(Closed to Shin)

It was a cold yet calm ocean breeze that flowed amongst the dirty streets of Scara Brae, there was a stillness that had fallen over the port city that many of the locals considered the calm before the storm. And yet, despite the promise of a turbulent future everything felt almost absurdly normal. The overcast sky was expected for this time of the year, and the ships sat gently in port atop of a near perfect flat ocean.

Not that anyone would stop to take in the view in Scara Brea, the port city was far too busy to sit on its laurels to stop and admire the oceans unmoving tranquillity. The hustle of the crowd along the promenade alone felt almost busier than ever as a new surge of tepid adventurers that had yet to break in their boots made their way of the gangplanks as eager thieves and cut purses that wondered up and down the promenade kept a keen eye out for the unaware.

One such thief turned their attention very briefly onto what could have been called a walking suit of armour, and quite wisely chose not to press his luck. Though Umbra had made sure to bury their coin purse deep within the confines of their armour, just in case, but the iron plates they wore was proving to be an effective enough deterrent to ward off any potential sticky fingers.

The walking suit of armour strode out of the crowds that littered the promenade in favour of the much quieter streets of the merchant’s district. There was another job lined up across town that they had gotten word of, another caravan needed guarding on their way to Stonevale.
It was easy enough work despite the meagre pay, but it allowed for the merchants and travellers around Scara Brea to get to know the hulking warrior personally, and Reputation was more valuable than gold as Umbra would like to believe.

Still, now that the mongers were not yelling in their ear, the sound of their iron armour clinking along with every step seemed to feel more even more pronounced, and earned the brief attention of yet another thief, who wisely decided against making any attempt.
The armoured warrior allowed themselves an unseen grin, hidden as it was behind the solid metal visor, and yet despite the minor distraction it was impossible to miss the small gathering up ahead.

“100 gold!” Called out short man that stood next to the entrance of an alleyway as he yelled out to the crowd as loudly as he could. His balding hair and face that was marked by several bulbous warts that each varied in size all spoke of a man that struggled to make ends meet.
Odd, but not that unusual, there were many men and women in Scara Brae that struggled from day to day, it took a special kind of person to thrive in this cutthroat environment.

“You look like you’re in need of a beautiful servant, for just 100 gold you can have a genuine Akashiman slave” The desperate man called out again, though this time Umbra stopped cold in their tracks and took a hard look at the man and his ‘companion’

As before, the man was entirely average, a hundred different faces could all have claimed the same story as him and yet… The woman next to him was a different creature entirely.

She was a woman of the east, and easily stood out amongst the crowd like a delicate flower in the centre of a garden of weeds. Long hair black as the night and a porcelain face that stared intently at the ground before them with a solemn expression. Her garb a plain white yukata made from expensive silks was wrapped around her slight frame was both torn, ripped and shredded whilst caked in layers upon layers of mud around her bare feet.

Compared to the worn rags that the man was wearing there was an obvious discrepancy between the two, as the woman even in her own ragged state looked like a lost princess compared to her so called owner.

Umbra slowly approached the both of them, hidden eyes dissecting the man and woman in greater scrutiny. The man’s gaze turned to Umbra and a savvy toothless smile greeted them. “You, you look like you could-” he started

“Shut up” Umbra finished in a low tone as they stepped up to the woman. The man’s face grew indignant but before they could utter anything else, Umbra asked the woman a simple request. “Turn around”

Her eyes slowly turned up to look at Umbra though they failed to move any higher than neck level before she slowly turned to do as asked. Now with her back facing the crowd, it was evident to see that the fabric of her clothes had been stained a very deep red. Very carefully with a gentleness Umbra did not know they had reached out to pull the fabric of her outfit down to expose her bare back, though in doing so she flinched with a sharp intake of pain.

Her once delicate pristine skin was a host of uncountable gashes of flayed flesh, The veritable canyons of wounds were all evidently made by a person unfamiliar with the term restraint, the woman had been evidently gored, and bled for all she had been worth, the fact that they had barely made a sound, or that she had kept her face neutral despite the incredible pain she must have been in spoke of either an iron will, or a broken mind.

Umbra seethed with rage as they noticed that her dried blood had fused with the fabric of her yukata and noted the early signs of infection.

“Did you do this?” Umbra growled at the man that had been trying to sell her.

“N-no, I S-swear, I j-just found her a-and …” The man recoiled unable to tear his eyes around from the Akashiman’ s ruined flesh. Umbra merely stared, long and hard in response at the man, who yelped and turned and fled away from the mercenary’s faceless glare that followed him down the alleyway.

Then in a tone Umbra did not think they were capable of uttering at that moment in time, turned to the eastern woman with a quiet and gentle “Come with me…” as they pulled the woman clothes back up to ensure she still retained her dignity.

Then as she looked up at the armoured visor, she held out her palm to reveal that she had been clutching a blood red leaf in her tightened fist.

Umbra stared at the leaf long and hard, before uttering “Where in the world did you get that?”