New Beginnings

[Caprice]

[[Closed for now]]

Late Brightening in Cycle Five, Immanis, Season of Spring of Era II. Era XI Post Fractum in the Age of Darkening, the Mageocracy of Julos the Mad.

It was an endless throng of Chaos. Craning her head from one direction to the other, she could see bustles of people moving along, minding their businesses and continuing with their unshakable routines. Entering the city gates, darting, overwhelmed blue eyes flashed back and forth, catching the many views of hundreds of people in frenzied custom. A pale face, tucked underneath overhanging robes and hood, seemed frozen with the moment, as Caprice found herself in the middle of the largest city she had ever seen, with throngs of people wandering the central street that she thought must have been endless. A whirl of thoughts filled her mind as new worries flushed through her body.

Caprice’s senses felt like they would burst from overwork, as a constant, low chatter droned on in her ear, constant bustle seemed to wear on her consciousness, and the motion soon gave her a headache. Standing to the side of the well-traversed road made Caprice think. It certainly was a new experience, and one that she was sure to remember. Abestat brought along many new opportunities for the Esh’lahier, opportunities that she didn’t have before. Yet she had heard the difficulties of the dark elves in getting positions in the big city; they were always shunned and loathed, even brutally killed in extreme situations. True or not, Caprice’s very fiber throbbed with the constant possibility that she could indeed be a victim of the eternal rift and hatred amongst the races.

Her feet moved daintily as she traversed down the side of the central road, covered in thick, plush robes that concealed her figure and racial features as best she could. Even the heavy cloak over her head had shielded her Elvish ears from view with shadow and fabric. She attempted to ignore the crowds as much as she could, preferring the shadow of the many buildings to drown her out in darkness, but even those were sometimes crowded in the bustle of a city that would never sleep. Her eyes gazed up at the stars. She had never seen them so dim -- so distant as they were tonight. Perhaps she was ill adjusted towards the life of the large city, or perhaps she just wasn’t certain of her position in the world. Silently and unspeakably, the question continued to burn a whole into her very being. What was her purpose?

The elves that she grew up with, they were different then these city-goers. They pursued life at their own pace, slow and meticulous. They created their own destiny, fabricated upon whim that must have been controlled by some ethereal power, unlike these residents who operated on someone else’s time, and meandered from one business transaction to the next. She could hardly walk a few feet before hearing a dispute about prices, something about some good worth far too many crowns or silvers. It almost seemed mechanic, difficult to pinpoint in the intensity of the action around her. The ceaseless rumble of voices made it incredibly difficult to pinpoint one particular voice out of the crowd of an infinite many.

Out of the corner of her fluorescent blue eyes, Caprice saw a figure in the shadow. He was slumped against the wall, and she would have thought him a beggar if not for his fine robes. Even in the darkness, he effectively illuminated the area around him, creating this welcoming vortex that tugged at the hem of Caprice’s robes. She was drawn towards this force, an indescribable desire to actually speak to the stranger that seemed so content, so at peace distanced from the bustle that even still was giving Caprice a pining headache. Was this the calling of an even heart? The motion that allowed the blending of an outsider?

Hesitantly, she moved towards him, elegantly moving towards the man leaning against the cold wall in the isolated shadow. Brushing her silver hair out of view, she mustered the courage to speak. “Serale,” she spoke genteelly.