Makijirou

During their years as a silent courier for the Teikodian Empire, Makijirou learned that light was a liability. They moved through shadowed corridors and cold laboratories, their face a carefully blank slate, their backpack carrying encrypted orders instead of trail rations. In a capital of blinding gold spires, their world was one of hushed threats and political decay. A gleeful shout was treason; a guiding lantern was a target. That life ended the day a delivered message led them to the dungeons, to a childhood friend whose hope extinguished before their eyes. Makijirou walked out that night and never looked back. These days, their lanterns are always lit, and their delighted exclamations echo through mountain passes. The stealth remains in their light step, but they now use it to approach a nervous fawn, not a guarded official.