The little girl woke up to the overpowering smell of medicine She was wrapped tightly in bandages and blankets. She did not remember anything after the men started to beat her, but the evidence of violence was still clearly present on her body. Filled with bruises and aching bones, she shivered. Not from the cold, but from pain, perhaps even fear. The only sound in the room was a monotonous and constant grinding. Nervously, she opened her eyes, the whole was only dimly lit by the morning sun peeking through the open window. Most of the room was black as night, what little light did shine through shone a ghost of a man. Thin and pale with large bags under his eyes, he crushed medicine in a mortar and pestle, turning it into paste. However, despite this action, his eyes were unfocused and his actions so robotic it was hard to guess if he was truly human. Just seeing the man made the girl want to scream, but she swallowed it down, afraid to disturb the man. The girl's mind was filled with chaos, was she sold? Her eyebrows furrowed, that didn't make sense... Why beat her then try to sell her? She had seen plenty of brothels and knew they preferred the girls they bought to be as unblemished as possible. Her gaze flickered over to the door, she closed her eyes and bit her lip. She slowly crawled out of the bed and started to tiptoe towards the door, keeping her gaze firmly plastered on the man in the corner, trying to see if he would take any action.

Just as she reached the door and hope once again filled her chest, the man spoke. His voice haggard and soft, like a demon trying to coax a child,

"Where are you going?" The girl felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on her, she got goosebumps, but she wasn't a fool. She quickly turned towards him and bowed,

"This little servant just wanted to collect some water for master, seeing you so focused, this little servant didn't want to disturb you." The man chuckled, but never stopped grinding the medicine.

"If you see that I'm working so hard, then don't waste my effort. I'm making a new poultice for you, don't run around and get hurt again brat." Hearing this, the girl clenched her fists and asked,

"Master, may this servant know what you want with her?" Ignoring her, the man, without glancing up, asked,

"Do you have a name?" The girl furrowed her brows and almost whispered,

"Hazel Bizalom." For the first time, the man put down his mortar and pestle and looked up to her. Then he cocked his head to the side and asked uncertainly,

"Do you know Liam Bizalom?" The fear, the pain, and the hatred that Hazel had been carrying vanished all at once, her eyes light up and her heart jumped with joy, she screamed with any concern,

"That's my brother!" There was a fire and a pride in her eyes. The ghastly man smiled and shook his head, he whispered under his breath,

"What a small world." Not caring for her earlier fear, Hazel rushed up to the man and asked desperately, holding back the tears in her eyes,

"Do you know where he is?" The man raised his eyebrows and asked,

"You don't know?" Hearing this question, the girl's heart was filled with grievance, she exclaimed,

"No! He was stolen from me!" The man chuckled and shook his head,

"I wouldn't say that too often, Rotham likes to keep its reputation pristine." Hearing the word, 'Rotham', the girl grew excited again, she grabbed the man's hand and asked,

"Where is Rotham? Where is my brother? Can you take me there?" Her face was filled with joy, but in contrast, the man's face became sad and started to be filled with helplessness, he sighed,

"Even if you get to the city, there's no way they would let you in. They are very strict about who enters and exits." The girl trembled. She was so close! So close! She had suffered so much just to see him, and now she was told she would not even be allowed into the city. She was enraged, but she was mostly filled with despair. Knowing that she was blocked at the doors of cities with much less prestige, it only made sense, regardless she held a small hope in her heart that Rotham would be different, and it was just snuffed out. She collapsed onto the floor and whispered, perhaps to the void,

"Is there no way for me to see him again?" Feeling everything she worked for was worthless, she started to despair. Looking at the ground, she started to cry. She couldn't hold back her tears, no matter how hard she tried. However, unbeknownst to her, the man was smiling like a predator just about to catch its prey. He relaxed his face and said,

"Well... He does leave the city every now and then, but there's no telling where he'll go..." He sighed and said,

"I'll tell you what, I owe Liam a favor, since you want to see him so badly, you can stay with me until he meets up with me." Her teary eyed face shot back up and she asked hoarsely some light filling her eyes once again,

"He'll meet up with you?" The man nodded,

"Yeah, but there's no telling when he'll show up. It could be a couple of months, to a couple of years." Hazel shot up and hugged him, tightly grasping this last thread of hope. She didn't care if he said ten years, let alone two. As long as there was a chance. This man was her last hope. Never for a moment did she think he was trying to trick her. If he wanted to hurt Liam using her, why not just forcefully capture her?

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" The man uncomfortably pat her back twice and laid her in the bed. As he sat back down, he looked over to her and said,

"Alright alright calm down, you need to get better quickly, I have a lot of traveling to do." The girl nodded her head and smiled, cleverly lying down and relaxing. Her imagination started to run wild, imaging the scene of her reuniting with her brother, but her happy thoughts didn't last long. A heavy knock was heard at the door, a rough voice shouted,

"This inn is under Big Jimmy's protection! No one is allowed to stay for free, pay up now!"