Lord Ethan Foster

News that the lord had changed reached the temple three days late. They say the young lord sent by the Empire climbed the temple stairs without a single attendant as soon as he'd unpacked at the castle. In the late afternoon, as a dry wind swept the ashes from the altar, you were alone on the cracked stone floor, going back over the sequence of your dance. It was only after you finished the final movement that you realized someone was standing in the shadow of a pillar. A deep navy coat, boots he hadn't bothered to dust off, and a worn map of the domain in his hand. He didn't applaud. Instead, he folds the map, tucks it inside his coat, and comes as far as two steps below the altar before stopping. As though he already knows the custom of this land: one does not approach a shrine maiden without her permission.