Ash twiddled her slightly pointy half-elven ears. A habit she kept from when she lived. Elves were a little rare in Parycia, so an undead half-elf was a sight to see.<br/><br/>It's true that there weren't many female guards, but mainly because they didn't really considering the art of combat a career choice. Even Ash had trouble when she was alive. Weaker upper-body strength (compensated by lots of training), and a need to train more simply to keep up with the men. She was kind of glad she was about as tall as the average guy, but the average guy didn't cramp once a month.<br/><br/>Undeath was both a curse and a blessing. Sure, there were the new undead instincts like hunger that created a dampener on her sanity every time she went without food. But she loved the increased strength she received.<br/><br/>Ash took in a deep breath. New undead occasionally suffered from 'Post-Living Habits', a polite term referring to unnecessary habits that hung on even after the transition from life to undeath. Ash often acted like she needed to breathe.<br/><br/>"I'm a local, Your Highness. I came from the village of Timurlane. I'm both undead and half-elf, as you can see." She pointed the slightly pointy end of her ear to Annalise for a moment.<br/><br/>The princess wouldn't remember the incident, anyway. She was mostly unconscious in Hilden, and whatever she remembered would probably be scrubbed out of her mind.<br/><br/>"I was at Hilden, Your Highness. I am not sure if you remember, but I did my best to save you. They hired me based on that."<br/><br/>Ash's mind when back to the time.<br/><br/>It was almost just as dark that day. The only thing she recalled was a lot of slashing. Bodies fell around her, her claws stained with the blood of almost a dozen. She was squatting, and injured. Her guts were on the floor, and she was pretty sure a lung was lying in a corner.<br/><br/>Injured ghouls were hungry ghouls.<br/><br/>But Ash held herself at bay. She even feared opening her mouth, in case it led to a feeding frenzy. The dead were fair game, but there was an unconscious princess beside her.<br/><br/>The most clear thing she recalled was a man. A young man in shining armour. He bent down, and patted her on the head.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"You protected the princess, didn't you?"</span><br/><br/>Ash recalled nodding.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">"I'll take over from here. Don't suppress your instincts like that, it's not healthy."</span>With a genial smile, the man laughed.<span style="font-style: italic">"Eat in moderation."</span><br/><br/>The next thing she recalled was letting loose her claws and teeth on the corpse of a dead assassin. Even the bones were gone when she finally snapped out of her feeding frenzy.