Clarissa removed her helm, placing it on the table. She grabbed her waterskin and opened it, draining the last drops of water into her mouth. The day was hot and it was unbearably so. Within the estate of House Tosen she could see that they were not all that much better off than House Aseryo. The gardens were a mass of browning and wilting flowers. A rather sullen and gloomy look appeared in everyone's eyes, whether they belonged to Aseryo or Tosen. They had the same worrisome expression.

Hunger. Starvation would come around soon if things did not turn around. Though she did not quite understand how or why the rain did not come to water the earth, it was the same as the north when the winds of winter did not cease to relent and let Spring come around. The results were both the same: It began with a lack of food, then desperation, and ultimately an escalation to war. Hunger, the dreadful companion, is planning on visiting again.

She put the waterskin away and gazed absentmindedly at the landscape, her hand on the hilt of her sheathed sword. Today was a meeting between the two rival Houses and as an outsider, she had no real business being inside the Tosen house so she stayed behind outside with a few other Aseryo guards. The guards of House Tosen, still as they were, kept a watchful eye on her and it was unlikely they would try to stir any trouble.

There were the rumors. Talks of demonic beings far different from any other living thing was spreading like wildfire through the land but almost always these report were away from major population center. Some even blamed the drought on these new mysterious beings.

Then again, they were rumors. Having never seen one herself she wondered how true these stories were. Not even tales her grandfather told her mentioned anything that resembled them. And what would happen if she did face one? To fight the unknown, the very thought of it caused the hair on her neck to stand up.

She began to hum to herself.