<div align="center"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><span class="bbc_u"><em>Chapter 1 - A Face in the Snow</em></span></span></div><br/><br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/5/56/Body-lying-in-the-snow-255996.png)</div><hr/><strong>Name:</strong>Lone Figure<br/><strong>Professions:</strong>Bump in the road<br/><hr/><em>Vilmon 2nd, Martus - Early in the Night</em><br/><br/>Autumn in Northern Khador was fleeting.  It was late Martus and the snow marched quickly down the Shard spires towards the valley below and the Rimeshaws beyond.  Larch trees flashed brilliant golds among the evergreens that encircled Nynsk during the day and appeared as pale skeletons in the light of Calder at night. The temperature was already dropping to freezing at night and barely thawing during the day.  Soon the river Tychia which fed the much larger Neven would freeze and the Shard passes filled with snow.  Shipments would slow and the foundry and mill would easy there production schedules, but industry in Khador never really stopped.  The Empire required much of its citizens and much was given for the people loved Empress Ayn Vanar XI dearly.  She had restored much of Khador’s former glory and her people’s pride.<br/><br/>Immoren’s largest moon cast its silvery light through the sparse larch and spruce that surrounded the small town of Nynsk, the snow had yet to reach the valley floor, but moonlight glistened off of frost rimed trees and shrubs lining the road and paths that lead towards town.   Among the glittering splendor of Khadoran winter a shadow slowly stumbled into the light.  Short, ragged breath plumed into the frigid night air in tiny bursts, yet the figure made little sound and left hardly a mark as it went, drawn by the lights and sounds of the nearby town.  The dark silhouette staggered to a halt in the center of the road and with a sudden shutter fell to the ground still.<br/><br/>To any that might be approaching in the night the figure in the road would look like nothing more than a log or maybe a wounded animal until approached.  If investigated it would appear to be an adolescent girl dressed in light furs and leather, much too light of clothing to be out in a cold such as this.  Her body is pale, almost white and looks almost frozen against the slick cobblestone road leading to town.  A strange tattoo decorates her delicate and alien features.<br/><br/><br/><div align="center">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/5/5f/Hansel_bryan.jpg)</div>