Jun Naoko

Jun is a kitsune trickster, better known by her nickname Xiao. In her quest to become a hero like the ones she read about in Fables From Shudan she became a founding member of the Order of the Seeking Fox.

Personal History

Early Years

Jun was born in S302 in a small village of Kitsune in the Nobumori. Her father, the village chief, and her mother tried to raise her to be disciplined and virtuous. She didn't seem interested in politics or leadership though, and became a bit of a trickster instead. When confronted about her pranks, she always took credit. She returned things after stealing them, and did her best not to cause real damage. Sometimes things had a way of getting out of hand though.
Once, when she was 12, she used fire and illusions to scare an elderly merchant who was travelling through the woods to reach her village. He was injured badly after being thrown from his horse and vowed never to return to the village again as a result. The village had limited connections to outside commerce. They had become dependent on medicines and preservatives provided by the merchant, and suffered greatly without them. With a heavy heart, her father was forced to admit that she had gone too far this time. The village council deliberated for three days before her father finally gave in and accepted their demands to exile her from the village. If her mother was not so pregnant at the time, she might have joined Jun to keep her safe. As it was though, Jun was forced to leave and make her way alone. Jun, still a young girl at the time, felt only anger and betrayal as she her home. At that time, she also made the decision to forsake the name Jun.
For weeks she traveled alone, hunting and foraging to survive. She spent less and less time in the guise of a human, and began to live as a nameless fox instead. When she encountered travelers she would spy on them from afar. She kept clear of hunters or trackers, but approached other groups and stole from their campsites in the night. Usually she was not spotted, but even when she was she was dismissed as a simple fox and chased away. When her collection of coins grew large enough she would find a town and pay for a warm bath and soft bed, before returning to her life as a fox again.
Once, while spying on a trio of travelers, things went differently. The old man that spotted her did not shoo her away, but greeted her instead. He seemed to recognize that she was a yokai, and encouraged her to come to the campsite. He referred to her as xiao huli, roughly "little fox" in his native Liquon. She retreated out of sight, but listened as the old man continued to talk to his companions. Eventually the man began speaking to the fox again, even though he could no longer see it. He introduced himself as Tao Ru, and explained that he wrote bestiaries and tried to educate travelers so they would be safe. He placed some food out near the edge of the campsite and continued talking long into the night about his travels around Tasinem before finally falling asleep. Against her instincts, the fox finally came out of hiding and entered the camp. Rather than stealing though, she ate the food and then revealed her human form as she waited for the old man to wake.
Over the next several days she spoke with the members of the camp and grew to consider them friends. The old man was accompied by a younger man who taught her how to use a sword. There was also a younger woman who taught her to use a bow and arrows. Tao Ru taught her about creatures and told her stories about great adventurers. He even gifted her with a book that contained fables from the neighboring country of Shudan.
When the time came for the trio to depart, the old man said goodbye and adressed her as xiao huli one more time. It was the first thing anyone had called her since she had abandoned the name Jun, and she decided that she liked the sound of it. She decided that her name would be Xiaohuli, and in time she became especially attached to the nickname Xiao. Xiao couldn't follow the trio, who were on their way to Nobumori where she had been exiled from. She decided instead to journey to Shudan to learn more about the great figures mentioned in her new book. Her best clue was printed on the cover page; “Anthologies compiled by Chitose Aika. Athenaeum.”

Involvement with the Seeking Fox

Is S316, after finally reaching Nangnato, Xiao eagerly confronted the staff of the Athenaeum regarding the whereabouts of Chitose Aika. After being surprised and disappointed by the lack of helpful information she received, Xiao caused enough of a scene to find herself banned from the premises before she had time to investigate further.
As a next step, she decided to visit Haven to see if she could meet adventurers or become one herself. To her further surprise and disappointment, she found herself stuffed into a room with posters that promoted the value of menial labor while she waited to meet a representative from The Cord. Owing to the sudden Harborquake, the building was especially busy and she was forced to wait for much longer than expected. Several others were stuffed into the room to wait with her, including Arashizo, Emiri Okane, Naoki Naoko, and Sal. Xiao was shocked to hear Naoki's name, and immediately recognized him as the uncle who she had never met before. She decided to keep her identity a secret from him for now.
When Amisaki Atsutane discovered the group waiting in the room, she told them that Tsuya Ai was waiting to meet with the Crimson Dawn in a different room. She encouraged the group to go there and pretend to be the Crimson Dawn, a task which Naoki accepted without hesitation. The others, bored of waiting and not interested in doing menial labor, eventually decided to go along with the prank. Although Amisaki had expected them to be caught and exposed almost immediately, they managed to pull off the ruse effectively. Tsuya assigned them the task of delving into the newly exposed tunnels beneath the city and rescuing two members of the South Guard who had gone missing there.
After the group completed this task, they returned to Haven again and were greeted by Honomi Ai this time. Honomi chastized the group for lying, but commended them for accomplishing the task. She admitted that the chaos in the city had left them short handed and asked if the group would complete another paid task. This time, they were to travel to Iron Home to see why the Order of the Iron Boar had stopped responding to messages recently.
At Iron Home, the group discovered that most of the Iron Boar had been killed and found themselves caught up in the dangerous mystery of why. Bonded by their adventures so far, the group decided to join the Cord officially, and became the Order of the Seeking Fox.
Over the course of several months the Seeking Fox discovered that multiple factions were racing to collect the pieces of the Gauntlet of the Arcane Key. While facing off against them, they found themselves caught up in other conflicts as well.
While the group was tracking down a serial killer in Ahonato, Naoki seized on the opportunity to lay the blame on Hamamoto. The riot that ensued resulting in the burning down of the Temple of the Dark Goddess and the deaths of several bystanders. Naoki was forced to flee afterwards, and was disheartened when neither Xiao nor the other group members were willing to go with him.
At another times the group found themselves engaged in other fights. For Xiao, this most notably included battles against the Pannoowan warrior Anzai. While Anzai was tasked with capturing Number 27, he managed to defeat the entire Seeking Fox and trapped Xiao in her fox form using a collar that contracted and would not let her change back. After Anzai completed his task, he did eventually release Xiao from the collar, but the experience left a lingering sense of helplessness in her.
Ultimately the Seeking Fox were able to defeat the people that had attacked the Iron Boar, but they were betrayed by Shishido Okane who wanted the completed gauntlet for himself. Xiao barely managed to escape with it, but found herself separated from the rest of her friends who had been captured. Xiao fled on her own for many days, but soon found that she was being tracked by her worst fear. It didn't take Anzai long to catch and collar her again, and then turn her over to Shishido. Shishido was afraid of letting Xiao slip away again. He decided it would be best to kill her and take the gauntlet from her corpse, rather than risking what she might do if the collar was removed. The last thing she say as she tried desparately to escape was Shishido's blade, and then the welcoming arms of Morigawa. To Xiao's surprise, Morigawa told her that it was not her time yet. In return for the temple Naoki had burned down, Morigawa offered Xiao a second chance at life.
By the time Xiao awoke, Shishido and the others had already left. When she finally managed to reunite with her friends, including Naoki, she expressed her gratitude to him and the others. Together they managed to track down Shishido and ultimately defeated him before he could use the gauntlet to destroy Nanganato with a Mind's Eye. Afterwards, the group helped to destroy the gauntlet to ensure it was never misused again.
Leilu had not survived the fight against Shishido, so his body was brought to the Temple of Kawahara. Kelran the Reborn believed that reviving Leilu was within his power. He warned that it would anger Morigawa and put Leilu and his friends in danger. Before he completed the ritual, he instructed them to go and work at Hope Valley for several weeks in order to please Kawahara so that she would offer protection from Morigawa. After a month of tedious farm labor that did not suit Xiao at all, she and her friends were able to bring Leilu back to life.

Magic School

In the weeks that followed, Xiao's friends found themselves pulled in different directions. Xiao was unsure what her next steps should be, but she found herself inspired by stories she had heard from Emiri about her studies at Sukorak. Emiri wrote to her teacher, Rhea Firelocs, who agreed that Xiao could come and study whenever she wanted to. Xiao thanked Emiri, but made a trip to Iron Home first.
Naoki and Aria also returned to Iron Home. Naoki had decided that his adventuring days where behind him for now, and decided to spend his time running the Apple Basket. Aria wanted to keep the Order of the Seeking Fox running, so she began recruiting new members. Xiao had no intentions of staying long, but did spend a few weeks helping Kome, Toru, and Yusa get used to being members of an adventuring party.
When Xiao left Iron Home she began a slow journey north, full of detours and delays. She tried to find libraries along her way, and continued looking for information about Chitose Aiko. Although no clues to her whereabouts turned up, Xiao did learn that she had published another book called The Many Fascinating Treasures of Shudan. More than a month after leaving Iron Home, Xiao finally reached Dokage and began studying at Sukorark.
Unfortunately for Xiao, she struggled at the school. As someone who had always learned from experience, she was not particularly cut out for classroom learning or self directed study. She found that she didn't fit in especially well among the other students either. She considered quitting several times, but didn't want to disappoint Emiri or admit to failure, so she pushed on for week after week. She also preoccupied herself with learning all of the basics of the Shudani language.
Despite struggling at Sukorark, Xiao fit in reasonably well in Dokage. She made friends outside of her classes and often entertained or perturbed residents of the town with her occasional pranks. Even though the library in Sukorak was larger and easier to use, she often visited the Vusk Toshokan in town for a change in scenery. Once she discovered a mouse hiding in one of the bookshelves and decided to name him Mamemaru and keep him in her room so that he didn't damage books or scrolls in the library. She also found and decided to borrow, for an indefinite amount of time without informing anyone, Chitose's book about treasures. It discussed legends and rumors in an entertaining way that made it seem like it was written for a younger audience instead of serious treasure hunters like Xiao had hoped. She still found the writing to be compelling though, and fantasized about collecting powerful treatures for herself.
Months of this rolled by as Xiao slowly absorbed the information taught to her. She found it difficult to put into practice though, and began to feel like she wasn't making any progress. Thoughts of quiting began to preoccupy her mind again, until Rhea approached her about going on a short journey.

Nicknames
Xiao, Xiaohuli

Species

Kitsune

Date of Birth

S302

Year of Birth

558 16 Years old

Gender

female