The Artist

Narrowly escaping a life of slavery to the Beauregard Confederation as a child, she found a brutal second chance in St. Louis- only it was alone, indebted, and invisible. Slavery was outlawed within city limits. So was homelessness. Something in between had taken root in the attempt to cure both diseases.   A wealthy sponsor gave her a roof and a contract. She cleaned floors. Sorted scrap. Stayed quiet. Then someone saw her art, and everything changed. The work got cleaner. The chains got subtler.   Sunport Bazaar is the safest place left in post-collapse America- a life she’s often told anyone should be grateful for. Her patron never raised a hand, but he never had to. He owns her time, her output, her future. She thought that was fate.. until the dreams began.   Visions of her parents- still alive, still living a life in bondage. Nightmares of a secret buried with the old world. Answers to her own life, and something far bigger, intersecting at a slaver town recently burned to the ground within view of the harbor walls.   No plan. No weapon. Just a pack full of sketches, a head full of noise, and a one-way exit pass. For the first time in nearly thirty years, she’s leaving the city to step into the hostile world she had been raised to fear.