[center][h1][color=00ff66]Ilyana the Half-Human[/color][/h1][/center]
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[i]At last, this battle is all over![/i] Ilyana grins, bending down to retrieve her cutlass among the bone dust on the floor.

Pain unexpectedly ripped through her left side, making her gasp. There was a bleeding gash on her hip, just below her jerkin, deeper than the other nicks and cuts she'd gotten in battle, like the trickle of blood she could feel from the shallow cut on her cheek. Untying the bandana around her neck, she folds it into a pad and with her left hand, she presses the make-shift bandage on the wound, gritting her teeth as the salt from her sweat made it sting, then knelt down to grab her cutlass. She tried for a moment to slide her sword back into her sheath, but it was too difficult with her other hand trying to keep her from bleeding out.

"Typical," she mutters, resting the tip on the floor and using that to help her upright.

Glancing at the others, Ilyana scowls, the pain making her voice harsh. "Well, what are we standing around here, for? Choirs singing your praises? A medal? Some bit of parchment saying you're heroes?"

She turns, limping slightly towards the ramp she could see through her green eye leading up to the next level, each step sending a fresh wave of pain. "It doesn't help, believe me. Everyone forgets."

"I'm going back to my cart."

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[center][h1][color=ed1c24]Granny Siri[/color][/h1][/center]

Lead by the smoke, Granny scowls as she finally caught sight of weird metal tower lying on its side and fox-like Fumiko with an embarrassment of tails, then the seldom-seen Athulwin, for once out of his wagon.

"Well now," she mutters under her breath as she works her way closer, "Iffen 'is lordship sees 'is shadow, does that mean six more weeks of gruel?"

"Well, who's 'urt?" Siri demands loudly as she steps forward. "If an old woman likes meself 'as ta come all this way, I'll be sure someone's 'urting before I goes back!"

The fox-girl looked pale, a little wild in the eyes. And tall, she wasn't used to having to look up. Granny used her cane to point at the metal tower. "You were in that? Miracle you weren't killed. Or did that fall on you?" 

Hanging her cane in the crook of her elbow, Granny reachs into her basket and pulls out one of her cookies, then offers it to Fumiko. "You're in shock, dear. Best have a nibble and a sit down."