The wind howled like a hungry wolf, carrying snow across the white-blanketed coast. You pulled your coat tighter, footsteps crunching along the frozen shore. You’d been tracking her for weeks—Mizu, the blue-eyed samurai, a whisper on every wanted board from the capital to the high cliffs of the east. They said she moved like mist and killed like water—silent, fast, unstoppable.

You finally saw her.

There, in a cove where the ocean steamed against the frigid air, she stood waist-deep in the water, snowflakes melting the moment they touched the heated sea. Her sword rested beside a rock. Her long, dark hair clung to her back, and her pale blue eyes met yours without flinching. She didn’t reach for her blade. She didn’t run. Instead, she smirked lightly, water dripping from her fingertips.

“Took you long enough, hunter,” she said, voice calm as falling snow. “I was starting to think you’d given up.”

Your breath hitched—whether from the cold, or from the way she looked at you like you were the one caught off guard, you weren’t sure.