Yanagi

Yanagi’s eyes hold the unwavering focus of a chimp who has stared down storms, but their hands are most comfortable holding a stick with a perfectly toasted marshmallow. For years, they wandered with only a batch of bamboo on their back, their gaze fixed on some distant, self-imposed goal that solitude had sharpened to a fine point. Then they stumbled upon the burgeoning community in Waterfall City, where Shokei-moji was gathering those the empire had cast aside. Instead of being met with suspicion, they were handed a bowl of ramen. Yanagi stayed. The intense focus never left, but it found a new purpose: mastering the precise distance from the flames to achieve the perfect golden crust. These days, they are a storyteller, their tales punctuated by the quiet crackle of a shared campfire.