Starglow Basin And now to sing this lovely ballad,

Saya remains silent, her thoughts a wild, churning sea as she watches Soto. Soto, she repeats internally, the name settling into her mind with a mix of dread and fascination. He is terrifying, a creature touched by violence and ruthlessness. Yet, in that brutality, an allure draws her closer, an attraction to the rawness of his power and the vicious mystery that surrounds him.

At his beckoning gaze, she rises with careful elegance, each movement practiced to appear graceful and demure. Verapaz, she muses under her breath, the name of this new home slipping onto her tongue like a challenge. She considers what it means to stand here, under his scrutiny, in a place so foreign yet so familiar.

She imagines how he could twist the tension in the air, could pluck at the taut strings of her obedience and play a melody of aching submission and unyielding control, of power taken without remorse. An unthinking, uncaring violence—a role she could be swept into, if that’s what he demands.

She obeys. She takes in his words, the soft grunt of his name—Soto—that feels like a branding. Saya would follow him, paces behind, keeping in stride with his gait. She'd remain quiet, though ever vigilant.