[
@visualspice]
Ten years ago...
The sea was magnificent.
"How did it take me so long to see this?" Dusk murmured to herself as she simply stood and stared in wonder at the seemingly endless stretch of blue-gray-green that rolled away to the horizon. She liked to think she had seen quite a few wonderous things since she left La'marri two years ago, both magical and entirely mundane. But
this...
There was really nothing like it.
She could have stood and stared for the rest of the day--for several days, if she was being honest--were it not for the insistent reminder from her stomach that she hadn't actually eaten since early that morning, and she'd spent the day on the road. The fishing village that had been her goal when she set out around dawn was within sight--there wasn't much foot traffic, but she could see a few dinghies out in the water, and some people milling about between the buildings.
Hopefully she had enough coin on her for a meal and a place to sleep...
"Excuse me?" She tried to catch the attention of the nearest person who didn't seem actively engaged in something else. "Um, p-pardon, but do you have a moment?"
The fisherman barely glanced up from the knife he was using to clean under his nails. "Eh?"
She summoned up her friendliest smile. "Hello! I, ah, I'm n-not from around here, I was wondering, could you t-tell me where I might find a meal?"
He jerked his head toward one of the larger buildings set further back from the shoreline. "Tavern's that way. Might even got rooms, if you've coin."
"Thank you very much!" She smiled again, hovering awkwardly for a moment. When the man just gave her a grunt and a nod, she took that as a dismissal and hurried away toward the tavern he had indicated. She was
starving, and the idea of a bowl of fresh food--anything she hadn't had to forage for herself--was near blissful. She was so wrapped up in the idea of it that she almost missed the voice coming from the narrow alley just behind the tavern.
Almost.
"I told ya, I
don't have it."
She froze. That--that sounded like trouble. Oh dear. She hesitated, unsure what she should do--her ambient sense of emotions roiled uncomfortably, telling her there was a lot of anger and fear in closer proximity.
"You pay for the goods you got, that's all I can do," the voice continued.
"That ain't good enough," a new voice snarled, and Dusk actually shivered at the sound. She looked around, wide-eyed, unsure what to do. Should she tell someone? This was--
"Oi!"
The new voice was suddenly directed at her. She froze, eyes blown even wider, and just stared as a figure detached itself from the wall of the alley and started toward her. "You evesdroppin', stranger?"
"N-n-n-no." She took a step back. She hadn't even realized she'd moved closer to the voices when she first heard them--
damnit, she'd gotten caught up in the emotional aura. "S-sorry, I'll just--"
"Oh, no you don't, girlie." The second voice was suddenly behind her. She yelped and whirled around to see a man nearly two heads taller than her looming, hand moving toward a sheath at his hip.
Oh dear. "Just what did you hear?"
"N-n-n-noth--"
"Bullshit."
She swallowed, eyes darting around frantically. Without her even realizing, the two men had backed her into the alley. She was trapped
