<div class="floatleft">(http://i.imgur.com/ee7XrNa.png)</div><br/>The coastal city of Avondale had been Shalyn's home for as long as she can remember. She knew the city streets and the lands immediately surrounding the walls as well as she knew her own body. For all twenty-four years of her life, Shay had been in the care of the Society of the Red Lady. For the past eight years she had been a full-fledged acolyte of the Red Lady, permitted to practice the lessons she had been raised on: to indulge and revel in all pleasures of the flesh. Shay's sixteenth name day had fallen on a Feast week, one of the Society's most sacred and anticipated holy weeks. A celebration of all things pleasurable, Feasts were a week long orgy of sex catered with all the finest foods and wines. Shay allowed her first time to be taken by the head of their congregation, Madam Scarlet, a legend among the Red Lady's most devote dedicants. Not to mention the one concealing a hefty surprise beneath her skirt. Shay remembered her first feast with the utmost fondness. In fact, every Feast week was memorable, for one reason or another. It was on the eve following a Feast week, that Shay would set herself off on her pilgrimage. The last week had been her way of saying goodbye to all she knew.<br/><br/>At the city gates, Shalyn stood, with a small gathering of her closest friends. She didn't want to make her departure a big deal, even though she was a favorite among the dedicants for those visiting their 'place of worship'. Shalyn had clad herself in traditional pilgrimage attire: armor that would easily been mistaken as a stylized corset--because for all practical purposes it may have been just that. The metal and thin leather hugged her tightly, leaving little to imagination as it covered only her crotch, breasts, and shoulders. The rest was laid bare. The greaves she wore offered the most protection, and that was for her legs, and practically served as glorified stockings that encouraged onlookers to raise their eyes further up and up along her body. On her back was a greatsword, balanced for her specific offering of strength. Shalyn didn't think she would ever get to swing it during her journey--there were more delightful ways to diffuse tense situations.<br/><br/>Madam Scarlet asked for her time first. "My sweet Shay," she said, cupping the young woman's cheeks. "Hardly seems a day has past since you allow me to take you in front of the whole congregation." Shalyn couldn't help but laugh at that--she knew it was a fond Feast week memory for the Madam too. "Do you still intend to carry out that plan you spoke to me of?"<br/><br/>Shalyn nodded. "I don't intend on returning until I see that site restored, and those treasures retrieved."<br/><br/>The Madam smiled, pride swelling within her. Though Shay suspected that wasn't the only thing that was swelling at the moment. "Then let it be so. If you accomplish what you say you will...you will be granted a sainthood by the faith, that much I can be sure of. ...thank you for your time last night, dear. I will treasure the memory dearly."<br/><br/>Scarlet withdrew then, after giving Shalyn a tight hug. Shay spent the next few moments bidding farewell to her friends. Some were part of the faith long before she had arrived as a babe on their door steps, others she had grown up along side. They would have their own pilgrimages soon. Though Shay suspected they wouldn't strive to the heights she was hoping to reach.<br/><br/>With blessings emboldening her steps, the wind brushing against her bare skin, and fond memories filling her head, Shay stepped beyond the city gates and took the first steps of her pilgrimage. Her first stop: Herondale, to the west.