[!] The Golden City of Ves, circa 1715
The sky above was overcast when a mother and her young child approached the Golden City, downtrodden and exhausted from travel. Days had it been, since their last shared meal, weeks since they had been able to properly rest. The mother, frail and malnourished, exhaled with relief as her visage caught sight of the great gates that sat open before them. She grasped her child’s small hand tightly, increasing her pace as to bask in the safety the city had to offer.
She knew this is the last time she would see her child, eyes darting around as they had for over a year now, suspicious of every figure that moved. Citizens, noble and peasant alike, bustled all around them whilst guards milled about, monitoring the marketplace and city tavern respectively. The willowy woman pull her child, a small sandy-haired girl, off to the side, lowering herself to meet the child’s gaze. “Now, remember what Mama told you. Grey eyes. Remember the grey eyes, hm? You’ll know him when you see him.” The weakened mother would rub her daughter’s shoulders tenderly with careful hands, coughing briefly. “And...be a good girl...and make me proud, hm?” She’d swallow hard, tears welling in her face. “If not for me, for your papa. Or your grandfather Hans, be strong like him.”
The young girl would stare upward at her mother, the woman taking in the sight of her child a final time before turning away from her. Sighs accompanied her departure, the mother vanishing as quickly as she had entered into the city of Ves, disappearing among the crowds of people. Left alone, to now fend for herself and her own future, the young, emerald-eyed girl would bring her lips into a taught line, wondering what was to come. As she steadied her gaze and began to seek out the man she had been tasked with finding, her mind drifted to better days. The ghosts of her past, those of her father and grandfather. And ghosts older than even them, who she felt were keeping an eye on her as she ventured forth.