[center] [h3] Maralefe Copper [/h3] [/center]

It was nigh sundown by the hour young Maralefe reached the ruddy, pathetic excuse for a tavern. Aye, she resided in a slum in Asterwatch, but this unruly hamlet made her home region seem as a luxury palace. The closer to the establishment she drew, the more she desire to turn tail and venture back to the streets that she knew better than anything else in the world. However, she had a goal to reach, therefore she trudged on.

Presently, she stepped from the dark street and into the musty tavern. The foremost sense that reached the girl was the foul stench of poorly brewed ale, nearly bringing her to gag at the smell. The second was the sight of the mass of strangers that patronized the barkeep's pocket. She could not possibly entertain the thought that this mud hole commonly held this amount of drunken sods. 

The young girl adjusted her dark blue hood to rest upon her head and cover her bladed ears. She brushed a lock of brown hair and brushed it to the side, clearing her vision. As her blue eyes adjusted to the low light of the room, she surveyed the space for an empty seat. Her face drew into a scowl as she found no vacancy, the scar through her right eyebrow becoming far more visible. Whatever pathetic shred of optimism residing within her faded as she spotted an overturned bucket in the farthest corner of the tavern.

With her spirits slightly dampened, she crept over to the corner. As she moved, she could feel the eyes of several men land on her, fully aware that her figure betrayed her young age. As she turned to sit, she saw that there was only one scrawny man remaining that looked at her. She placed her satchel on the floor, drawing her coat from her shoulders, but leaving the hood of her blue tunic upon her head. Now with the absence of her coat, she gave the man a clear view of the flintlock strapped to her backside. No it did not fire, but Maralefe was the only present with such knowledge. To her satisfaction, the man averted his gaze.

She placed her rump on the overturned bucket and leaned against the wall. She was frankly unaware of any possible next move. She had come to this rancid place looking for her promised fortune, but she had foolishly come with no idea of where she should proceed next. Unfortunately for her, she was rather impatient, therefore as the minutes passed by, she came to feel as though she'd been waiting for an hour. She closed her eyes as the excruciating pain of waiting tore at her mind. 

She sighed as she felt the exhaustion of travel peeked at mind, so she forced herself to keep her eyes open. She spent nearly two weeks journeying from Asterwatch. The only relief she'd received was when she had snuck onto the back of a merchants caravan. Unfortunately for her, she'd only been on the caravan when one of them quite literally threw her off, leaving her to walk to the nearest village. This exhaustion reminded Maralefe that she was very ready to sleep, but she fought against it. Her fight did not last long, however, as her eyes slowly drifted shut and she fell to her exhaustion. 

Her slumber lasted to the moment when a hand touched her shoulder, jolting her awake. Per a instinctive motion, the girl ripped her knife from a leather strap on her thigh, but stopped herself from striking when she observed that the barkeep had woken her. The fat man placed a mug on the now-vacant stool a few feet from her, then lumbered back to his bar. 

Maralefe squinted at him. What was this bloke's ruse? He wouldn't just hand her a full pint of ale without her paying for it. Perhaps he expected her too. If he did, however, he would take his own jest, as she hadn't a single coin on her person. She also didn't drink any kind of intoxicating drink. She knew what it'd done to her father, so she made positive to stray from it's effects. 

She was about to turn from the pint, but the corner of her eye caught a sliver of white, trapped beneath the cup. She frowned, then picked up the mug, seeing a cloth underneath it. She almost shouted the profanities that passed through her head as she saw letters etched on the cloth next to a black rose pedal. She snatched the cloth and placed the mug back down, looking back at the barkeep, but he was preoccupied elsewhere.

She gritted her teeth and laid her head against the wall. Of course, after all this time, all this traveling, the factor that destroyed her chances of wealth was her damned inability to read. She felt frustrated tears peek at her eyelids. Tander would be fuming at her for taking a job so mysterious and stupid. She pound the back of her head against the wall a single time, trying to think of what to do. 

The girl looked around the room, dread filling her throat. She was about to give up and leave, but her eyes widened as she spotted a woman across the room, from whose mug fell a white cloth, just like hers. A black pedal also fell from the cloth and onto the table. She watched the woman stand, and Maralefe discreetly copied suit, sliding her jacket on and shouldering her satchel. She waited as the woman left, then quickly followed after. She stepped outside onto the muddy road and wasted until the woman was of ample distance away, then scurried after her. When the woman stopped near a stable, Maralefe ducked into the adjacent alley. She climbed upon a flimsy building, pulling her small body onto the thatch roof, carefully balancing herself so that she remained out of site, but could still see the woman. 

She sat and waited.