Serpent of Time

The last princess of Japan's doomed Southern Court, Fujiwara Ryo has an offer she can't refuse: a marriage proposal from her archenemy. As the shogun's royal prisoner, she could live a comfortable life in a gilded cage. But Ryo isn't the kind of girl to take the easy way out, so refuse it she does. Not long thereafter, a failed revolt against the shogunate puts a price on her head and her spurned fiancé hot on her heels.

Ryo escapes with Sen, her loyal lady-in-waiting. Atop sacred Mt. Koya, Sen's uncle summons the mighty Kala Sarpa. If all goes as planned, the "Serpent of Time" will transport Ryo safely out of the shogun's reach. Except Kala Sarpa bears a grudge of its own against the Fujiwara clan and seizes the chance to even the scales. Their fates fully entwined, Ryo will have to travel back to the past to save her future.

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Names follow Japanese convention, the surname given first. Romanization is according to modified Hepburn. Long vowels (such as /ou/) and double vowels (such as /oo/) are indicated by a macron or circumflex. Long and double vowels are held for two syllable counts.

It was common in medieval Japan for members of the aristocracy to refer to each other by their given names plus an honorific. When a shogunate retained power for any length of time, the proliferation of the same surname would otherwise become hopelessly confusing.