The day in all essence could have been considered murky. Light skies gave way to impending darkness, fighting a losing battle which would eventually lead to night. Clouds hung low overhead in great blankets, restricting any light holding onto day while shimmers of gold enhanced the final rays.
One look at the sky sent most of the population of Shinkra into their houses, locking doors and windows as if the clouds would swoop down in one oppressive motion, chocking the life out of any who dared to walk the cities streets.
A few people, either brave or stupid still wondered the alleyways of the slums, the finer class of people too ruled by nonsense superstition to allow their neighbours to peek out from their large windows to be seen outside.  
One of these finer classes still travelled upon the approaching night with grace and sureness of step, although to ask her of where she was going she would reply no-where, for this was indeed her destination.
She wore a long black travelling clock tightly around her shoulders, so from behind she would appear as any other citizen. A closer inspection would reveal a finer working of cloth then any could obtain around these parts but she did not mind, ‘let the people stare’ she thought grimly, ‘it is not my place to help them tonight’.
The young woman turned sharply left into a narrow alleyway between two now boarded up houses, her coffee coloured hair swinging side to side at the quick sureness of her direction as if longing to reach out and touch the battered buildings and breathe life into them once more.
Exiting the ally she was presented with a small group of children around a dog, she didn’t know the breed yet guessed that it was mixed. She looked painfully at the poor animal she knew welcomed the oncoming darkness. No creature should have to suffer the heat that all of Shinkras populace had slowly become accustomed to. The children taunted the dog with scraps of meat, watching it slowly limp from side to side while laughing and jeering at its obvious discomfort. Whenever it got near enough to bite the oldest of the group would summon a faintly blue shield to keep everyone safe, much the younger children’s delight.
The woman wanted to kill them, rip then limb from limb then kindly explain to their parents that they deserved it. Tonight evidently was not a good night for her.
‘These are the people I protect, that I stand here now upon these streets rendered with darkness and sadness? Why do I bother?’ She was momentarily lost for an answer before sadness overwhelmed her yet again and she set of through the streets, her black cloak now covered in mud and grime from the poorly kept slums, two story houses acting like little lanterns of light as far as she could see.
This was not the first time she had come here away from her home. The damp streets and odd assortment of people often reminded her of what she swore to save from harm. Today after a particular nasty argument with her sister she just felt lost, her anger welling just beneath the surface ready to strike out in a desperate attempt to make her older sister understand that something must be done.
‘She needs to come here, to truly experience the kingdom she rules. Hiding away in her palace day after day working on what even god could not care about. No’, she thought, ‘she does not understand’.
Her legs now weary from her travels she decided to head home and face the consequences of her accusations and turned her attention and footing east. The palaces soft glow was dim even now when its people needed it most. ‘Scared of the dark’ she smirked ‘whatever next?’.