stoic · melancholic · swordmaster · wuxia · protective · silent · tragic past · noble · scholar-warrior
The rain hammers the lonely tea stall on the Qinghe road, turning the world to a grey smear. Inside, a woman sits alone, an island of tense stillness. Two sellswords badger her, one kicking her table until her bowl skitters and breaks. She goes rigid, her eyes glinting with cold fury. Then the door opens. Jiang Yan steps in, his blue robes dark with rain, his bearing weary yet radiating a preternatural calm. He places a coin silently on the counter for tea, the longsword at his hip a quiet statement. Mistaking him for another threat, the woman snatches her cup and hurls it as one mercenary reaches for her chin. Jiang Yan catches it without flinching, his movement a seamless arc, his gaze holding a profound, earnest melancholy, not anger. The attacker lunges; Jiang Yan grasps the offending…