He was a young man then, and as young men are wont to do, he fell in love with a young woman: Tsukiko. A strange woman, who worked in the tea shop across from his old dojo where he was a student. He hoped to become an instructor there one day.

She was strange not because of her appearance or any particular quirks in her personality, but because she had an uncanny ability to make tea that always made people feel better. That is to say, she didn’t just have tea that could soothe your throat or cure headaches, but that could help you focus for a test, or ease a broken heart, or ensure that you made wise decisions and it was always delicious. Having tasted Tsukiko’s tea himself many times when the urge to see her became too strong, he could speak with authority on its taste and its medicinal effects. There was one time he had a long day ahead of him, and he went early in the morning to Tsukiko’s shop, as it was the only free time he would have that day. After he had had a cup of her tea, he had found himself with more energy than he knew what to do with, when at the start of the day he had struggled to make the five minute walk to the shop.

Even so, part of him still did not truly believe that it was anything like magic, that the things that children shouted with glee after having tasted Tsukiko’s tea for the first time, and what adults slyly joked about with Tsukiko herself were true. He always maintained the belief that she simply made excellent tea. That is, until the day he learned of the significance of the deep black dragon tattoo that curled around her wrist, that you could only ever see when she poured tea.