24th of Fall, 512 A.V.
The Astronomy Tower
Eleven o'clock at night
Arianthe was sitting by one of the stargazers, her favourite stargazer, in fact. There was nothing which distinguished this stargazer particularly from any of the others, but the position and angle was perfect, needing minimal adjustment, and it had enough space next to it for her to place a small square table, on which she could put her books, ink, notes and a small lantern, by which she could see. At the present moment, she was poised to write, a quill in her hand, an eye stuck with interest to the telescope. She was making notes on the constellations, but the sheer beauty of the night sky she was seeing was sending chills down her spine. The vastness of the world, the vastness of the entities of gas and rock that sparkled like jewels... it made her feel uncommonly small and unimportant.
She straightened up after what felt like hours and looked around the empty observatory, unusually empty for the time of night, where it was popular with other students. Professor Tunsten was also normally here.
She turned back to her telescope, cleaning the lens, and realising that she had not taken any notes, bit her lip and started concentrating.
"X... one... three... North Star." she noted this down quickly, then went back to the basics of locating the constellations. It was interesting and eye-opening work but she was hit by a sense of acute sorrow and melancholy, only heightened by her loneliness. She had no one to share this with, and she had hardly ever seen such a beautiful spectacle, such a beautiful, clear sky... and the scent of nectar mixed with the freshness of the trees was in the air. Somewhere nearby in the city, somebody was playing the flute - a mysterious, sweet tune. A night like this didn't happen very often. She had never known one before.
With a sigh, Ariante turned away and, as she reached a hand to pull her hair back from her eyes, she knocked the telescope downwards. She cursed, put an eye to it, and was about to place it back to how it was when she noticed a strange figure. She had accidentally placed it to look directly at the eastern docks, and she focused it in directly to look closer.
"Oh my..." she murmured.
The docks were completely clear of people, apart from the sight of two large men, carrying what looked like a person between them. Arianthe couldn't tell if the person was dead or alive at this distance, but it was a thin figure.
Arianthe blinked, not sure what to do. She couldn't tell any of the identities in the darkness.
