"It's a bit confusing but—" Suddenly I felt the weight of a heavy frame was thrown over my shoulders.
The tanned length of arm muscle was decorated with a discrete pattern of white symbols.
"Did someone say they learned something?" A voice that echoed with certainty and steel spoke up, before the figure it radiated from got up and stood beside them.
"Sorry about that, I know some people are a bit touchy about their personal space. But worry not, you can rest easy. The name's C. Just C is fine."
"You're awfully excitable for a stranger." Aurora stood up to meet the gaze of the tall figure.
"But, well met. You're at least a stranger with manners. I am Aura" She relents, to the surprise of the stranger himself.
She made sure to give me a look as she shared her name.
"Oh, I would have thought you were hesitant to even answer me?" He had an earnest chuckle, radiating a surprising sense of glee.
I felt a little disarmed at the fact.
"You may call me Quinn."
"Strange, I thought it was Winn, don't mind me." The glint in his eye as he answered gave a sense of knowing I was determined to move past.
Paging through my book and coming to a geographical diagram.
"I'm still not sure where we are, but I have an idea of where we are going…" My words fell beneath their notice as C was far more interested in 'Aura', leaning against the back of the bench to speak to her.
"Do you think fussing over what could be and what might be is a proper use of your time?" C shifted his gaze, but not his head, directing his question at me.
"There's no harm in asking questions...no, this is the time we need to ask as many questions as possible, before we get here" I turned over my book to show the map.
The sharpest lines curved and twisted in unfamiliar ways to shape the coast, the mountains, the rivers and settlements on the page. Further reminder of how different this world is.
"Why is that part of the map shaded over, what happened?" Aura leaned away from C, getting closer to the illustration.
"My best guess would be that this is where the floating landmasses hover or at least passed by." C added, I shared a nod in agreement.
Tracing my finger and creating a path where it was said we came to land, and where we might be going.
"That looks like quite the journey, that's where they want us to go next" C questioned, stepped around the bench and sat on another bench that was installed in an L shape with my own. Crossing his legs and stroking his chin.
"Yes. I don't know what they'll have us do there but we cannot arrive prepared. Say what you will but those of us that chose themselves instead of this mission were on to something. This isn't our fight but we've thrown ourselves into the mix" I paused, paging through the tome and stopping at the bestiary.
"Look" Holding up the book and showing them all manner of creatures. Before C or Aura could respond, we were interrupted by one of the arrival of an attendant.
Bringing the room to silence, she gave an announcement with a succinct and clear voice and even managed to capture the most violent of the Travellers.
"Good day to you, Travelers. A fierce storm has descended on the region, flooding the roads leading. Until the storm waters recede, please retreat to one of the many lounge rooms. 10 of you can be accommodated per room so please once you are marked, take the time to enjoy the leisure until we can commence with your journey." She gave a bow before walking away.
Aura stood up before either of us could start speaking again, asking if we were coming as she looked for one of these lounges.
To the left of the attendants booths, was a staircase that led to the next floor.
Going up a floor brought us to the lounge, beautifully furnished rooms with servings of treats, drinks and warmth coming from a large fireplace.
Red wood with silver finishing decorated the space with a large crest embossed onto the ceiling above.
Closest to the fireplace were a series of couches as I best describe. Here Aura made herself comfortable before calling on us to continue.
I sat on a chair facing her while C sat himself beside her, much to her annoyance as she let out a sigh.
I paged through my book looking to find the page again when the doors to our room swung open , marking the entrance of another two people.
One was wearing a black dress, a modified version of the uniform we wore, her deep black hair against her stark pale white skin.
Even as far as I sat, her eyes were so blue they almost radiated their own light.
Her companion was much shorter, with long golden hair to match her deep red eyes. Her uniform was also modified, but in still keeping the style of the leggings and knee high boots, she stood meekly behind her companion.
"They said we could enter any rooms that weren't already filled" the golden hair one pipped up.
"Then come right in, there's more than enough room to go around" C spoke up with all the confidence in the world, stepped away from the fire to greet them both, but the meek one hid before her other, who stood like a wall of ice between them.
"Aren't you the silent type" C teased before waving at them , only to be ignored by the blue eyed amide, as she wandered off to a seat away from the heat, her companion greeted C back, offering her name before running after her companion.
"Hi, you can call me Castella. It's a pleasure" with a voice as sweet as the summer morning, utterly stunning C, and leaving Aura to roll her eyes.
"Okay, then let's ask the questions. We can start with these" Aura grabbed my book and began paging through it.
The exchanges that followed involved sharing what we knew about our respective worlds and even gleaming a little about our respective Statuses.
C didn't hesitate to share as much about himself as he could recall, surprising Aura
"I would urge caution when it comes to sharing everything about yourself to complete strangers but I've only known you for a few minutes and I can already tell that you aren't really concerned about that" Aura teased before she and C asked for a moment to absorb everything I shared.
While they took a break, I left for the bathroom, when the glass door of the upper floor veranda was blown open by the forceful storm.
Turning away from the bathroom, I tried to shut the banging panes before they shattered only for a black and armed hand to hold the door open.
Following through the threshold, stepping inside the building just as I shut the door, a raven haired figure clad in midnight black armor stepped through.
As she did, her eyes locked with mine, a vivid and sterling set of glass blue gems.
"Oh, you were still outside, I'm sorry for almost shutting the door on you—"
"Child of the Silver—"
"Excuse me?"
"Are you seen by the star of white and silver flames?"