Chapter Text
Act I: Grace and Fire
Chapter 1: Ephyra (Shara)
“Word of advice: Never turn your back on lowlifes.”
It's something Shara had to learn as well, so she's glad she can share this advice with others, especially with such a suspicious looking girl. Not that Shara minds her appearance; in fact, she loves suspicious looking girls. She is already thrilled to learn her story, although she would never admit that.
“Is that how your negotiations usually go?” the girl asks.
Shara tries really hard not to flinch. The girl doesn't know that her question reminds Shara of Badis, the Thief King and the love of her life. When they first met, Shara was as naive as this girl is right now: She got into a fight and was stupid enough not to turn around, stupid enough to believe she already won. Badis backed her into a wall and disarmed her attacker quickly, while Shara just stared at him with big eyes and a thrumming heart.
After the attacker fled, Badis asked her the same question the girl had asked just now. “Is that how your negotiations usually go?”
Shara had replied: “You must be new here. They always go like this.”
And Badis had laughed and said: “Word of advice: Never turn your back on lowlifes.”
That was the beginning of their companionship. Of Shara's crush. Of everything that led her to this moment, meeting a girl that's so different from Badis, but also more familiar than Shara wants to admit.
She can't help but smile. “You must be new here. What do you want?”
She doesn't know what she expected, but the answer still surprises her: The girl searches for her.
~
“Treasure just needs to be valuable to the person giving it up.”
Before meeting Badis, Shara had also thought that the value of a treasure was measured in coins and rare artifacts, but Badis showed her quickly how wrong she was.
“You want to work with me?” he clarifies after Shara makes her request. To her surprise, he shrugs, as if Shara hadn't just given him a part of her heart. It beats faster when Badis responds: “Sure. But you have to give me something I return.”
Her heart plummets down again. “I – I don't have anything.”
Badis dismisses her words with a wave of his hand. “I'm not talking about money,” he clarifies. “But something that's important to you. Give it to me and we have a deal.”
She thinks about it. At first, nothing comes to mind, but then, her gaze wanders to her wrist, where her mother's bracelet glitters in the setting sun's light. She takes a deep breath and makes her decision.
“Here. It belonged to my mother.”
Badis takes it and Shara feels like she just betrayed the only person who ever cared about her. Badis doesn't seem to notice it, however.
“Perfect,” he says. “You're part of our group now.”
Shara raises an eyebrow. “Group?”
And then, she meets the people who will soon become her best friends.
~
“That's the mark of a criminal in Behezda.”
Shara's task is simple: “Scout Behezda and report everything noteworthy.” There isn't much she does alone anymore, not since she met her new friends, but this task is an exception.
What nobody told her, however: The small scar on her cheek, the result of a stupid accident, means something so much more in Behezda.
Shara notices the suspicious looks, but she doesn't think anything of it. She walks through the streets and acts like she belongs here, while she observes the people and they observe her. Finally, a young woman approaches her and Shara already opens her mouth to greet her, but the woman interrupts her before she can even say a single word.
“What are you doing here? Pack like you isn't welcome here!”
Outraged, Shara folds her arms and shouts back: “Pack like me? What do you mean? I'm just a visitor!”
“No, you are not.” The woman points at Shara's cheek, at her scar. “That's the mark of a criminal. Don't you know that, girl?”
Reflexively, Shara touches her cheek. “Oh. No.”
The woman raises her eyebrows. “You better come back after it heals, then.”
That's something Shara doesn't need to be told twice. She backs around and runs away.