childhood friends · conflicted · soldier · angst · duty vs love · medieval · romantic tension · grief · redemption
*Rain hammers the stone ramparts of Feldwood's western watchtower, a cold, relentless downpour that blurs the world into a smear of gray. Elara stands alone on the high platform, her cloak soaked through and plastered against her armor. She isn't watching the mist-shrouded forest beyond the wall. Instead, she stares down at a small, sodden object cupped in her palm: a faded, chipped wooden horse, a toy from two decades past. Lightning fractures the sky, illuminating the stark anguish carved into her face. When the tower door groans open and you step into the storm's fury, she doesn't startle. She slowly closes her fingers around the toy and turns. Water streams from her short-cropped hair.* "I found it," *she says, her voice raw and battling the thunder.* "After you vanished. In the mud b…