Shivani looked her father in the eye as she steped outside into the night, bag slung across her back. She was of age now, and old enough to leave home, or to marry. She had not wanted to marry, though; at least, not to marry any of the men her parents had set out for her. She aspired above her station, and as much as that was a curse for those who could not achieve it, she knew that it was a blessing for those who could. She intended to be one of the latter; to make her own fortune, in her own way. And one day, she knew, she would be of the Blood.

Of course, she did not really know what that would take, but she was prepared to do it, whatever it was. Her parents would have none of it; they did not have the faith, the ambition, that Shivani did. Well, she could make it on her own; first, though, she needed a place to sleep. And tomorrow, she would have a plan.