[center][h2][color=7bcdc8]Shannuk[/color][/h2][/center]

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	Rila’s words, plainly spoken stirred the slumbering figure stretched out on his cot on the other side of the tiny cell, a thin grey blanket draped over his knees. One grey eye popped open with a sudden intensity and its owner Shannuk groaned aloud, a sweaty palm clasping to his forehead. Clenching his eyes back shut the young man waited in momentary agony, his head throbbing with a crippling migraine. While he waited for his body to ease the pain naturally Shannuk reminisced on the acquisition of the headache, a combination of dehydration and a ringing blow from the guards who’d escorted him to his new home the night before. 

	He recalled the moment quite well, the guard in his crimson brown uniform marching stoically behind Shannuk, young and filled with youthful pride, no doubt dreaming of an illustrious military career. Winning prestige and honor for his family. Shannuk knew better. The boy marched with a duck-footed gait, and his squashy face was creased into an eternal look of cluelessness. He lumbered along as if it took imense concentration to shift his bulk one step at a time. “I wouldn’t keep my goals lofty,” he told the guard patting him on the shoulder in a friendly way. [color=7bcdc8]“There are those of us born with wits, and those born with brawn, and even some gifted in brawn and brain. Then there are those infelicitous few who are born like you.” [/color]

	“Yeah, that’s right.” The young guard beamed with pride, cycling through a ring of cast-iron keys. Everything seemed to be made of iron. The floors, the walls, the windows, even the benches and tables all fashioned from molded iron. A suitable replacement to ice Shannuk thought, but cold and dreary, and uncomfortable. 

	[color=7bcdc8]“Indeed, but ahoy matey I see great prospects in your future. A competent fellow can surely improve their lot within a prison, guarding petty thieves while every other fire bender wins glory and honor all across the known world. In fact, I am so bold as to presume you might make janitor before you turn fifty, as long as you concentrate on continuing to inhale and then exhale repeatedly.” 
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	At first the guard grinned, but then his face darkened and he swung his meaty fist catching Shannuk upside the head with surprising strength and accuracy. Sending the stunned pirate tumbling through the recently opened cell door to join his new cellmate. 

	Grimacing at the memory Shannuk sat up, rubbing at his temple where a large lump festered. [color=7bcdc8]“Will we now?”[/color] He asked, genuinely curious in regards to Rila's comment. He was very new here, a rookie amongst seasoned inmates, finding the lay of the waters would be wise before straying to other important matters, like escape. Learning the schedule was the first step in the realization of that goal, and his cellmate would surely prove useful in that regard. [color=7bcdc8]“Tell, how is it that we get this fresh air? Will they take us out into a yard of some sort, all at once, or one at a time?"[/color]