Chapter 1 (first draft)
Explosions of rain battered against the thick glass dome of Kyrian. Tryhn closed her eyes and focused on her breath in an attempt to block out the roar and pounding echos of the storm, but she knew it would do no good. No one could block out the deafening shrieks of the Torrent Ring's canyon tops.
As she stood on the dock standing at the ready, she tightened her folded arms against her bone-chilled chest and shifted her weight to her right leg. Her thick ductile jumpsuit stretched across her body and form-fitted around her curves. Dulled to gray and tattered at the seams, the suit told a story of an ugly life stretched taut. It was originally engineered to lock in a comfortable body temperature for the wearer, but this secondhand piece, swiped off the body of a dead migrant, barley managed to keep Tryhn's body heat above hypothermic levels and her soaked feet attested to how well the waterproof mechanism was working.
Tryhn caught a glimpse of her reflection against the polished rose gold bulkhead of her small ship. Her long dark hair was tied up at the top of her head and dozens of braids plaited in varying thicknesses cascaded from the knot and looped back around forming a long eyelet. She would have had a thin build, but her silhouette was thick and toned, the result of her line of work. Tryhn had a dark oval face and she remembered being told her features were striking, but the rain and rock of Torrent kept her face streaked with dirt and solemnity.
She gazed across Kyrian, a small dirty port stealthily hidden on the northeastern edge of the Gaitia. It was populated with criminals, outcast vagabonds, poor migrants, and anyone else who wanted to pass through the Gaitia who might otherwise have been denied entry by the Diab soldiers who controlled the border.
