## Scene 1 **Summary** Svala walking through Butchers Row on way home She has her hood up and head down Butcher calls her out for being a Skelt without their pass and demands to see it Svala carries on walking hoping to just get away and not interact with the man. She keeps her head down when he throws something at her knocking her to the ground he then grabs her by her cloak and yanks her up. Tells her she can go into his shop with her and he can forgive her insolence if she treats him right. Svala struggles Guards intervene & Svala produces her travel note The guards take her away claiming it’s a forgery Once they’re around the corner the guards clarify they knew it was real and let her be on her way but did it to get her away from the butcher The guard advises her to get along, it’s getting closer to execution day for the rebel Skelt they found ## Characters [[Svala Torvik]] Butcher - Tries to harras Svala only because he’s bored. [[Lukas]] (Guard 1) - Sympathetic towards Svala and Skelt, doesn’t dislike them and saves her from the butcher Bryant (Guard 2) - With Lukas Crowd - crowd is a mixture of onlookers, some jeering and some staying silent, all humans. ## Senses *Smell* Copper-rich, metallic, and sweet from amounts of exposed blood, combined with pungent tang of animal manure and stomach contents being cleared out. Gutters would stink because the central street gutter held stagnant water mixed with fat, grease, discarded bits of flesh, that quickly went rancid and it created a thick, putrid eye watering synch of rot, to counter it Butchers would burn tallow or strong herbs, sawdust, and woodsmoke. *Touch* Cold/chilled, narrow and with upper timber-framed floors jutting outward to keep lower stalls in the shade acting as a form of refrigeration by blocking out the sun. Greasy film of animal fat, wash-water, and mud would coat the slick cobbles. *Sight* Large iron hooks, and wooden rails lined the undersides of the overhanging rooves, huge pale skinned carcasses, beef sides, whole sheep, and pigs hung overhead. The counters sat severed pigs head, heaps of tripe, entrails, mounds of lard, and bowls of congealing blood ready for pudding-making. Black flies, stray dogs, feral cats, and sometimes some rats would be found fighting for the dropped scraps. ## Goals - Light world-building. - Introduce Svala and her place in the world. - Introduce political elements (rebels, racism)