if I could burn this town

Anahita

Happy to keep moving, Ana took the offered hand, her touch turned light and stiff. As they descended down and away from the open square, she let Danta fill the silence as she reasoned with herself:
These were just lingering visions from her stone-sleep. The slick cobblestones beneath her feet, the recognizable fragrance of a living town, the skin of the person leading her onward... they we real, an anchor to keep the murmuring paranoia in check.

Clearly, the Hollowed Grounds, however eerily named, were not a lifelike hallway into a twisted afterlife she was about to be shoved into by a devilishly charming man, straight through the scarlet-lit doors of a brothel.

Her arm slipped from Danta's and she looked him squarely in the eye, incredulous. There was humor in the ancient's voice when she spoke, for wouldn't it be funny if she was led straight from one set of chains to the next. "And is there... expectation for me to work for room and liquor?", she asked, crossing her arms and licking her lips while they spread into a predatory smirk. "You should know, this is a good idea only if you like your patrons devoured."