Kai'el Brat "Guardian of the Light"
On the banks of a wide, patient river there lies a town that seems born of poetry. At its heart rises a single great arching bridge, stone and timber entwined as if the river itself had dreamed it into being. The bridge is never bare. From end to end, lanterns dangle like jeweled blossoms, their soft glow mirrored in the waters below until it seems the river carries a thousand drifting stars.
By day, merchants crowd the bridge and the avenues that coil outward from it. Stalls brim with silks the color of sunrise, steaming baskets of dumplings, lacquered charms shaped like lotus petals. Fishermen call their morning hauls, children dart between legs with wooden toy boats, and shrine-maidens offer prayers to the river gods whose favor sustains them all.
At dusk, the town becomes something otherworldly. Lanterns are lit in unison, bobbing in the breeze, their reflections turning the water into a shifting tapestry of gold and crimson. Music drifts from teahouses; the pluck of shamisen mingles with the laughter of travelers. Lovers often pause at the crest of the bridge to make wishes, tossing coins wrapped in folded paper into the dark water.
And always, the lotus blossoms drift downstream from sacred ponds hidden further inland. They gather at the foot of the bridge like an offering, as though the river itself bows before the town.
One such person was Braze. He stood at the center of the bridge in the early morning, staring down at the rivers that swept below. It was hushed now. Only a few early-bird sellers were beginning to set up shop along the sparsely populated streets.