The girl's face was superimposed over a faceless mannequin's head beyond the glass. She pressed her hands against a shop's display window, fogging it with her breath, looking for something to her taste. The suit on the mannequin was exactly that: navy blue jacket and pants, black satin shoes, white shirt, blue bowtie. A card with the price was displayed below: 10 crowns.

A chime announced her entrance to the store. The saleswoman was in her fifties or sixties, a woman with greying hair done in a back-combed hairdo, dressed in an impeccable black suit, dress, and pattered floral shirt. She was helping another client with the fitting of some clothes. The saleswoman noticed the girl from the corner of her eye and smiled, but her smile turned into a horrified look when she saw the young woman, barefoot and dressed only in a slashed, bloody nightgown.

"My goodness, what happened to you, love?", she asked the young woman.

"You have a nice navy blue suit in the window", the young woman said, absentmindedly, looking around. "Ten crown, is it?". She hid a fist behind her back, clenching it. "How far are you willing to lower the price?"

"That's not how we--"

"It's alright", the other client, who turned around and revealed himself to be Han, interrupted the saleswoman. "I'll buy the lady the suit. And I'll take the clothes you gave me, but I'll keep the cloak. The rest, take whatever fabric you can from them, no need to deduct from the cost"

"What's the catch?", the young woman asked. "There's nothing more expensive than free"

"No catch. Just had a disappointing day, so I'm being a good samaritan to change my luck"

"My! Aren't you the gentleman!", the young woman remarked, unclenching her fist, smiling, and extending her hand. "Syndell"

"Han", he said, cracking a smile, shaking her hand, then looking at her bloodied nightgown. "I'd hate to see the other woman"

Han seemed quite taken aback by Syndell and the compliment she gave him earlier, even if she threw it a little tongue-in-cheek. He was dressed in a white shirt with a large collar, a black vest with grey floral patterns, black pants, leather arm bracers, and knee-high leather boots. He grabbed his cloak from the counter and swung it around, flailing it, then secured it around his neck with a silver pin. The clothes he discarded were not too worn down, but even if fabric was expensive, in high demand, and constantly reused, he was constantly changing outfits to avoid being recognized.

The saleswoman took a few measurements of Syndell's body size with a measuring tape to ensure the outfit displayed in the window will fit, or if it required adjustments. Surprisingly, it was a perfect match, as if it was made for her. The saleswoman removed each item from the mannequin, then folded it neatly and handed it to Syndell, pointing her to a cabin where she could change.

Her nightgown was the only thing that landed on the curtain bar.

"Oh...", the saleswoman said, rushing to the underwear section and picking something for Syndell, while Han started whistling, a little nervous.

A minute later, Syndell stepped out, looking like one of the most stunning women in Arcadia. Leaning on the counter, Han looked impressed, realizing that the ten crown was money well spent.

"It looks wonderful, love!", the saleswoman said, holding the nightgown and running her finger through the cut. "This is fine material, too. Shame about the cut and the stain... Well, the good parts can become handkerchiefs. I'll give you one crown for it"

"Nah, you can have it for free", she said, smirking. "I'm trying to change my luck, too"

Just at that moment, when both of them were focused on the nightgown, a chime caught their attention, and they turned around: Han was gone.

"Hey! That jerk didn't pay anything!", the saleswoman said.

"Well... That sucks", Syndell dryly stated.

"What do you mean, sucks? Take the clothes off and get your rag back!"

Hearing that, Syndell sighed, then used her thumb to flick the ring on her finger to move the moon face up. Her pupils contracted and her blood started pumping faster and hotter through her veins. Her muscles tensed; she felt a tingling in her fingertips as if her skin was ready to burst open, unable to contain her body. The saleswoman turned around.

"Beggers these days, getting bolder and bolder. You're all just scum!", the woman complained, making Syndell clench her teeth while grinning.

Syndell suddenly lunged forward, firmly grabbed the woman's head between her hands, and in a swift move and with an unnerving crunch sound, she twisted her head a full one-eighty degrees. Syndell was looking at her own reflection in the woman's eyes. The woman's face was locked into a look of shock, eyes wide open, mouth gaping, with blood starting to pour out. Her neck looked like a twisted leather belt.

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"You look me in the eye when you say those things", Syndell softly declared, letting go of the saleswoman's head and allowing the body to collapse on the floor, in an unnatural position.

She twisted the ring back to the sun side, and her body relaxed. Another chime announced her departure from the store.

*

The church at the top of the slope was a magnificent stone structure, tall and narrow, like most buildings in town. A bell tower stood high and mighty, with a gold sun on top; two other towers, smaller, flanked it, themselves surrounded by four gargoyles each. The walls of the church were covered in green stone moss and cracks, showing their age. A pair of tall wooden entrance doors stood defiantly in front of Syndell. She cracked her neck and knuckles, twisted the ring, then pushed them open with a long creak.

Her shadow stretched long and thin across the aisle, all the way to the lectern in the front. On the left and right, there were rows upon rows of empty pews. The first floor consisted of choir galleries, and at the far end, stretching to the roof, a large pipe organ was installed, its golden tubes catching every speck of light.

The entrance doors slowly closed behind her, and a moodier, dimmer light replaced the one from outside; hundreds of multicolored shards of light came in through the stained glass windows, making the cold interior appear cozy and dreamlike. The sounds of the port became muffled by the doors, appearing distant and eerie. Air was thick and full of floating specks of dust, best visible where diagonal blades of light sliced through the room.

She slowly sat down in one of the front pews, but the quietness inside made every move she made echo loudly. Syndell looked up, mesmerized by the paintings on the ceiling: A sun and a moon, placed inside a yin-yang diagram full of golden detail and inscriptions. Suddenly, Han appeared in one of the galleries, carrying a gold-plated book. He froze the moment he locked eyes with Syndell.

"That was quite a stunt you pulled back there", she said, her voice echoing all the way to the gallery.

"Sorry I left you like that after I said I'll pay for your clothes", Han said with a smile.

Syndell cracked a smirk and shifted her gaze to the lectern in the front. She discretely flipped the ring back to the sun side up, letting out a quiet exhale.

"Stealing from a church... I can see why your luck is the way it is", she continued.

"Haha, yeah...". A beat. "I lied back there. I'm not the superstitious type if I'm being honest. I believe one has to make his own destiny"

"Oh?"

"What, you believe in all that fairy-tale nonsense? The boogeyman that has to scare you into being good? Nah...". He took a good look at the book. "We are who we are, good and bad. My old man used to say: give a guy power and he'll show you what he would've done all along"

"Sounds like a wise man"

"He was, yeah..."

Syndell got up, shoving her hands in her suit jacket pockets.

"You're a wanted man, I can tell both by the way you carry yourself and from the fact you keep your cloak on all the time", she continued.

Han reached slowly to his back, where he had a dagger holstered.

"I bet there's a reward for turning you in"

"There's a reward for not doing it, too", he said. "It's called being alive"

Syndell scoffed and shook her head, smiling ear to ear.

"You're something else, I'll give you that!", she said, amused. "Mind if I stick around you for some time?"

"Yes. I'm riding solo, that's the only way I stay alive. Besides, I don't chain myself to no broad, no offense"

"None taken. I just figured I can entertain myself for some time, and you could provide that entertainment, seeing how you owe me for the clothes on your back and all"

Han hung his head and sighed, exasperated.

"I'm leaving town with some smugglers tonight, but I never told them I'll bring company"

"You never told them you'll bring a sacred possession of this town, neither, otherwise they would've never let you onboard". A pause. "How's this: we ride together to the capital and I'll lead you to something worth one thousand times the book you're holding right now"

"What's the catch?", he asked. "There's nothing more expensive than free"

Syndell smirked.

"Like I said... entertainment"

Han's cockiness slowly faded away as he looked into Syndell's eyes, trying to figure her out.

"I'm a gambler at heart", he finally said. "I'll toss one crown in the air. Heads, I'll let you tag along. Tails... you piss off"

"Sounds fair"

Han strapped the book at his back, then took one of the ten crown he had on him and flipped it. The coin raised in the air, glistening with each turn when the angle was just right. Reaching the highest point of its journey, it stood in place for two spins, then started descending. Finally, it landed on the back of his hand, the other hand slamming over it. Han wanted to trick the result, to make it show tails no matter what, but he felt intrigued by the proposal, as well. As he said, he was a gambler at heart, and Syndell was his true gamble. He glanced at the true result: tails.

"You're a lucky one", he told her. "Heads. I guess your luck truly is better than mine"

"I thought you said--"

"Be at dock seven at midnight. I won't wait more than five minutes"

Syndell gave him a two-finger military salute, then leaded for the exit. Han watched her all the way to the moment the doors slammed shut.