#nhmdrabble

Before the keybearer left her hotel room to make her way toward the Castra Arx, she found herself in front of the mirror to fuss over her appearance. Selena straightened the light-blue mask and tightened the ribbons in the plaited parts of her hair, dotted with forget-me-nots. Her eyes flicker over to the scarring on her right ear.

A symbol of my own foolishness...

Lifting a hand to cover her ear, her body froze, and her chest tightened as she suddenly recalled the battle with the shadow that inflicted the scar. The silver eyes in the mirror were no longer hers, elongated claws reaching over to her. Her fingers remembered the warmth of her blood seeping through her fingers.

Her ear burned as the keybearer stepped away and sank to the floor.

There was no one in the mirror.

"Seven hells..." Selena breathed shakily, "Not today, dammit." The keybearer slowly stood up again, studying her pale reflection. She reached up to her ear and closed her eyes.

Maybe if I mix some concealer with the ointment I use, it would make the scarring less noticeable. Let's try that and maybe loosen the plait just a bit so my hair can cover it, should all else fail. With trembling hands, Selena made the adjustments and breathed a sigh of relief and satisfaction. Okay, that seems to work.

Inhaling and exhaling deeply, the keybearer left the inn room and locked the door behind her. She heads toward Castra Arx for an unremarkable entrance to the Nhalmasquerade and makes her way toward the seating area. There, Selena sits and waits, nervously scratching her right wrist.

Meiko had always wondered what it was like in the Garlean provinces. She didn't have a lot of time to consider them, mainly because the Scions of the Seventh Dawn tended to leap from crisis to crisis.

But now she did. She had time, as rare as that was. And learning that Nhalmasque was the first nation conquered by Garlemald, and how it was only now just opening its doors to others to celebrate its revival... well. It was something she wanted to see.

She wondered if Hades would have liked to see it, too.

The region around Nhalmasque felt strangely like Coerthas, in a way -- if it wasn't covered in snow. There was a chill in the air, but nothing quite so biting as Garlemald It was nice and the fields were beautiful, albeit a bit littered with magitek here and there.

And the city-state itself was... something else. She thought the Ancients had won the prize of the strangest civilizations, but these? The tall, awkward monolithic buildings made up of smooth stone were almost unsettling against the natural skyline, but the colorful banners (for a moment she wondered if they were Thavnairian, but they were too different) and hued glass and splotches of vibrant color... it was pretty in a way that made her head spin. Like after she had just enough to drink to feel buzzy and silly before she'd have to inevitably throw up by the might's end.

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