Enter what may be the most tragic character in the whole of the Ittsuverse.

Valencia Pushkina is the widow of Shokkan Kan'u, one of the three brothers. Their marriage, from all that could be told, was happy as could be. They even had four cute, half-kitsune kids together. You'd have been hard-pressed to find a happier woman in the world; even as the two were so far apart on the battlefields, the love they shared for one another was so strong that one could feel it as they walked between the two.

And then came the Betrayal. Leona Rains, one of the Big Three alongside Kan'u and Hikaru, betrayed Rosemonde's ideal of unification under one banner, and thought to stake out her own claim by decapitating Kan'u as he slept.

Of course, to say Leona and Kan'u were equal to Hikaru would be like saying a hoplite or a centurion was equal to an armored division.

Word reached Hikaru.

Anger reached Hikaru...No. That was more than anger. It was as literal as "explosive fury" could be, such that a new mountain range was formed, bearing Hikaru's name.

Hikaru reached Rains, with a distraught Valencia doing her best to follow him.

But all too late. With one thrust of Starbreaker, Rains and the fortress in which she had taken from Kan'u were obliterated in an explosion - the force of an entire solar flare contained in such a small area.

The last thing Valencia had seen before the explosion was her daughter trying to squeeze out of the window.

The next thing she remembered, bound to a hospital bed with burns, cuts, and broken wounds from the cataclysmic explosion, was Hikaru receiving an award for his valor in the war, and a private gag order from Rosemonde not to speak the truth; for Hikaru had become such a symbol, and to detract him would be a detriment to national pride and unity. And, well...What good would it do her, to defy someone with the powers of God?

Thus how she is today; a woman of few words and fewer smiles. At seven-foot-six, she briefly held the office of Prefect in Wei, the northernmost Prefecture in the whole Genbu region - the Rooftop. She resigned after three months' time, returning to her quiet life.

Thus her title as the Bear of Wei; large, fearsome, and dangerous if provoked - but, it seems, she still upholds hospitality as well as her constant fury will allow.

Art is done by  Ecchipandaa.

ItsSongxing: Please, do comment on my stuff! It means a whole lot more to me than throwing a fave my way. Liked something? Tell me! Didn't like something? Tell me! Want the thumbnail source? Don't tell me! Can't improve as a writer if I'm not getting good feedback, y'know? :P Also, be sure to support the original artist on any images I upload - they will be credited!

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