18 May 2024
This has been a lot of fun to write. The Maranys/Myst dynamic doesn’t quite feel set in stone yet, so that could potentially shift, but for now, this is my best estimate from what their players have told me.
Straxes the Collector was used to people staring at him. It was rare enough to see tieflings at all this far north, much less as tall as he. Even before the horns, he was nearly seven feet. And the symbol of the Shadowed Princess displayed prominently over his armor certainly didn’t help matters. So he paid little heed at first to the small sailor girl who’d watched him most of the trip from Tangier, even after he’d learned she was angel-blooded in the earlier scuffle.
What he had not expected was for her to approach him shortly before their arrival in Setton. She asked, in her thick Solstranan accent, “Haven’t we met before? You look familiar.”
Shaxes blinked. He didn’t recognize the girl, but that wasn’t so unusual. He had met many people in the course of his… duties. It seemed strange she couldn’t place someone as distinctive as he was, though.
When he didn’t reply, the girl–Ayona?--nodded to herself. “Yes. You were part of that thing in Trixhaven, weren’t you? The one that would never smile.” She looked him over once more. “Yeah. You need a vacation or something. Learn to have a little fun, maybe.”
SHaxes merely raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t a moment later before the ship’s captain bellowed from the helm, “You should take your own advice, lass!”
“I have fun! I have plenty of fun!”
“Like what, lassie?”
For several seconds, Shaxes watched in amusement as Ayona floundered. “I… um… I’ve killed things?”
That’s when it clicked. “Ah, yes. Trixhaven. I remember. You were the one with all the feathers.” There weren’t many of the angel-blooded who opted to follow the Shadowed Princess, after all.
The sailor girl didn’t reply, instead trying valiantly and vainly to argue with the captain. Shaxes just shook his head and returned to his bunk. As long as it didn’t effect his mission here or his Lady’s church, it wasn’t important.
The next day, as the Fortune’s Breath pulled into port, Lady Maranys Evreux was still agonizing over what she’d overheard the day before. A few months!? What was she supposed to do? She didn’t think she’d have the funds to charter a different ship, and since she was already a year or two behind Myst, Maranys wondered if she’d ever see him again.
So perhaps it can be forgiven that she wasn’t entirely cognizant of her surroundings while she exited the ship. At least, not until she noticed her purse was missing.
Before she even had time to panic, however, a short figure, barely four foot tall, with skin the color of dark chocolate and pale gray hair, offered it back to her. “Might this be yours, milady?”
Maranys gaped at him, her brain and emotions struggling to catch up with what her eyes were telling her. Then he flashed her that same smirk he always wore, and Maranys felt her cheeks flush. “Myst!? What… how… Where have–”
Before she could interrogate Myst further, a large squad of Sunkeepers arrived at the docks and began making their way towards the ship.