20 Ash, Year 122
[Closed - Aardwalden]
It had taken a few trips, but Hilana was getting somewhat more comfortable visiting the Umbrium. She still vastly preferred the openness and the sun of the city above, if only because the heat and openness were far more familiar. She had spent all of Searing exploring what areas of the Luxium and Port Vasta a woman like her could go to, though she knew she had plenty more to discover. But down here… A part of her wouldn’t have minded visiting the Thalamum Draconum, because after having seen them in the sky last season, Hilana had become even more enamoured of and enraptured by the majestic beasts, and any opportunity to see them was welcome.
But today, in the lower city she was, away from the blazing heat of the afternoon as Vasilei had sent her on an errand after lunch. In the Umbrium, he had a supplier for all kinds of mosses and fungi, and he had in turn an order of brewed elixirs for the man and his family. Hilana had delivered them, the large, wooden box containing the carefully insulated, individually-wrapped vials having been pulled from her backpack and placed on the counter, where the merchant had waxed canvas bags stuffed full of the mosses, lichens, and mushrooms to go back up topside. After thanking him, she left the cavernous shop and headed out again, turning and starting for the lifts.
Hilana had been intending to go back to work, as she was certainly on the clock, when movement caught the Vasti’s eye. Her head turned sharply, making her curls bounce from where they were tied up with a ribbon as she sought the source of that movement, and as her eyes searched in the lower light of the Umbrium, what she found on the sand of the ground away from the footsteps of the paths more regularly strewn was a relatively straight line, though little, clawed footprints, and her eyes lit up. Maybe what she had just spotted was an Atraxian Dwarf Tegu. The tracks certainly looked like it, and it was perhaps a juvenile. Out of the way of traffic, Hilana crouched beside the track, measuring the width of the line created by the lizard’s tail with one of her fingers. Atraxian Dwarf Tegu for sure. She had seen the larger variety out in the wilds of the Expanse, but the little Dwarf was becoming a more popular pet in the cities, considering how important reptiles were to the culture as a whole.
She got up, and while she was mindful of the throng of bodies, the Vasti was determinedly following the faint line of the tracks. Her gaze darted around to make sure she was not at the risk of running into anything or anyone, but she was lucky enough that the lizard was also trying to avoid the stream of people passing through, and by following the wall, she could stay on its tracks. But her long legs were starting to eat up the distance, though she did have to be careful not to overrun the track. The footprints were small and light, even with the claws, and they were only just barely visible on the sand.
Finally, she could see the lizard, illuminated in the unnatural lights of a rounded building. She eased up on it, making her steps as light as possible before she swooped down, catching it along the abdomen underneath its legs, her fingers closing over it to keep the small, if chunky, black and white lizard from digging those sharp little claws into her fingers. Now that she had it in her hands, Hilana stood still, letting her heart rate come down so that the tegu could in kind calm down when it wasn’t being eaten. Her thumbs stroked along its backs feeling the soft, dry, pebble-like skin of its back. And her eyes roamed what was in front of her, her eyebrows going up as she stared at the signs. The Under-Forge… Elemental Runeforging, Lodestones, and Scrivened Spells. Her head tilted as she peered through the glass.
Magic wasn’t her forte. It never had been. She wasn’t trained in any of it, and most of what she knew about it now was what she had learned in passing since coming to Solunarium and keeping her eyes and ears open. But this was certainly something quite unexpected, and with the lizard starting to calm in her hands as she made quiet, soothing sounds as she held him. Hesitantly, Hilana opened one of the two double doors, slipping inside and looking around. She had never seen anything like it, and her eyes were wide as she looked at the different items and artifacts behind the glass. Even if her hands had not been busy with her freshly-caught little tegu, this was definitely one of those places that she knew better than to touch anything that was contained within. “Wow,” she murmured, stopping in front of a suit of armour, drinking in the details, the materials… this was art. She could appreciate the craftsmanship, even if she knew nothing about a subject.
[Closed - Aardwalden]
It had taken a few trips, but Hilana was getting somewhat more comfortable visiting the Umbrium. She still vastly preferred the openness and the sun of the city above, if only because the heat and openness were far more familiar. She had spent all of Searing exploring what areas of the Luxium and Port Vasta a woman like her could go to, though she knew she had plenty more to discover. But down here… A part of her wouldn’t have minded visiting the Thalamum Draconum, because after having seen them in the sky last season, Hilana had become even more enamoured of and enraptured by the majestic beasts, and any opportunity to see them was welcome.
But today, in the lower city she was, away from the blazing heat of the afternoon as Vasilei had sent her on an errand after lunch. In the Umbrium, he had a supplier for all kinds of mosses and fungi, and he had in turn an order of brewed elixirs for the man and his family. Hilana had delivered them, the large, wooden box containing the carefully insulated, individually-wrapped vials having been pulled from her backpack and placed on the counter, where the merchant had waxed canvas bags stuffed full of the mosses, lichens, and mushrooms to go back up topside. After thanking him, she left the cavernous shop and headed out again, turning and starting for the lifts.
Hilana had been intending to go back to work, as she was certainly on the clock, when movement caught the Vasti’s eye. Her head turned sharply, making her curls bounce from where they were tied up with a ribbon as she sought the source of that movement, and as her eyes searched in the lower light of the Umbrium, what she found on the sand of the ground away from the footsteps of the paths more regularly strewn was a relatively straight line, though little, clawed footprints, and her eyes lit up. Maybe what she had just spotted was an Atraxian Dwarf Tegu. The tracks certainly looked like it, and it was perhaps a juvenile. Out of the way of traffic, Hilana crouched beside the track, measuring the width of the line created by the lizard’s tail with one of her fingers. Atraxian Dwarf Tegu for sure. She had seen the larger variety out in the wilds of the Expanse, but the little Dwarf was becoming a more popular pet in the cities, considering how important reptiles were to the culture as a whole.
She got up, and while she was mindful of the throng of bodies, the Vasti was determinedly following the faint line of the tracks. Her gaze darted around to make sure she was not at the risk of running into anything or anyone, but she was lucky enough that the lizard was also trying to avoid the stream of people passing through, and by following the wall, she could stay on its tracks. But her long legs were starting to eat up the distance, though she did have to be careful not to overrun the track. The footprints were small and light, even with the claws, and they were only just barely visible on the sand.
Finally, she could see the lizard, illuminated in the unnatural lights of a rounded building. She eased up on it, making her steps as light as possible before she swooped down, catching it along the abdomen underneath its legs, her fingers closing over it to keep the small, if chunky, black and white lizard from digging those sharp little claws into her fingers. Now that she had it in her hands, Hilana stood still, letting her heart rate come down so that the tegu could in kind calm down when it wasn’t being eaten. Her thumbs stroked along its backs feeling the soft, dry, pebble-like skin of its back. And her eyes roamed what was in front of her, her eyebrows going up as she stared at the signs. The Under-Forge… Elemental Runeforging, Lodestones, and Scrivened Spells. Her head tilted as she peered through the glass.
Magic wasn’t her forte. It never had been. She wasn’t trained in any of it, and most of what she knew about it now was what she had learned in passing since coming to Solunarium and keeping her eyes and ears open. But this was certainly something quite unexpected, and with the lizard starting to calm in her hands as she made quiet, soothing sounds as she held him. Hesitantly, Hilana opened one of the two double doors, slipping inside and looking around. She had never seen anything like it, and her eyes were wide as she looked at the different items and artifacts behind the glass. Even if her hands had not been busy with her freshly-caught little tegu, this was definitely one of those places that she knew better than to touch anything that was contained within. “Wow,” she murmured, stopping in front of a suit of armour, drinking in the details, the materials… this was art. She could appreciate the craftsmanship, even if she knew nothing about a subject.
