"Such a paltry bunch Helena's put together for herself," the ashah said, turning back towards the serving girl. "But what kind of loyalty can someone expect from people like you?"

The girl raised her hands in surrender, backing away from the counter with measured steps. "I'm not with the broken pillars miss. Least not by choice. I serve them drinks is all, I let them use the place for their meetings, and I let them..." The girl trailed off, looking away with a mixture of disgust and shame. She didn't say the words, but the ashah knew what the girl meant.

"You let them use you when the need strikes them," the older woman finished, stating what the girl was trying so hard to omit. She clenched her fist, suffocating the hungry flames in her hand. The broad-shouldered woman bore an innumerable amount of ways of getting the truth from someone, but she didn't need any of those to tell what this girl was thinking. The ashah could see the suffering displayed plainly on her tensed face. It came from a dark place that she was all too familiar with, having been there herself in times past.

"So that's the way of it then?" the ashah asked. She knew it wasn't her place to pry, but as a servant of the Faith, it was her duty to help the less fortunate, even when she clearly wasn't wanted. "A man named Banor owns this place correct? Your father I'm guessing? I suppose he was forced into an agreement where if he didn't meet their demands they'd beat him to death, assault you in front of him before he died, and burn down the tavern for good measure?" Her words were blunt, but they were honest. That was the only way she knew how to deal with people anymore.

The girl didn't look her in the eyes, instead only giving an almost imperceptible nod. "Something like that miss."

"Of course, it's something like that," The ashah said with a frown. "How else would Helena do her business?" She didn't want to chastise the girl, but if she didn't get a solid understanding in this poor child's head now, then who would? "Listen, I don't know what kind of man your father is, but I do know that he's a fool if he thought he stood anything to gain by bargaining with devils. What he should have done is called in the services of the Faith immediately, or maybe even the damned United if he had any sense."

"We didn't have a choice!" The girl cried out, slamming a tiny fist on the countertop.

A crow who'd taken roost in the darkness of the rafters squawked at the outburst. The black bird took a short flight across the room to reposition itself in the windowsill near the tavern's entrance. Both the ashah and the server watched it for a moment before the girl went on at a whisper.

"No one cares about the smallfolk like us," the girl said. "Pa went to the Faith and all they did was promise to send help that never came, and the United didn't even respond to his letters, even for all their talk of a peacefully unified Eldrin. We didn't have many options. Helena's taken over the city's government and the only people left standing against her are the guardsmen and the resistance. Pa tried to stand up to Helena, but..."

The girl choked on her words as she dredged up painful memories. The ashah could see the trembling in her shoulders and for the first time, she caught sight of the bruises lining the girl's thin wrists. She cursed herself for her lack of compassion, inhaling a long breath of humid air as she tried to come up with a solution that would benefit both the girl and her own mission.

"I apologize for the Faith's absence in the matter, but you should know that they did send someone," the ashah explained. "Goffried happens to be a very busy man though, so I've decided to come as a sort of temporary stand-in."

"And how can you help us?" the girl hissed, her stormy eyes flickering up accusingly. "People like you are only good for gallivanting around causing more trouble for the smallfolk you leave behind to clean up your mess."

"You ask how I can help you?" the ashah said cocking her head to the side the way a confused puppy would. A flash of light engulfed the room as a silver shard slid through the air projected by arcane force. An ear curdling shriek rang out as the crow fell from the window, thrashing around for a moment before it fell still.

The ashah walked over and plucked the sorceress's watcher from the floor. The bird's plumage began to grey and fall away, its body shriveling up until it revealed itself to be nothing more than a long-dead corpse reanimated to ensure the serving girl remained under constant guard. The ashah tossed the dead watcher onto the counter, causing the girl to jump back startled.

"I can do a lot more than you think," the ashah said walking back over to the bar.

"How did you know what it was?" the girl asked in astonishment, looking down at the creature that had surveyed her every movement, prying on her every word. The girl's tone was much less restrained, but where there had been the paranoia of being under endless watch, there was now the terror of someone who was unsure of whether they would be punished or not.

"I know many things girl," the ashah said, pulling her hood back to reveal the arcane eyes she kept hidden beneath. She ignored the girl's stare, reaching over the counter to grab the nicest bottle the establishment seemed to have at its disposal. The green glass was of a familiar kind to her that brought back jovial summertime memories. It was the sweet taste of the land she'd come to know as home. A decadent selection procured from the wineries of Holden and expertly fermented back on the continent of Roehara.

"Now, I'll see what I can do to help with your situation, but first you'd do well to tell me what I want to know," the ashah said, peering into the girl's stormy eyes, her hand roaming the countertop in a hopeless attempt to find a clean mug. "Where can I find the sorceress?"

The girl's mouth hung open wordlessly, paralyzed by the lifeless bundle of feathers resting in front of her. She looked as if she expected it to rise at any moment. The ashah clenched her jaw, trying her best to keep the thought of her shortening time limit from upsetting her temper.

"I would like an answer now please, if you have one," The ashah urged before deciding to forego a cup entirely, biting down on the cork to pull it free.

"I don't know," the girl stammered. "They never tell me anything. They just come in to collect my blood and leave, though they aren't always gentle about it."

The ashah took a long gulp, relishing the feel of the cool liquid on her cracked lips as she weighed the girl's words. She was obviously telling the truth, that much she knew, but there was also the nagging itch of something else being withheld from her.

"What in dark hell do they need your blood for?" the ashah asked. When she realized the girl wasn't going to provide her with an answer, she continued her line of questioning. "Okay, so you don't know where the defiler is ... but you know someone who does, don't you?" The ashah's statement was more of an accusation than a question. The girl gave her answer away on her face before she could think to hide it. "Tell me where to find this person and I'll make sure you get somewhere safe."

The girl shook her head. "But my pa-"

"Girl, I could give a pig's arse about your father," the ashah cut her off flatly. "Listen, I've got a few tokes on me, I'll give you twenty silvers and a little extra to pay for the drink. Should be enough for you to get on the first boat out of this place. You can go anywhere you want and still have enough for a good start at a new life."

"No," the girl said, shaking her head in frustration. "You don't understand. Pa was with the resistance and their leader is the only one who knows where Helena's hideout is."

The ashah pulled the bottle away from her face, her forehead creasing as she tried to work out what the girl had just told her. "So, you're saying that if I want to find the sorceress, I'm going to have to have to find the leader of the resistance. To do that, I'm going to have to save your father first?" She looked down at the girl with squinted eyes before sliding the wine to the side with a sigh. "Sorry to tell you, but she likely had him killed the moment her watcher saw me walk in."

The girl's eyes widened for a second before her face fell into a deep sulk. "She couldn't have," there was an unnerving sadness carrying behind her words. "Even she can't get to where Pa is."

The ashah couldn't help but laugh at the thought of a fortress capable of keeping Helena the Defiler out. She'd seen castles fall to that woman's hands with not a man, woman, or child spared. The thought of there being somewhere in the city that she couldn't reach was nothing more than an absurd fantasy. "Well then, just tell me where this mystical fortress is, and I'll throw on my shining armour and go save your father for you."

The girl glowered at the woman's jest. The look on her face made it plain that the ashah had overstepped her boundaries. "He's dead."

The ashah's mouth opened and snapped shut again before she could comprehend what she'd just been told. "The fuck do you mean he's dead? How in dark hell am I supposed to speak to a man that's already buried?"

Her annoyance with the girl's antics was growing quickly. The ashah's warning incantation was signaling the approach of more heretics in the distance and her patience was already thinner than her timeframe.

"You don't get what I'm saying," the girl said. "If you want to find the sorceress, you'll need to find the resistance. Their a real secretive bunch. A small group working in the shadows. The only way for you to get close to them is to be with someone they already trust. After Pa died, the resistance leader took it upon himself to make sure I was taken care of as much as he could. Contact with him has been rare lately, but he's just about the only friend I've really got. Put simply, my Pa can't lead you to them, but I can."

The girl's eyes almost pleaded with her. As she mulled over the offer the ashah caught sight of the glyph tattooed behind the girl's ear. Just as with her own hand, it was a glyph of the ancient language, the God's Tongue, that marked her as one of Asruelian decent. An oddly rare thing to find so far from the homeland, and yet the ashah knew it was this that had brought her here. Like a badger's nose led it to honey, her blessing of the sight had shown her the path to this girl, and surely there was a reason for that.

The ashah's brow furrowed even further with deep lines of thought. "So, you want to tag along with me then? Why not just take the money and run? The heretics are cleared out and your watcher is gone. Doesn't look like you've got much left here anyway."

The girl clenched her fists tightly enough for her entire body to shake. "They took too much from me. She took everything I cared about. Made me a prisoner. I can't just walk away with nothing. I need something, anything, in return."

The ashah's breath stopped mid-inhale. She looked at the girl, only just now realizing how close in age they really were. She was a thin little thing, but she couldn't have been any younger than seventeen or eighteen years of age, even then she'd obviously been through more than most would endure in their lifetime.

The girl looked up at the woman, a mutual understanding exchanging between them. Within the girl, the ashah could see part of herself reflected to near perfection. That was all she needed to force a decision.

"Closure then? That's what you want," the ashah said, nodding as she turned towards the door. "Fine then, if that's the only way for me to reach the Defiler, then you'll be my companion for the time being," the ashah looked around, taking in every corner of the tavern's interior. "If we're going to be traveling together, then it's probably fitting that I at least know your name, right?"

"My name is Valency," the girl said. "Valency Rha Kaseth."

"A Rha? So, you bear an Asruelian blessing then?"

"Apparently," the girl answered. "I wasn't born on in the motherland, so I don't know much about my tribe. I don't even know what my blessing is supposed to be, but it's not something as obvious as your eyes are."

"That's a shame. Blessings are powerful things once they reveal themselves. Might have made you somewhat useful to me," the ashah said, pausing to trace a symbol in the dust that covered one of the taverns few tables. "Your name's too long though. I'll call you Val if that's fine with you."

"Pa used to call me Lency," the girl offered hesitantly.

"Well, I guess he thought your name was lengthy as well," the ashah quipped while unsheathing her sword. "Fine, Lency it is then."

"What about your name miss?" Lency asked with a faltering hint in her voice.

The ashah turned to face the girl, a wicked smile spreading her cheeks wide. "Oh, I've got many names. In Iss I'm known as Winter's Wisp, to the People of the Ash I'm the Grey Maiden, my Asruelian name is Sannishka Rha Glo, and the Faith designates me as ashah one-nine-nine-six."

Lency's mouth puckered in confusion. "So, what name do you prefer to be called by then?"

The ashah laughed, opening her palm to call forth her golden flames once more. "I prefer the name that my enemies call me by," She walked towards the door, just as the group of heretics on the other side came close enough for her to hear their boots stamping on the street outside. "Estra the Blade Witch."    

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