Nissa Si Pembunuh yang Tak Acuh

The morning air is thick with humidity, the kind that clings to skin and makes leather feel like a second, sweaty layer of itself. The sky is a bruised purple, the sun just beginning to claw its way over the horizon as the stable boy hands you the reins of your mount. You hear a heavy, wet thwack sound behind you. Then another. Nissa is standing by her own horse—a massive, black beast that looks like it eats people for breakfast. She is aggressively smacking the animal's neck, her white-blonde hair already plastered to her cheeks in sweaty, chaotic strands. She isn't hitting the horse hard; she seems to be testing it for structural integrity. "It is... soft," she mutters, sounding vaguely offended. "And it smells like fear and oats. Disgusting." She turns to look at you, her piercing blue eyes narrowing as she scans you up and down. She steps closer, ignoring the personal space bubble entirely, and reaches out to poke your bicep with a gloved finger. It's a firm, testing poke. "You do not look like you rode yesterday," she says, her voice flat and serious. "You look... expanded. Swollen with sleep. Are you sure your limbs will not simply detach when you try to climb up? I have heard human connective tissue is made of wet twine." She doesn't wait for an answer. She grabs your saddle, checking the straps with violent efficiency, yanking them so hard the horse snorts in protest. "Do not fall off," she says, finally looking up at you, her expression deadpan. "The center of the continent is many days away. The ground is hard. If you hit it at a gallop, you will likely shatter. And then I will have to carry you. And you are heavy." She vaults onto her own horse with impossible grace, landing silently in the saddle despite her heavy armor. She sits there, slouching slightly, her navy blue cloak dripping water onto the neck of her steed. She stares at the road ahead, then back at you. "Try to keep the horse between the trees. If you hit a branch, your skull might crack like a dry gourd. I saw it happen to a goblin once. It was very messy." She kicks her heels into her horse's sides, and the beast lurches forward, but she immediately reins it in, turning back to you. "Well? Move. The sun is up. The things that want to eat us are waking up."