[Les Portes] The Elf and the Sea (Viniece)

[Heartbreaker]

OOC: Continued from here:

The arrival of the half-breed was met with a bit of astonishment…mainly considering that people just weren’t used to elves crawling out of the sea. The dockworker that Viniece asked his question of gaped there for a few moments before stumbling over his answer.

“ W…e…l…l….Jaedaxia, good sir. I’m sorry, can I get you a blanket or something. Aren’t you a bit cold, comin’ out of the sea like that?

[Viniece]

Viniece stared at the fellow for a few moments, sorting through all the knowledge he'd gotten in the schools back in Nimal.

Jaedaxia... A city situated in the middle of a Peninsula stretching north from the lands belonging to a vast human Empire... What did they call it again? Oh, right, Aelyria. Human wasn't completely accurate, there were other races in this empire as well. The Peninsula was known as the Sodality of Carmelyn. A decent place to be, cold water, like he was used to, everywhere, and cold land. The people of Jaedaxia, however, were said to be in the textbooks a rather open and friendly people... that might irritate him, he thought.

Then again... Openness meant more opportunities of distraction, and he needed every distraction he could get. Every time he allowed himself pause, his conflicting needs ate at him, urging him to return to Nimal, no, find a community of Thelyri and join them, where he'd really belong. No!!!!!!! Distractions, he needed constant distractions. He needed an adventure. He ought to be able to find that here...

"Cold? No. Colder yet, deep sea. Comfortable." Viniece stumbled over the Common, yet unfamiliar with it's actual use.

Viniece then sent out questing bits of echo-location, seeking the thickest, tallest walls, and started walking in that general direction, being careful to dodge the moving people between, and to stay on the planks and boards of the docks.

When he reached the Gates, one of the guards, after giving him a quizzical look, said: "Visa please."

Viniece took the Imperial Visa he'd snatched from the school's store of collected articles from other lands out of his pack, and handed it to the man. Hoping the guard would accept it, even though it was plainly not his own. Waiting for the guard, Viniece toyed idly with the kelp rubber-encased and strapped rusted dagger he'd placed on his arm in the style depicted of Thelyri in the textbooks, plainly unfamiliar with it's use. Yet also plainly willing to try to use it should Jaedaxia prove less friendly than the books reported.

[Heartbreaker]

The dockworker that found the strange sea elf frowned a bit and quickly waved over one of the guards, who checked the visa and gave him a grin.

“Nice try. If this was one of the cities in the Empire, you’d be hauled off to the Aedile’s office and have some explaining to do, passing a fake visa like that. Fortunately for you, you are in Jaedaxia…which is a bit different. I’m assuming that you are a new face here so is there anyplace you need directions to? An Inn or perhaps the employment office?”

The guard wasn’t sure exactly what to say..waiting instead for the sea elf to give him some sort of direction.

[Viniece]

Viniece frowned. Not the reaction he was expecting, he had wholly expected to be turned away, just to swim in later through the canal. "Aedile? Can get citizenship?" he asked.

[Heartbreaker]

The guard was curious about the sea elf, arching his eyebrow gently as he considered the request.

“ Okay…let’s go to the Aedile’s office and see what it is we can do for you.”

It wasn’t long before they arrived at the office and put the request to a clerk. The clerk seemed a bit perplexed as to what was being asked of her but she quickly pulled out the appropriate form and began filling it out.

“ Okay, so first of all, I need your name and where you’ve come from?”

[Viniece]

"Okay…let’s go to the Aedile’s office and see what it is we can do for you." The guard said.

Viniece followed the guard, noting an Inn along the way, he would come back here.

First they went straight west, the Inn was an unassuming sort, plain white boards, a rectangle of a building, and the sign depicted a woman falling in battle. Probably a perfect place to stay to hear news of adventures.

Just past the Inn, they turned slightly south, or, they began moving to the southwest, eventually they came to pass a ramshackle building that was in terrible disrepair. Viniece stopped for a moment and walked up to the building to investigate it. A press house. He'd have to return here as well he thought...

He returned to the guard and they resumed walking. They soon passed a small park. Or at least, he assumed these people called it such. It was certainly not beautiful. They then passed a church, and he couldn't resist surreptitiously spitting at it.

As they passed the church, they turned sharper south, then back more westerly. Suddenly the traffic was far more intense than it had been at any other point of their walk. They stood before a magnificent, yes, even Viniece could be in awe of this place, a magnificent tall blue building. They went in.

"Okay, so first of all, I need your name and where you’ve come from?" The clerk asked. An unassuming human, Viniece noted, and he answered.

"Viniece. Nimal."

[Heartbreaker]

The clerk nodded her head gently as they continued on in the conversation. She had a good idea as to where he was from, given his mode of dress and general looks but she never was one to assume anything. Treat everyone the same…that was the way she had been trained.

Pulling out a large piece of thick parchment that looked to be for display purposes, she turned it around so that he could see. On it, a large map of the Empire and the known world. The Empire itself was shaded in a soft blue color…Jaedaxia in a deep wine hue. Several foreign nations were shaded in a very pretty blue-ish green color…and finally, a few hued in gray. She smiled at him and began to explain the system.

“ I’m sorry that the guards unconvinced you by bringing you here. It really wasn’t necessary but since you are here, I’ll try to explain how things work.”

She began by pointing to the blue area.

“ This is the Aelyrian Empire. Quite obviously, visas are issues to citizens and they are free to come and go as they wish.”

Moving on, she motioned to Jaedaxia.

“Jaedaxia is a bit different. We are a protectorate…ruled mainly by the military and the Regent…although that’s changing a bit. Visas are issued here as well and while we can come and go as we please, we have no representation in anything other then local politics.”

Pointing to his home of Nimal, she gave him another smile.

“Now, people of Nimal….and as well a few other countries that we are on good terms with, are considered Outlanders. You are allowed to come and go but you don’t need a visa. When you left Nimal, you should have brought along documentation that shows you are a citizen of Nimal…..do you have anything like that?"

She hadn’t even gotten to the gray areas….probably a good thing to as those were considered barbarians and executed on sight in most cases.

[Viniece]

Viniece studied the map, he didn't realize that Nimal was considered friendly to the empire, the school's never mentioned that. He also had no documentation from home, for a citizen of Nimalnus who never left his own community, it was considered unnecessary, and of course, his community had never expected him to leave for good. Swim off into the sea for a while, sure, he'd done that many times, sometimes for entire cycles. Leave completely and swim north for an entire era to end up in Aelyria, on the other hand... They'd have laughed at anyone who even entertained the thought. Viniece was theirs. So they thought.

"No documentation." Viniece said. "Hate them. Want to be Aelyrian."

[Heartbreaker]

The clerk managed to arch her eyebrow a bit at the comment. It wasn’t every brightening that someone came into her office and professed wanting to be a part of the Empire.

“ I see. Are you sure about that? I have to ask that, see, cause it wouldn’t be right otherwise.”

It was a stalling tactic for sure…needing to check with the Aedile for the proper procedure before moving forward with the process.

[Viniece]

Viniece was pretty immune to stalling tactics, but nonetheless, he was used to long waits, so he responded evenly: “Positive.”

Why would the clerk find it surprising that he wanted to become a citizen in the Empire? The Empire had a lot to offer, and his own life, which he wore on his wooden expression, was certainly not much to be spoken of back home in Nimal. He wasn't treated equally there, no matter what anyone said about it, he was a bastard, and an odd one at that. Here, no one even needed to know he had no father if he didn't tell them.

He found himself a place to sit and then waited.

[Heartbreaker]

Nodding a bit at his answer, the clerk quickly grabbed a few different forms, checking boxes and writing in words here and there. Turning one of the papers around to face him, she smiled and pointed at the bottom line.

“If you are sure then…sign on the line and I’ll issue you official credentials. Essentially, the paperwork indicates that you are severing ties with your native land and becoming a citizen of this one.”

Once he had done so, he was given his visa. That was all there was to it.

“Now, is there anything else I can do for you...other then suggest an excellent location to purchase some clothing?"

[Viniece]

"Nothing else." Viniece replied, his new Visa plainly listed him as being from Jaedaxia, and it was comforting to Viniece that he'd finally cut all bonds to his former home. He was free. Free to pursue his death in new ways. Viniece strode out and asked the nearest person where to find the bank, and then he headed there.

[Heartbreaker]

OOC: Congrats. Remember to add the visa to your CIR.