The young girl had an indifferent expression as she lowered her hood that hid her shoulder-length feathery hair. Her grey eyes and silvery hair added to her overall appearance of a storm in the flesh.
She didn't even bother to change out of her low quality clothes and casually pulled put a piece of bread from her inner pocket and leaned against the cave wall as she ate it.
A flash of annoyance flashed through her eyes before they calmed back down to steel that no one would be able to read. She really wanted to smack that annoying clan head for wasting her time.
Calling her to show his students the difference between heaven and earth was not her job. All she wanted was a secluded lifestyle away from crowds and wars. It just so happened that her only hobby was delivering mail and so she ended up doing it as a job.
Yet the thing she detested the most was being late and that old fart enjoyed wasting her time. Lucky for her, her reputation preceded her and most people wouldn't dare to block her or keep her waiting. Most people...
She dusted off her hands and put on her mask and hood. She walked out of the cave, to the edge of the neutral zone and stuck her hand in the mailbox to find two letters and a package.
She casually read the drop-off addresses while double-checked to make sure her disguise was stable before taking off at her usual pace.
Her steel-like eyes didn't even quiver at the sight of her destination. She moved agilely through the neutral zone and made use of any object near her to speed up. A huge rock in her path? Don't you mean a stepping stone? A falling tree? Um... that's just a bridge to cross the next river.
She calmly analyzed her path through the neutral zone and reached the bridge. She smiled slightly as she started crossing the bridge that connected the continents. She was quite pleased with herself for breaking her previous record.
She wasn't emotionally cold or overly emotional. She just had a habit of enjoying silence and that just happened to include her thoughts. Running cleared her head and wind rushing past her also helped drown out any other sounds.
She vaguely remembered someone saying how she had no respect and that it was a good thing she almost never talked or her words would drive others to murder. She would refute that person... if only she could remember who it was.
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She ran through the rich area of the Silk kingdom until she landed right in front of a massive finely carved wooden desk. In the same room the amount of gold that covered the walls and decorated the expensive furniture was blinding and could buy you a small country.
However, the shiniest object in the room was the sturdy-looking man sitting opposite the desk from her. He was covered in all imaginable items of value, so much so that it was hard to know if he was a real person.
His piercing yellow eyes that resembled those of a wild animal was constantly glaring at a mountain of documents. It seemed that his next action would be to take a big bite out of the stack of papers with how much he was glaring at them.
She wanted to just leave the letter here for him, but it seemed that he would never notice it. She clicked her tongue at him mentally and added extra mocking for good measure.
"Poor soul, you can't even leave your room and I bet this isn't the end of your paperwork. That's the price for rolling in riches. I'll be merciful and help a dying soul out."
She coughed to get his attention and placed the envelope right in front of him. His piercing yellow eyes shot up to meet her steely one's. There was a moment of pause before he smiled so widely his eyes closed.
His voice was gruff and loud as his whole stiff and unapproachable aura vanished.
"Hey mess, you finally came to save me from my ministers! Now that you're here, I can't possibly continue my boring work. You want some snacks?"
She silently cursed him,
"Who's a mess! You can't just give me a name as you please!"
She was still scolding a certain emperor in her head while he took her usual silence as an agreement. He was the type to think everyone agreed with him as he was the law.
He waves his sleeve and a 'you guessed it' gold bell sounded to alert the servants to bring snacks. The servants were quick and efficient. Seven platters of delicacies as well as an extra chair were set up in no time.
One might question why the servants didn't freak out when finding a masked person in the same room as their emperor when that said masked person appeared from thin air, but the answer is simple.
They learnt from experience. Many shocking events, sudden pop-ups and fussing later they finally recognized her as a non-enemy. Not an ally, she was no one's ally. She was the neutral ground between the strongest forces in their time.
She never read the letters or opened the packages she transported, but that didn't mean she wasn't a treasure chest of information.
She knew the kings, emperors, assassin leaders, rebel leaders, information agency heads and even the bandit bosses and all of their locations.
Many have tried to catch her in her early days of working when no one knew or trusted her. Let's put it this way... they still haven't found her gender, never mind capturing her.
Then some people tried befriending her, the man sitting opposite her included. In fact, he was still trying. The only reason she stayed is so she didn't have to search for food later.
She wouldn't classify herself as a foodie, but free food was free food! Who would refuse? Her next delivery was close by anyway, one or two sweets wouldn't hurt...right?