Closed to Nosdyn. Second part to How to Hire a Villain.
White and pale yellow tinged with pink was the colour of the sky. It was a fine clear day over Beinost, and it was quiet, peaceful and mellow. There was no evidence that the city had gone through a recent famine possibility, nor that it had managed to struggle back to working capacity in less than a week. Panic was decidedly not on the day's plans for many of the residents of the half-populated city, and many of the shops and market stalls that were opening were just coming alive, and with just smiling faces. There were no drunkards loitering around the dead and empty parts of the city, nor had their been any reports of serious crime for some time. Instead there was a gentle happiness, which some attributed to the glory of a small noble household, but many others disbelieved and claimed it was the good work of the neighbourhood that had saved them.

Instead both were right in their own ways, but also wrong. The truth was that a lone kenku was truly to thank, but she was taking no credit. Instead she rode out of the south end of the city into that great cloudless dawn, the only sound being the scraping of her chocobo mount's feet in the dirt.

Stare rode without hesitation. It had been a day since Vitruvion, her (quite literal) god and employer had requested - ordered - her on this mission. Over the past two months he, his business estates and his personal household had all been attacked through various means but by one entity - a mysterious man who claimed to be his half-brother.

They had discovered the extistence of the brother first when Stare herself had been kidnapped by the Bounty Hunters Guild. They had been led by a mage of the usually cheery demon lord Sabazios, but it seemed that some form of influence had changed the demon of gluttony and excess into something of a suspicious wreck. It had not taken long for Stare to make the connections to Vitruvion's supposed half-brother. Since then there had been more violence, including the annihilation of several mercenaries, a rumoured incoming attack on Vitruvion's brewery in Corone, and the attack on the city itself. During that attack Stare had found the perpetrator and had been heart broken to find it was her brother Avin, brought in a horrific way back from the dead with few memories and fiercely loyal to Sabazios and the brother.

So loyal that he had killed her. And then she had found out she was immortal ... But that was another tale. Now she rode southwards in order to try to stop the possibility of a further, terrible assault on the great ships that were vital to Vitruvion's silk and other fabric businesses. So far one had been successfully attacked, and sunk. The other two were in grave danger.

It was dire and terrifying as a prospect. Already the city where they lived had been brought to the edge of chaos, and now even more with the possible collapse of one of the city's most successful business empires. An empire that employed hundreds throughout the city, and was responsible for a large portion of the guards trained there.

Stare hunkered down over her chocobo, her own black feathers merging with that of her darling beast. Together they headed down the wide main road, leaving Beinost as a shadow on the horizon, but taking her worries with them. Sen was the chocobo's name and the trust between mount and rider was a strong one. They would travel for as long as they needed to to find the help they needed, whatever the cost.

For it was up to her now. With the city only just recovering there were little resources to go out to send a call. Instead Stare had in her hand a small violet glass pebble, and she kept it tightly wrapped in her hand as she rode. Through it she was continuously mentally calling for a friend - the only friend she could imagine could help them, a friend who usually lived south.

In the dread lands of the demon world of the Tular Plains.

Nosdyn.