Hikoyoshi

Hikoyoshi owns the most complete set of pre-Surge porcelain in The Teikodian Empire, yet they drink their morning tea from a cracked earthenware bowl. They are a trainee at the Imperial Garden, learning the slow, deliberate art of bonsai trimming. The younger apprentices whisper about the stoic collector with the carved cane, wondering why someone of their stature would bother with such things. Hikoyoshi never explains. They find a quiet satisfaction in shaping life without breaking it, a control they once lacked. Sometimes, a distant flash of cosmic energy in the sky, like the raw power of Eirian, makes them flinch. Then the quiet grin returns, and they make another precise cut on a tiny branch.