Inej was not your typical lady. She didn't have golden hair, her eyes weren't blue and her favourite pastime wasn't sewing. No, she was the exact opposite, raven hair, dark brown eyes and, of course, her beloved knives. She loved and embraced herself. However her parents back in the Indian colony felt differently. So here she was, at the hell that was a British finishing school hundreds of miles from home. Her last week here had tainted her self confidence. So she kept quiet and to herself, trying not to suffocate on the pink and blue frills of the other girls.
She didn't like it here, which was obvious. And keeping quiet didn't always work when her dark skin stood out so much in a crowd. The prim and proper girls with their staged sentiments and rather blatant racism were perhaps the worst part, so she was going to leave, in the middle of the night while no one was watching. She would creep out the window and slide down the drain pipe. She didn't know where to go with no money or family in London, but she would figure that out later. For now she just had to get out. People would gossip about where the weird girl had gone in the middle of the night. Who took her? Or did she vanish into thin air with her oriental powers?
Sliding down the decorative stone column built into façade of the building was easy. Inej moved her hand to her shoulder where her knives were safely tucked in their sheaths. They were the only things she owned that where truly hers. She was not a lady, she was out at night without a companion, she liked knives, and she would have to work to survive. She was not a lady and for the first time in a week it didn't bother her.
She was heading to the workhouse. She was dooming herself to the life of a pauper but the festering diseases were more appealing than the high society gossip. She was Inej. If she couldn't survive a finishing school she would fight her way through, even join a show of curios. She would make it.
Rounding the next corner she froze. Not too far in the distance of the alley was a dark figure. The moon shone from behind the man. A long coat splayed out behind him; even from where Inej stood she could tell it was well fitted. A fashionable top hat perched on his head as he walked with a cane. Moonlight reflected off the metal handle, in sharp contrast to the young man's slim, bony hands. A distinct thud ricocheted off the cobble stones that paved the alley with every step. With a jerk Inej instinctively pulled herself back around the corner. What was a man who looked to be quite well off doing travelling in the middle of the night in London on foot?
She knew she shouldn't have, but curiosity got the better of her and she pulled herself onto the roof of the closest house using the window frame. She wanted to know what he was doing. Plus, she had some time to kill. It was the middle of the night and if she was being honest she didn't know exactly where to go anyway. She would follow this man around a bit, wait until sunrise and ask the first person she sees where the workhouse is.