Very nice.

At the end of the line of people who had gathered last minute to say farewell to her, she found Djali. She might have loved him in another life where they could be so frivolous.
He had always made her smile with his pranks in the marketplace,Kalara secretly delighting in the antics she was never brave enough to partake in. They comforted each other when they could, sneaking away into the alleys at noontime when none were the wiser. They always knew life could change at any minute with the drop of a coin on someone’s contract.
Kalara gripped Djali’s hand the longest, the both of them ignoring the warning of the guards. They had promised no tears, knowing for years now that they would have to say goodbye at any moment. To their credit, there were none.
“Find me in the next life, Kallie. Let’s be rich then, eh?” He was the only one who ever called her that and she hated it.Kalara would never forget his final words to her and the pained smile that came with them.
Then, the wagon continued on its slow, inexorable path out of the city.Kalara watched their figures standing along the street as long as she could till they were lost in the blur of buildings and pedestrians. She never felt so alone in the world as she did then, even crammed in the barely shaded transport with so many other souls. No more daydreams came on that long and mournful journey ever northwards towards Chiaroscuro.
Unlike Sana, who still kept to the fashions of the Realm, Cynis Varia could almost pass as a native. He’d adopted Southern traveling clothes of loose layers and had already tanned thoroughly from the oppressive sun of Gem.
He kept his beard immaculately trimmed, his shoulder-length auburn hair well-groomed and partially pulled back from his face in a top knot in the Northern style. He was a fine-looking middle-aged man, despite having a bit of a pot belly from his love of wine and fine foods. The age difference between he and Sana hinted that they were most likely an arranged marriage.
Or at least Kalara could never imagine anyone marrying her out of love.
- From the revised draft of The Uncrucified.
One of the men stepped out in front. He wore a strange robe dyed half black on one side and half dark red on the other, the ensemble split down the middle as if made from two different robes.
The design of a snake dyed into the cloth curled from his shoulder downward across both red and black uniting each hemisphere with its coils. The snake’s body encircled the High Realm symbol for serenity. He almost looked like a salesman, if not for the strange eyes that seemed the reverse of his clothing, one dark eye on the red side and one light blue eye on the black side. White hair spiked wildly behind his head and he smiled to them with perfect white teeth.Kalara noted his Realm accent as he addressed her mistress.
“Good day!Cynis Sana, I presume?” Sana barely had time to respond as he took one of her hands and bowed in a gentlemanly fashion, planting a kiss on her delicate hand. “Such a lovely lady of the Realm so far from home!”
Sana only appeared off guard a few moments before she briskly responded. “Who might you be? You are quite rude, sir!” She tried to withdraw her hand but found it held in his against her will. Sana’s eyes darted to his in fear. “Release me or I’ll call the guards!” Sana snapped.
Kalara looked around. The city guards were nowhere within earshot on this particular street.
Sana’s offended reaction seemed to amuse the ruffian greatly. He chuckled to himself and stared at her with his disturbing mismatched eyes. When he finally released her hand, he’d left a silken handkerchief crumpled in her palm.
“Give your husband my regards and tell him the Serene Viper wishes him well.” At that, he made a clicking noise with his tongue and the three men casually continued on their way.
Kalara watched them as they left, her past experience as a slave of gambling men giving her an inkling of what had just occurred. Debt collectors were not subtle men.
Shaken, Sana fearfully unfurled the familiar bit of cloth, realizing it was her husband’s.
It was stained with blood, several of Varia’s rings enclosed inside!
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