The Purnas and the Dames. Wealth of the east and of the west. And the fruits of these families tied closer than any other part, as the bond between daughters Pullum of the Purna lineage and Blair of the Dame lineage was truly the epitome of friendship at its strongest. The two families were politically perfect for one another, helping the two economies with their friendship. But Blair had hardly had social interaction, and as a child when taken along on a trip to the Middle East, she was eager to meet the young girl there named Pullum.
The two quickly became figuratively unseparable, and each dreaded being apart. They both had much in common: a love for their art. But while Blair was more intent upon her martial arts, Pullum enjoyed the ballet. Since childhood, as she asked, she was taught ballet by one of the world's greatest performers, and it took easily with Pullum. Being a good friend of Blair, who studied her own unorthodox martial arts, she soon combined ballet with martial arts to develop her own style.
And one day, her life changed. Pullum had just come down from a nice rest. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world to wake up to the warm sun against your face. Of the members of her family, she loved her grandfather the most. Father was always busy doing work, Mother was busy with friends, but Pullum's grandfather, who was retired, had all day to joke around. When Blair couldn't come over (across a continent), Pullum would sometimes go down to her grandfather's room if there was nothing else to do, and enjoy his company.
She had such grace in her walk, as if every step were a dance step. Occasionally she would twirl around the halls, and throw in a pirouette or two to show off to the servants sometimes. Pullum stopped dancing, stopped singing, and nearly stopped breathing. It was uncommon for her grandfather to be quiet at this time. Even with no one in the room, he would always walk about it, discussing beliefs and other things, but now there was silence. Pullum, frightened, ran to the room's entrance and looked in.
There was grandfather, sleeping quietly in a chair facing the wide, beautiful balcony.
Pullum smiled. How can he sleep with all that beauty right in front of him? she thought. She went to the bed and picked up a sheet, then turned around and realized that her grandfather was not sleeping, upon closer inspection. Rather he just sat still and stared into nothingness. Pullum leant over and peered into his eye, still and lifeless. Pullum was on the verge of tears when she noticed the book half-fallen from his now empty grasp. She lifted it up and read the sole word streaked across the cover in blood red: "Shadoloo".
"Pullum, I understand that you are angry about this, but going all around to Siva knows where just so you can avenge your grandfather?! Please, darling, let the authorities handle this," her father said sternly.
"Father, I'm not a child anymore. And I'm going to do this with or without your support," she said, equally stubborn.
Her father knew how Pullum could be. "But I don't like the thought of you out there on your own. If you got hurt... Please, take a bodyguard, Pullum. Just put up with it for my sake. I want to feel secure that you're safe."
Pullum sighed. "I don't need... All right, okay."
Her father had just the man in mind for the job.
A while later, during one of Blair's visits to the Purna mansion...
"That's awful, Pullum!" Blair commented sympathetically to her friend.
"But I'm entering a tournament! That evil company is behind it. I'm going to fight my way to him and make him pay!" Pullum shouted.
Blair's face lit up. "A tournament?"
Pullum nodded, a little softened by her friend's joy. "You always wanted to be in one of these things... Do you want to come along?"
Blair thought a moment, and said, a little frightened, "But what if something happened? You know..."
Pullum shunned the thought aside. "Nothing will happen, but if it does..." At this she rolled her eyes, "Father has hired a bodyguard for me."
Blair nodded, "I think I'll go with you! If you get hurt, I'll be there!"
Pullum smiled for the first time in a while. "Thanks, Blair!"
Blair smiled. "It's no problem." This was what she had wanted for so long, to be able to fight in a tournament against the greatest fighters of the world!
So, the two set off on a journey to battle the world's greatest champions, protected, of course, by their bodyguard, Darun.
A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away
- Arabian Proverb