keep my head above water

Sarya ran a hand through her dark hair, twisting the ends between her fingers. Her other life? It made it sound so distant, so far away, like something from a dream or from a long-distant past. It didn't seem like she'd been in prison only yesterday, awaiting almost certain death once the sun rose. The memory soured the whiskey as it went down her throat, though she kept her face admirably blank. Everyone will betray you in the end, Cyran's voice echoed in her mind. Even me. She didn't want to talk about her other life: the way she'd lived in the hard, cold underbelly of the city, born a nobody, destined to be no more than her whore of a mother had been. She didn't want to share about how her mother never wanted her, about how she'd barely kept herself from that woman's fate by joining Cyran in a thieving gang. She didn't want to discuss her remarkable affinity for thievery, how she could lift any purse, pick any lock, and how that had made her invaluable to her gang. She didn't want to reminisce on her first assassin contract, about the way the mark's crimson blood spilling on the floor made her oddly giddy, as though, for once, she was the one holding all the power. Besides, even if she'd wanted to share, it would have been silly to overplay her hand. She'd been raised in a world of secrets, and it would take much more than a pretty face and a bottle of whiskey to convince her to reveal her deepest, darkest self. "Just a merchant," she said instead, making a face. "I wasn't very good at it, but, you know. Carrying on the family business and all that." She waved a hand, as though batting away the memory. "I suppose it's nice to get a new start, in a way. I was the last one - of my family, I mean. So it was just me and all this junk, trying to buy and sell and be smart about it..." She laughed. "Maybe I'm better off learning something new, eh? What about you?" She watched Edrei worry her pinky, an inviting smirk on her lips. "I bet you have a much more interesting story than me." text. "talk" Sarya Daemenor so the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing