au where instead of having your soulmate’s name tattooed on your wrist, each pair has an unique birthmark ( like a moon or a star or maybe it looks like a hotdog idek ) in the same spot on their body (n˘v˘•)¬
After the death of his wife Catherine, Bart had decided to go travelling. There was so much in the world that he could have gone to see --- so much that interested him and intrigued him. It seemed that the whole world was fixated on finding their soul mates. Their other halves – the birthmark on the same part of the body.
Bart thought it was hopeless. His wife and him, they didn't have the same birthmark; remotely close birthmarks; neither were on the same place on the body. Catherine's was on her ankle, a small flower. Barely noticeable. In fact even Catherine didn't say she knew it was there – she didn't want to look for her birthmark, believing the idea of soul mates to be delusional. That was especially so when she and Bart had met. They had fallen in love without the need of those soul mate birthmarks; why would it matter otherwise?
Then she died and although his friends had urged him on, especially the King – he didn't want to find the girl that would have the matching tattoo on the back of his shoulder. He had a dragon, it was a western dragon – he had only seen it when Catherine had shown it through a mirror. He didn't think of anything about it.
When he went travelling he visited places that would give him a new culture. He wanted to learn about the world. He didn't think love or family was for him. He didn't grow up with a family – and when Catherine had fallen pregnant he had lost both her and their daughter in childbirth. Many could say that it was punishment for following his heart over common belief; but he wouldn't say that. Not when he had felt that love. It was real to him. Maybe he didn't deserve the straightforward love, who knew – but for now he wanted to see more of the world.
China was an amazing land; although not quite what he expected because he didn't know what to expect. When a ship was travelling to the seas there for trading, he didn't see why he couldn't head there. It was something that he thought would be interesting. Discover the lands, the world, the views – the people – the culture. Where he ended up it was small, a village – farmers and the people couldn't have been any nicer after they realised he was no threat to them. Bart couldn't blame them, to be honest – he was a different face, and well war could have come with him in different circumstances.
He set up a small house, no bigger than a hut – and talked with a family, an old woman, a man and a woman – they talked highly of a daughter that had brought them honour in the war. He had never met the daughter, however. He helped them with the farm. His strength brought heaps and bounds; and his knowledge of blacksmithing may have not been sought after in China, as English and Chinese blades were different, but he had also found a living for himself helping where he could. He enjoyed it.
Bart dropped a bag of dirty laundry down by the river as he moved onto his knees to prepare to clean. He hadn't really thought about what he was going to do that day. He had only been in the village a couple of months – he enjoyed it too much, didn't think of heading back, although England was always calling. With Catherine and his daughter buried there he knew that eventually old ghosts would come to haunt him.
Grunting as he pushed the clothes into the water to begin to clean them his attention was on the women of the village doing the same. He knew he must have looked odd. It was a woman's job, apparently, but when you were a single man without a wife, you tended to have to do these things yourself. He kept conversation flowing. He didn't see a reason why not. He had even gone to see the Fa family to see if he could have taken anything to assist them, but the grandmother had been very insistent that instead of helping with their chores that he visited later that day for tea.
He didn't refuse, of course, tea was one of the things that he found to be a reminder of England. Even if the blends were naturally different. He couldn't have been more thankful for the people of China, they had taken him in when he needed and he would pay them back, he was sure of it – but until then he had to find a proper job for himself to settle down and see where he would head to next.
