Natsuki: Alorana's Champion in Sinbad

Natsuki: Alorana's Champion in Sinbad Natsuki is another one of the smaller characters I wanted to catch up on from the Sinbad side of Grimm. We've talked about Vu and Alorana, but Natsuki is the person standing on the other side of that first fight. Looking at it from her side gives a little more context to how Alorana runs her court. This is about Natsuki's introduction in The Adventures of Sinbad #1 and her part in the Samelia scene in #3. It isn't a claim that those scenes give us her entire history. When Sinbad meets Alorana, she questions whether he is really the man whose name she knows. He offers to prove himself, and she decides that one of his crew should fight her best soldier. Sinbad wants to fight personally, but she refuses. She lets him choose his champion, and he chooses Vu. Her choice is Natsuki. That introduction tells us where Natsuki stands in Alorana's service. The queen presents her as the best soldier she has available for this test. Natsuki answers when called and steps forward with her sword. We don't get a training history or a speech explaining her loyalty. Her place in the court is established by what the queen asks her to do. The fight itself is rough. Both fighters evade and strike, and both draw blood. Natsuki cuts Vu, but she takes wounds too. They keep going until Alorana decides she has seen enough and stops them. Neither gets a clean victory over the other on the page. I think that distinction matters when talking about a character like this. You could reduce her to “the woman who fought Vu” and move on, or treat the queen calling her the best as proof she must be stronger than everybody else. The actual scene gives us something more specific. She can stand against Vu in a dangerous sword fight, hurt him, take injuries and continue. That's a substantial showing without adding powers that aren't demonstrated. Alorana ends the fight by saying there is no sense in either side losing good soldiers. From where she's sitting, the test has worked. She believes Sinbad's identity, and she can move on to a private conversation. Natsuki and Vu are the ones left bleeding because their leaders needed to establish who was dealing with whom. Natsuki's later appearance is much less ceremonial. In #3, Samelia is being held by Alorana and refuses to become a slave again. The queen overpowers her with magic and prepares to brand her. Natsuki is there holding the heated brand while Alorana explains what she intends to do. Samelia fights back with a spell. Natsuki is hit, loses control of the brand, and gets burned as the situation falls apart. The scene moves into Alorana's next magical attack, but I don't want to give Natsuki the powers of the creature that appears afterward. The queen is casting the magic there. Natsuki's clearly established role in these scenes is that of a fighter and an assistant to the queen's coercion. That is a much uglier context than the earlier duel. In the throne room, she is a champion facing another armed champion. In the branding scene, she is helping Alorana impose control on someone who has explicitly refused it. The story doesn't give us enough of Natsuki's own thoughts to settle why she serves Alorana or what freedom she has within that service. What we can see is the part she plays in both encounters. For me, that is what makes a smaller character worth separating out from the main villain's profile. Alorana's authority is carried out by people around her. Natsuki is one of the most capable of them, and her two appearances show the different things that capability gets used for. Her introduction demonstrates her skill. The later scene shows what serving this particular queen involves.