Takaharu

Takaharu knew a hundred ways to make a chimp disappear, yet they came to The Heart of the Forest to learn how to exist. They arrived not as a wanderer, but as prey, collapsing at the edge of the amber-leaved clearing with an assassin’s bolt in their shoulder. Their pursuers, agents of the same unknown faction that had trained them, were only a few miles behind. The locals offered stew before they offered questions, their simple kindness a concept Takaharu had only read about in mission briefings. After weeks of recovery, they sought out Aki, not for sanctuary, but for an answer. They asked how to un-learn a life of violence. Aki gave no answer, only a seed to plant. The mask remains, a necessary shield against the ghosts of their past who still hunt the shadows.