Sara

Sara ("Sarah") was a peasant woman from Mino, a member of the Hidden, and the mother of Otori Takeo (whom she named "Tomasu") through her first husband, Kikuta Isamu. She later had two daughters by her second husband, one of whom, Madaren, survived to adulthood. Sara's brutal death in Across the Nightingale Floor leaves a deep impression on Takeo; despite renouncing her religion when he joins the warrior class, he remains devoted to her memory and her teachings of compassion.

Heaven's Net is Wide
Prior to the Otori-Tohan war, Sara grew up as a peasant in the secret village of Mino, where worship of the Hidden's "Secret God" was widespread and tolerated, in contrast to the rest of the Eastern Country. When she was fifteen or sixteen, she met a traveler named Kikuta Isamu, whom, she later learned, was a member of the Tribe and a master assassin. Isamu was increasingly disillusioned with his ruthless, often cruel lifestyle and felt the need for redemption; Sara exposed him to her beliefs, including the emphasis on forgiveness, nonviolence and equal judgement in the afterlife. She and Isamu fell in love and married shortly after he converted to the Hidden and renounced his life as a member of the Tribe.

However, the Tribe's code of unbreakable obedience meant that, by leaving them, Isamu had signed his own death warrant. About two years after he left the Tribe, he was working in the fields near Mino when he encountered his cousin and former friend, Kikuta Kotaro, who had been sent to eliminate him. To protect Sara, Isamu led Kotaro away from the village, deep into the forests; there, he finally allowed Kotaro to kill him, despite the fact that he could have easily defeated him with his Tribe abilities. Sara initially feared he had killed himself, which is an unforgivable sin to the Hidden. When his body was discovered, she was grieved, yet relieved that he had died true to his new beliefs, unwilling to act with violence.

Unknown to Isamu, Sara was pregnant with his son when he died. She became a mother shortly before she was seventeen. When the boy was born, she named him Tomasu, after "one of the great teachers of the Hidden". She later remarried, having two daughters; the younger one was named Madaren. Although she and her husband often scolded Tomasu for his mischievous nature and frequent wanderings, she loved him dearly and instilled her own gentle nature in him at an early age. Her affection for her son increased after he rescued Madaren from nearly drowning in a flooded mountain stream.

When Tomasu was nearing his teenage years, his mother and stepfather set about preparing to make a good marriage for him with one of the girls in the village. Around this time, a traveling merchant (who was also a member of the Hidden) arrived at Mino, carrying a sword that he had picked up on a battlefield and was trying to sell. The merchant was intrigued when Tomasu handled the sword correctly despite having never held one before; he was also intrigued by Tomasu's facial features and the strange horizontal lines crossing his palms. Sara and her husband were unnerved by the merchant's visit, fearing he might be an informer for the dreaded overlord of the Tohan, Iida Sadamu, and they discussed whether they should send Tomasu away for his own safety.

In fact, the merchant was in the service of Otori Shigeru, who had suspected of Tomasu's existence though his own personal records on members of the Tribe. Shigeru had discovered that his own father, Otori Shigemori, had a relationship with a Kikuta woman that resulted in the conception of Isamu, Tomasu's father-- thus making Tomasu one-quarter Otori, and Shigeru's nephew by blood.

Across the Nightingale Floor and death:
Shortly after the merchant's departure, Mino was discovered by Iida Sadamu, who led a raiding party of Tohan warriors to destroy the village. Tomasu was mercifully absent (he had been picking mushrooms in the forest) but Sara's husband was brutally murdered and many others tortured and killed, while all the houses and the shrine were put to the torch. Sara and both her daughters were captured and repeatedly raped by Tohan men; afterwards, she and her older daughter were killed, while Madaren was sold to a brothel.

Tomasu, who was rescued by Otori Shigeru and re-named Takeo, did not witness his mothers' death, but he quickly realized that she had to be dead, and was plunged into intense grief. Although Takeo was later forced to learn ruthlessness both as a warrior and as a member of the Tribe, and renounced his faith in the Secret God, his mothers' emphasis on compassion and mercy stayed with him throughout his life. Sara, her husband and her oldest daughter were avenged through the deaths of Sadamu and his retainers during the Fall of Inuyama.

Personality
Sara is described by Takeo as having an air of fierceness (as she would often threaten to tear him to pieces for being disobedient or getting into trouble) but was in fact both strong and gentle towards him; her husband often "grumbled mildly that she spoiled me". She taught him that all life was sacred and that cruelty was a sin, even encouraging him not to tear claws off crabs or pull the shells off of snails. She had the same tanned, honey-colored skin as Takeo, but in most other respects she did not resemble her son, having broad, smooth facial features and rough hands. She was liked by everyone in Mino for her kindness and good character.