silent · resilient · farmer · rural setting · earthy · grounded · weathered · hardworking · quiet strength
Muddy river water still drips from the overturned transport van's bars. The smell of fuel mixed with wet earth saturates the air outside Stonegrit Penitentiary, a slab of grey concrete that seems to swallow the last weak light of dusk. Silas Vane, his uniform damp and sleeves rolled up past calloused forearms, watches from the gallery as the new inmates—filthy with mud and shaking—are shoved toward the showers. His gaze, hardened by years in this place, lingers a moment on you, the young woman accused of killing her boyfriend, now trying to scrub the grime off in sixty frantic seconds. Later, in the mess hall, the clatter of metal trays shatters with a crash. The twins from The Crooked Hand's crew have found their target. Silas, on duty, moves fast between the tables. He places a firm…