-leafed clover pupils in his eyes. Believed to be the hope of the clan, he had a playful personality that helped those who were intimidated by his status interact with him, including Raha, a woman who eventually became his wife, and not because their names were that close to each other.
As head of a hiding tribe, they had to head out to conduct reconnaissance for two reasons.
One: to look for where the stars would lead them, islands to move to and/or possible safe routes.
Two: to check for enemies and tell the tribe accordingly.
This went on until the day Roha left for sea, his eyes saw the waves reacting differently, vibrantly more than what he believed were enemies, upon following this resonance, his party landed on a trap set by the Syndicate. Raha, heartbroken when she realized the news, tried to console herself, forcing herself to believe that this was the fate of their tribe. She held on for just a couple weeks before she realized she was expecting a child . Nine months later, Kakeha was born, her hair as black as coal, resembling her mother's, but hers held a glimmer, a shine like it held tiny stars within. Her wide eyes bearing a greater wonder than her father's. Her pupils were shaped like four-leafed clovers, shocking the whole tribe, her mother included.
Years passed as Kakeha grew, enough time had also passed for her to awaken her powers but when they didn't arrive, her mother knew of her disappointment, so she helped her learn the traditional methods of navigation. The methods that didn't need their gifts to find their way around the sea.Due to this, she got acquainted to the navigation the current world ran on by the time she was twelve years old, drawing maps, scaling them, and adding the constellations right before drawing the rest of the area. She loved this, she did it with her mother every time the sun set completely to expose the stars that lingered in the clear night sky. She got used to this until the day her mother didn't join her in the middle of her sight-seeing on a hill that overlooked the small island they had settled on for the few years that Kakeha lived. The other side looked at the sea, it spread wide and far, and right above what seemed endless, was another body of infinite stars that they loved looking and gazing at. However, that day would mark the darkest day Kakeha ever witnessed.
Merely a few hours into gazing, as she waited, she heard shouts and screams, upon looking at the other side of the hill, she was horrified by the view. A syndicate ship was firing from the sea, another one had landed, its troops had already landed on the island and they had guns, shooting everyone left, right and center. It was a massacre. People she saw, people she knew and cared for her whole life were dying, fires filled the island, sounds of people screaming their last breath and Syndicate members shouting was all that was seen and heard in the air.
Her first thought was her mother, Raha. She ran to where they lived, it wasn't that far, even for a child. When she got there, she was shocked to find someone dressed a little differently than the rest stepping on someone's head. The person was barely moving, helpless from the damage she had taken. Her black hair was dirty, her mouth had a small stream of blood falling to the ground she was on.
"MOTHER!!" Kakeha shouted. Crying, weeping, unable to understand the situation.
"Vice-captain Pakiras!! We got them all!!" A troop called out, revealing their leader's name, a name she has never forgotten.
While the vice-captain ignored his troop, he looked at Kakeha, a girl who couldn't move after she saw her mother like that. With her eyes wide open, her pupils shone the moonlight on them, forcing Pakiras to notice and recollect immediately. He took a step in front, getting off of Raha and confronting Kakeha. "A mere child. You have the same eyes as a certain fool who arrived at our base years ago. I killed him, but I won't kill you… my captain doesn't kill children, and besides, you won't survive here anyway." His last words to her were… "Your tribe is cursed." He gazed forward and walked away.
"My… my child…" Raha struggled.
"Mother… mother… mother!!" Kakeha cried, crouching and holding her dying mother in her arms.
"I'm sorry I didn't join you… on the hill…" She whimpered, weaker, but smiling.
"I don't care about that!! I want you to be okay!!"
"There's a small boat at the foot of the hill, it…" she coughed up blood that splashed on the ground. "it will help you run away…"
Kakeha was still too horrified. She couldn't move. She was starting to get lost in her thoughts when her mother brought her back the moment she felt her cold hand touch her face. Raha's last words to her daughter were…
"Listen, my twinkling star… follow the stars… they will lead you to your true tribe, to your happiness, I promise you… Kakeha… you will find it. And when you do… don't forget to draw it."
Her hand fell to her chest. A smeared blood print on Kakeha's face, she felt it, she felt confused. Sad, broken. Everything was gone. So she did the one thing she was allowed to. She cried... she cried for four days and four nights as she held her dead mother in her arms.
With her realization on the fourth day… everyone was dead, every star had dimmed, there were truly no survivors. The Syndicate was nowhere to be seen, but the boat her mother told her about was. She struggled to carry her mother up the hill, digging with her bare hands and burying her, and leaving two pencils stuck on her grave.
"I heard you, mother," tears ran uncontrollably down her cheeks as she sniffled. "I'll draw the stars first, then I'll draw what I found beneath them."
When she glanced down, she found the boat, a simple canoe, so she sailed, randomly, running into guilds, ex-Syndicate members and more, she wanted to use her abilities to help them out but she didn't even know how to use a compass, so she was thrown out most of the time. There were also some Syndicate members who chased her but couldn't get her. She struggled to survive for ten years alone, until she landed with a ship carrying multiple people to a town onto an island. The trip was quite a bit to handle since there were rough and choppy waters on the way. When she arrived, she was no longer on the Setting Tide, she had landed on an island on the Calm Gale where merely days later, the Ironjaw Pirates had landed, raiding the town, and Tella, who moved to raid a certain shop, got out of it, nothing in hand due to their poor land. She had looked to her left, in an alley, when she found Kakeha. Ignoring all other features, her eyes were all she saw. She went to her, told her that they'd take care of her if she went with them, but since Kakeha had nowhere to go anyway, she joined them, only to be placed in a dirty room that was breaking down, like the rest of the ship, where she was kept prisoner.
The day Tella went to see why she was so quiet, not rattling or shouting, was the day she learned that Kakeha had given up. The next day, she talked to her, asking her how she ended up on the island. That story was what made Tella's mind change, she wanted to free her even more, not sell her, she wished her to get a chance at life, where she made her own choices, not to escape, nor to survive.