Story
Junia knelt on the deck with a bundle of herb packets in her lap, humming softly as she sorted them. Amaxia sat nearby sharpening her spear, the scrape of stone on metal making Junia flinch every time.
“You are jumpy today,” Amaxia said.
“I am not,” Junia replied, though a seabird called overhead and she jolted hard enough to spill a few herbs. Amaxia raised an eyebrow and kept sharpening.
A shout rang out from the mast. Liren, one of the younger sailors, had slipped and was now dangling from a rope. Junia gasped and sprinted toward him. Amaxia followed at a slower stride.
The moment Liren was lowered to the deck he sat with his back to a barrel, wide eyed and shaken. When he saw Junia rushing to him his fear melted into a bright flush.
“I am fine,” he insisted. “Really.”
“Let me see,” Junia said, already checking his pulse and prodding his shoulder. “You frightened yourself, that is all.”
Liren stared at her with open admiration. “You always sound so calm.”
Junia smiled. “A healer should.”
Then she noticed the thin red rope burn across his arm. A faint scent of scorched skin reached her. For an instant the deck vanished and she saw another room, another wound, another victim tied down. Her hand trembled.
Amaxia placed a steady hand on her shoulder. “Junia. You are here.”
Junia blinked hard and nodded. “Yes. I am sorry.”
Liren leaned closer. “Are you sure you are all right.”
“Yes,” Junia said quickly. “Hold out your arm. This will sting.”
She applied salve with practiced precision. Liren watched her intently, his cheeks still pink. “You have very steady hands,” he murmured.
Junia brightened. “Thank you. I practice.”
“I could help you sometime,” Liren said hopefully. “Carry things. Fetch water. Anything.”
Junia gave him a cheerful smile. “That is kind, but Caelin needs you on rope duty. You should not disappoint her.”
Liren wilted. “Right. Rope duty.”
“You do it well,” Junia said. Liren lit up again.
Amaxia coughed to hide a laugh.
Junia tied the last knot on the bandage. “Come back tomorrow and I will check it. And please be careful. I like you alive.”
Liren went still at that, then nodded far too quickly. “Yes. Absolutely.”
Junia left in a satisfied little bounce. Amaxia fell into step beside her.
“You know he likes you,” Amaxia said.
Junia tilted her head. “Of course he likes me. I healed his arm.”
“That is not what I meant.”
Junia frowned in confusion. “Then what.”
Amaxia sighed. “Never mind. Keep being you.”
Junia smiled at that and looked out across the sea, unaware of the boy still watching her from the mast with a quiet, hopeless grin.

Background

Junia Favora was born in the imperial city of Luminara, the kind of place where the Empire’s cruelty wore a polite mask. Her family had little coin and even fewer options, so when a respected healer offered to take Junia as an apprentice, her parents agreed without hesitation. The contract was simple. Junia would receive training in the healing arts, and in exchange she would serve her master until she reached the age of thirty.

Junia entered the apprenticeship eager to learn. She imagined a life spent easing suffering, tending wounds, and curing illness. Instead she found herself bound to a woman who treated human bodies as objects to be molded and reshaped for the pleasure of owners. Junia’s tasks were not healing. They were mutilations disguised as medicine. The work left her sick with dread, but she endured because she had nowhere to go and no way to break the contract.

The Apprentice House

The house where Junia worked was quiet and clean. It smelled of herbs and heated metal. Behind the curtains and careful order lay the truth. Her master specialized in altering slaves to suit their owners. Women were sculpted into exaggerated forms meant to please. Men were reshaped into well hung athletes or ornaments. Fertility was removed or given according to whim. Worst of all were the brothel clients. Junia was sent to treat injuries inflicted on the enslaved workers there. Bruises, burns, broken bones, and worse. The cycle repeated every night.

Junia learned quickly. Her skill grew fast because she had to work on bodies that were barely clinging to life. But each year the work hollowed her. She understood that if she stayed until thirty she would either become like her master or shatter under the weight of what she saw.

Meeting Amaxia

It was during the brothel visits that she first met Amaxia. The amazon woman had already been brutalized beyond endurance, yet when Junia healed her she still held her head high. Junia saw both strength and despair in her eyes. Over the next week Junia treated Amaxia three times. Each time the wounds were worse. Junia realized that her work was not saving Amaxia. It was making it possible for the torment to continue.

On the third night Junia made her decision. She stole a key from her master’s room, crept through the brothel corridors with her heart beating like a hammer, and entered Amaxia’s cell. Junia unlocked the chains with shaking hands, and for the first time Amaxia looked at someone with a kind of stunned respect. The moment they stepped into the street Junia knew she had destroyed her old life. The Empire would hunt both of them.

The Flight and Skarnulf

They fled through alleys and markets, hiding whenever patrols passed. Junia’s mind raced with every step. She had never broken a law before. She had never even lied convincingly. Now she was an outlaw with blood on her hands.

By chance they encountered Skarnulf, who was himself fleeing men who wanted him dead. He nearly attacked them, but when Skarnulf’s pursuers caught up, they fought together. Amaxia fought with fury, Skarnulf with precision, and Junia with trembling hands and a stolen knife. They survived only by luck and desperation.

Together they reached the docks. Soldiers were already moving through the streets. Any hesitation would have meant recapture. The only ship ready to depart was a strange vessel with outriggers and unfamiliar lines. The Blue Marlin. They boarded without permission, gasping their names and their situation. Scarnax listened, watched them for a long quiet moment, then told the crew to cast off.

Life Aboard the Blue Marlin

Junia expected to feel out of place on the ship, but she found something close to peace. The work was honest. The crew respected her skill. No one demanded she harm another person. For the first time she was free to heal because she wanted to heal.

She keeps the crew healthy with steady hands and a calm voice. Her talent is extraordinary for someone her age, forged by years of brutal practice she wishes she could forget. She bears both physical and emotional marks from her former life, and from the burden of healing. She tires more easily than she admits. She flinches at certain sounds. But she works with quiet determination and a level of compassion that surprises those who only know the harshness of the Empire.

The crew treats her like a younger sister. Caelin fusses at her for skipping meals. Pelonias watches her with a quiet protective awareness she does not quite see. Ayesha encourages her confidence. Scarnax protects her in the silent way he protects all the wounded souls aboard his ship.

Personality and Temperament

Junia is calm, sincere, and observant. She prefers listening to speaking. Her voice is soft, but firm when needed. She carries herself with the dignity of someone who has survived what should have broken her. Her anger is rare but sharp. She despises cruelty in any form and becomes cold when she senses it.

She does not seek attention. She has no desire for grand gestures. She is at her happiest preparing herbs in the ship’s small infirmary or watching the sun rise over calm water. The Blue Marlin is more than a workplace to her. It is freedom made real.

Relationship With Amaxia and Skarnulf

Junia and Amaxia share a bond shaped by terror and escape. Amaxia sees Junia as the one who saved her life, though Junia insists she only did what anyone with a conscience should do. Their personalities differ sharply, but they balance each other. Amaxia protects Junia fiercely. Junia keeps Amaxia grounded.

With Skarnulf she shares a quieter trust. He calls her Little Healer in a tone that is more respectful than anything else he says. She patches him up after fights, and he stands between her and danger without hesitation.

They are three survivors who found each other at the exact moment their paths might have ended.

Roleplaying Notes

Junia speaks gently, with simple words and careful honesty. She can slide between youthful naivete to a too old darkness in moments, the darkness of someone who has seen too much. She is, at her heart, still just a kid, but a kid with a burden. She avoids discussions of her past unless someone truly needs to understand. She tends to others before herself. She is brave in quiet ways and hides her fear with practiced discipline.

She is fiercely protective of her freedom and of those who helped her earn it. Anyone who threatens the crew sees a very different side of her, one that mirrors the resolve of someone who walked away from the Empire’s darkest rooms and refused to bow again.

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