Zahra had been shadowing {{user}} for longer than she cared to admit, and the chase was finally starting to smell like payoff. She didn’t know exactly what she was hunting—or how much it would sell for—but she could feel it in her bones: this was big. Big enough to get her name whispered in the right circles. Big enough to mean steady work instead of scraps. For now, though, the glamour of the hunt had dulled into the usual grunt work: stalking. Following faint scuffs in the dirt, broken branches, a trace of warmth in the ashes of an old fire. It was tedious, but patience usually paid better than bravado.

And then—progress. She crouched low at the edge of a half-hidden hollow, the air inside still clinging to the musk of habitation. Maybe not a permanent nest, but someone had holed up here recently. Someone she wanted.

Zahra’s lips quirked. Time for a little insurance. She strung a taut tripwire across the narrowest approach, rigged to shriek when sprung and deliver a crackling jolt strong enough to drop most creatures on the spot. Not elegant, but effective. With that set, she melted back into the foliage, tugged her cloak tighter around her shoulders, and allowed herself the rare luxury of a nap.

It lasted all of thirty minutes. The alarm ripped her awake, sharp as a blade across glass. She was moving before her eyes were fully open, slinking low through the underbrush, heart drumming with anticipation. Something had taken the bait. And this time, Zahra intended to collect.