Closed A Summer Day of Trial (Elin)

[Aenisa]

2th of Summer - 517 AV

It was a rather good day to be alive in, the sun was streaming down, there wasn’t too much to do at work either and there was a light breeze flowing. The breeze allowed for a slightly cooler and yet warm day, it was the perfect day to be out and about in, that was sure. It had become summer already, the time sure went by quickly and Aenisa could feel her own time slowly dripping down the hourglass that was her own life. The day had started like any other for Aenisa as she had gone to Yuri to feed Ignacio, who had grown quite a lot lately. Whilst at Yuri's she had checked up on the rest of the raptors and made sure that they all were healthy, they were. Aenisa was headed back into the city now, she was carrying some boxes that she was to drop for Yuri at a stall in the Bizarre later in the day.

Summer would be nice if the heat didn’t become too bad or the illusions started to drain her sanity more than the spring season had done. Aenisa still hadn’t achieved her goal, she was still on the hunt but she was getting ever closer now though. As she carried the boxes and getting ever closer to the Gaping Maw she couldn’t help but to think about the information that she had so far. Aenisa knew that somehow Ionu knew about her plan, after all, the illusion in the Bizarre had shown her death, Aenisa was convinced that it was a sign that it was up to her alone to deal with the problem. Many others would perhaps have argued that the sign was for her to stop her actions before she went too far. Ignoring these facts, Aenisa hadn’t seen many other signs of her standing with the god that ruled the city. With no other signs as a warning or a blessing, Aenisa figured that the god did not take much notice of her.

The fact of the day though was that there was a trial that was starting in a little bit, a public one at that. Aenisa had heard about it on her way out to the farm in the morning by some merchants that were headed to the city, apparently it was the trail of someone that had been caught perpetrating fraud. His crimes had been uncovered and now he were to stand trial for them, Aenisa thought it would be a good idea to go and watch it. Law in Alvadas was always a good idea to learn more about, the city seemed calm and yet at times it seemed completely lawless.

The Gaping Maw appeared before Aenisa and she passed through the mouth of the big creature. Long ago she had given up on trying to figure out how it truly worked and guessed that if she lived long enough in Alvadas it might reveal itself to her. It was hard to navigate the streets of Alvadas, it was more crowded and the boxes she was carrying made it hard to see anything beyond her own nose. Aenisa shuffled sideways and she was walking with her head peaking on one side of the boxes, trying to see where she was going and avoid hitting anyone. As she switched and looked on the left side of her boxes she could see a group coming up ahead and so she moved a little to the right. Aenisa felt how her arms bumped into the flesh of another human, quickly she tried to spin around to the left but only achieved a stumble, driving the boxes into someone else before her. Quickly she sounded out from behind her boxes. “Sorry! You okay?” Moving to the side carefully she put the boxes down to attend to the person that she had just walked into.

Aenisa cursed herself and her luck, she should have made two trips and been safe, the boxes weren’t heavy but they were big. She had known that she would cause herself grief by carrying them all at the same time and here she was, instead of saving time she was sure to lose time now. Putting on a big smile however Aenisa approached the person with a slightly bowed head, trying not to look intimidating in any way. “I am sorry, the box make me not see.”

SPACER

[Elin]

"Common" | "Kontinese" | "Tukant"

Elin had entered the city at last and both Ilia and Rion were trying to look around, trying to see what was so special about the place, and Elin simply smiled excited for when the two would realise that life in Alvadas would be so different and so much more exciting than life in Syliras had been.

Then it hit her. With the way that the streets of Alvadas shifted around, she had no idea where she was and where the Sanity Center was in relation to her, the one place she was determined to get to in order to try and get herself a house and a job.

Frowning slightly, she glanced around trying to choose a direction to walk in, and then she bent down to Ilia, her frown turning into a soft smile.

"This place is very different from Syliras." she said calmly. "People here like performing, and often you see things that aren't actually there. Those are called illusions, and they make this place fun!" she smiled as she spoke, hoping that the little girl would understand, before opting to add something else. "And the streets all move, so one day, there might be a old woman living next to us. The next day there might be children like you." she said, attempting to prepare Ilia for the things she'd see and noticed.

After all, Elin had came here a few years ago and she hadn't been prepared for what was there. She still wasn't completely prepared but at least she knew.

Then they set off slowly, so Ilia could look around without Elin leaving her behind.
It was obvious that the little girl was looking for the illusions Elin had told her about.

Then, Elin felt something crash into her and her hands instinctively went to the baby in the sling, making sure she didn't fall at all before hearing an apology from behind her.
She frowned at first, and then grinned before turning around to see a young red haired woman putting large boxes down, and Elin grinned even more, glad to see that it wasn't somebody over intimidating.

"No worries, I'm fine." Elin responded looking the woman up and down trying to get any clues as to whether she was an Alvad native or not, but Elin couldn't see anything that proved or disproved her to be a native.

“I am sorry, the box make me not see.” she heard the woman say and Elin note that her common wasn't the best, and that maybe she wasn't from around here.

"Those boxes are quite big! I can see why you couldn't see." Elin said before offering a hand to the woman in a friendly gesture, hoping that maybe if she could help the woman, the woman might be able to help her. "I'm Elin, and do you need any help carrying them?" she offered, attempting to be as warm and friendly as she could, before she heard Ilia's voice chime in.

"I'm Ilia! Your hair pretty!" the little girl said, looking up at the red head and Elin chuckled slightly. At least the girl had said something nice and pleasant, as in the past she'd heard some not so harmless things come from the little girl and had to scold her once they were alone together.

Still smiling slightly, Elin used her fingers to brush her dark hair out of her face, so she could see properly before she felt Rion attempting to struggle out of the sling to look around.
Elin opted to ignore the little boy for now, knowing that he couldn't escape from the sling and that he'd likely stop struggling soon.

"Anyway, where are you heading? I can either help you carry the boxes or I can be your eyes so you don't crash into any buildings or anything like that." Elin hoped that the woman would accept her offer, that way she might actually end up knowing where she was going, even just for a short while before she found herself lost with no idea of where to go again.

Boxcode by Gossamer

[Aenisa]

2th of Summer - 517 AV

She had bumped into a woman and her children, not the best combination, Aenisa had never really liked children, they made her itch. Something about tiny people in general made her want to run away but for some reason she found the woman approachable enough. The fact that the woman didn’t seem to implode with anger thanks to Aenisa’s little bump was enough for her to like her as it was. Seemingly lost it seemed that the woman was new to Alvadas, no doubt she was trying to find some spot in the city, some spot that Aenisa herself at one time or another had tried to find as well.

Friendly enough, the woman was quick to introduce herself with a name and her little creature was quick as well, making Aenisa feel a little uneasy with them both. Her eyes shifted between the three of them and for a moment she considered them an illusion but if they were, would they not leave her alone? Silence was all that Aenisa offered for a short moment as she shuffled her feet together, her fingers sliding up along her side and coming to a stop near her ribcage. Wetting her lips as she looked at the woman that stood before her she slowly then began to nod her head in her direction, showing that she would agree to her offer of help.

“They are…” Aenisa started by saying, her words were slow as she was trying to figure out what to say to the woman in the best possible way. She clicked her tongue and continued. “… I should take less box, I will see more. I am called Shiraya. Name Aenisa.” If she was really called Shiraya, she would have to start to use the name when she met people but it somehow felt a little weird to say it still. One day though, it would not feel weird. With some hesitation Aenisa accepted the hand that was on offer by the woman before her, by Elin. “Thanks.” Aenisa said in a low tone of voice as she directed her gaze towards the tiny girl by her side as she had admired her own hair. She was never sure if it was genuine or not, Aenisa didn’t like her fiery red hair, she wanted to change it anyhow.

“I am going to market, boxes from work, I take there and give to shop, for my boss.” Aenisa made a vague gesture towards the general direction of the Gaping Maw as if that would explain where she worked at. The boxes stood by her side and Aenisa waved her hand a little before she stepped over to the boxes and continued to speak. “I am sorry, if you want to be eyes, we can walk, we can find the Bizarre. They are not heavy.” With those words, Aenisa picked up her boxes again and prepared to depart from the spot, she was unsure if the woman knew where the Bizarre lay on this specific day. “You know Bizarre? Where you going anyway?” Her head peeked out from behind the boxes.

“I am also seeing law today. Someone been catched doing bad stuff. They give punishment.” Aenisa once more peeked out from behind the boxes to see where the woman was currently at. Seeing her she flashed a brief smile and then she started to give some general directions for the woman, to where she had last seen the Bizarre at. “We need one left and two right and one left. Bizarre is there then.” Aenisa disappeared behind the boxes again, not aware that she hadn't given any distance between the turns or anything of the sorts.

SPACER

[Elin]

Elin watched the red-haired woman carefully, trying to gauge things about her, but she couldn't tell anything.
One day she'd be able to tell things about people from their appearance, but for now she was still young and lacked knowledge. She'd have to practice if she wanted to pick up on things in peoples appearances.

Then she heard the woman speak and Elin listened carefully, noting that she wasn't quite fluent at speaking. Then she heard the girl give a name, well two names, and Elin wasn't sure which to call her by, Shiraya or Aenisa. She wasn't even sure whether one of the two names was maybe a surname?

"It's nice to meet you!" Elin said anyway, avoiding making a reference to names at all, before the woman briefly explained where she got the boxes from and where she was taking them, and Elin nodded, gesturing that she understood before the woman accepted Elin's offer to help, saying that the boxes were heavy, and then asking her if she knew the Bizarre and asking where she was going.

"The Bizarre is the market thing isn't it?" she mused, hoping that she remembered correct from her previous stay in Alvadas, before thinking of where she was going. "And to the Sanity Center for me, but I have all day to get there. Just going to try and get a job and maybe a house, but if I can't get a house, we can stay in an Inn until a good place comes up." Elin said calmly.

As she listened to the girl, a slight smile spread across her face at the mention of someone being caught and soon suffering punishment. That was something she was definitely interested in seeing, just to see how the city dealt with crime. And she was certain that Ilia would be fine to see it, if she could even see through crowds of people.

One left, two right, one left... Elin thought to herself as she tried to memorise the directions, before leading the girl down the first left, before turning to the girl.
"That was two rights, wasn't it?" Elin asked for clarification before turning back to see a young boy of maybe eleven years run around a corner and almost crash into them.
Elin watched the boy rapidly come to a halt before he could crash into Aenisa, and Elin glared at the boy.
"You need to watch where you're going!" she forced the words through her teeth before the boy ran off. It annoyed her when she saw people doing that, and had he not come to a stop, the boxes that the redhead was carrying likely wouldn't make it to the Bizarre.

"You sure you're okay with those boxes? You say they're not heavy, but they look so awkward to carry!" Elin exclaimed, turning to the redhead and watching the girl carefully, before she glanced around, looking down the street to the right, before deciding to ask Aenisa if this was the right way. "So, is it this right?" she asked, slightly worried that she'd misheard, or that she'd missed a turning, especially since it was her first day in Alvadas in a few years, and even if she could remember where things had been on her last day, they'd still all be in different places, making finding anything a nightmare.

"An odd question, but do the streets still move? I haven't been here in a few years and I want to know if that actually happened or whether I was dreaming things, or even losing my mind!" Elin asked, unsure whether she'd shared a little too much with the redhead.

Boxcode by Gossamer

[Aenisa]

2th of Summer - 517 AV

Tiny fingers gripped onto the underside of the boxes, her lower arms were beginning their protests at her way of carrying the boxes. Aenisa wasn’t the strongest of women in the city and she had never figured that she would have to be. At least Aenisa was happy that she now had a pair of eyes in front of her that she could rely upon to help her navigate the city, just hoping that the city didn’t throw them into a pit or something. Once the woman started to speak again, Aenisa popped her head out from behind the boxes again, listening and nodding as a sign that she was indeed following along. Apparently, the woman had been in Alvadas before at one time or another, Aenisa had to ask about that, she put it on a shelf for the time being as the woman was speaking though. The small group stood almost right outside of the Sanity Center but Aenisa didn’t really feel like going back into the crazy paper lady that ran the place. Keeping quiet about the location of the Sanity Center she smiled and then she spoke up, her voice slightly strained due to her carrying the boxes.

“You know Bizarre? You come there often?” A slight pause as Aenisa slid her fingers further underneath the boxes, adjusting them in her grip as she then continued to talk, not looking at the woman that much. “You go to Sanity Center? You new in city then? Houses are not cheap, cost much. Inn’s are okay. You know what Inn?” From time to time as she walked along, Aenisa had to adjust her grip as well as her stance, making sure that she could manoeuvre well enough. It would be a breeze to get to the market with the boxes with the woman as her eyes, Aenisa however felt that she needed to take an interest in the woman now. The woman was kind of young, had kids and was new to Alvadas even if she had been here before. “How old them are?” She needed to show what she was talking about as the word for children had slipped her mind. Once more her head popped out from behind the crates and she shifted her eyes between Elin and the little girl that came with her.

The girl that was guiding her was clearly in a place of her own as she seemed heavily focused on something before Aenisa was given a question about the location. For a moment, she thought about the question that she had been given, was it one or two rights that she had taken. The question made Aenisa stop to think about it all for the briefest of moments. Hearing the woman give a scolding to some young child on the street, Aenisa smirked slightly before she said confidently. “It is one right, two lefts.” It felt right to Aenisa in her mind. Truth be told, Aenisa had made a guess about it based on her own gut feeling but they would get there sooner or later anyways.

Carefully placing the boxes down near the closest wall that they stood by as Elin spoke up again, Aenisa shook her arms a little to try and give life to her muscles. “They are avkvavrd…” She butchered the word as she tried to replicate what Elin had just said. “… but I will not let you to carry box, it isn’t right. They are big. I am okay.” Giving the woman an assuring smile she then started to look around the street on which they were on. She had no idea if it was right or not, it didn’t seem the same as before and they had probably already gone down the wrong street. Not wanting to kill the enthusiasm of her guide she nodded her head a few times and said “Yeah, Yeah, this right, one right, two left.” Trying to sound confident about it, she came off more of a mix between badly confident and utterly confused.

“No. Streets move. Streets change. House change.” Aenisa said in a rather calm but direct manner, preparing to pick up the boxes again. Should Elin decide to take a box anyways, Aenisa wouldn’t really complain as she would just pick the one in that case. “Every people I think… lose mind. One way or the other way.” It was a true statement she guessed and taking her own personal experience into it all, it was all the truer. “How was it last time you come? It was good? Why you come back?” She hurled a few questions at the woman as she would be wanting to get going again, heading down the right street nearby.

SPACER

[Elin]

Elin heard the woman asked if she often went to the Bizarre and she spent a few moments thinking of what to say before allowing the words to leave her thoughts.
"I've been a few times. It was a while ago. I remember what it looks like though." Elin explained, the. She heard the girl ask if she was new, exclaiming that houses were expensive. "I'm new for now, but I've been here before. And yeah, I'll likely have to save a bit more for a house. And I can't remember the name, but I remember one that has something to do with cubes. I think that's where I'd stay." she exclaimed, tilting her head as she glanced at the woman, before hearing her ask how old the kids were and a smile spread across her face. "Ilia is three, though she'll be four next season. Whereas Rion, the baby, is will be a year next season!" Elin said as she glanced down at Ilia then Rion in turn, amused that both of her children were both born in Fall.

Then she the girl clarify the directions, making it one right and two lefts.
One right and two lefts... Remember if this time idiot. she silently chastised herself, before turning towards the redhead with a grin.
"Thanks, I tend to forget directions." she said warmly before watching the girl put her boxes down, agreeing that they were awkward, and Elin heard Ilia giggle slightly at the woman's attempt at the word, before the woman stated again that it wasn't right for Elin to carry a box, assuring her that she was fine and Elin smiled warmly.
"If you're really sure, but if you need help at all, let me know, I like to help out." she said with a warm expression on her face, before the woman stated that they were on the right path, though Elin wasn't wholly convinced that she knew the way there, especially not if the streets still moved.

Then came the confirmation that the streets still moved and Elin nodded, remembering how annoying she'd become trying to navigate through the streets of the place, but she also remembered meeting a few unusual characters that had entertained her a lot, and now she was excited to try and find everything that Alvadas had to offer.
She saw the girl prepare to pick up the boxes and Elin sighed slightly, stepping closer.
"Let me help, it'll be easier to talk if I carry one, that way you can see where you're going." Elin said, taking hold of one of the boxes to find that it really wasn't heavy, just large, so held it carefully, just below where Rion was held on her chest.

Then she heard the redhead say that everyone lost their minds one way or the other, and Elin nodded, partially agreeing with her.
"That is probably one of the most true things I've heard in a while." she said calmly, thinking that most people would lose their mind eventually, whether they were young or on their death beds, before she heard a series of questions.

"Last time I was here was fun. Ilia wasn't very old, and I was looking for someone. And even though I didn't find him I had a good time." she explained, remembering the reason why she'd left Lhavit, and realising that she'd never actually found Ilia's father, though she wasn't too upset. Even without him she'd managed to raise Ilia well, and she had a second child. Most importantly she was happy. "And I came back because I got tired of travelling. I was born in Lhavit and wanted to get a bit closer to home without actually going home, if you understand. Plus I remembered Alvadas being fun, and these two haven't really experienced anything like illusions." she chuckled slightly as they walked, before she turned to look at Aenisa. "Were you born here? Or did you come here from elsewhere?" she asked, curious as to the girls origins and what she'd done so far in her life.
She wondered if Aenisa was also a traveller, or whether she had never really travelled other than where it was necessary.

Boxcode by Gossamer

[Aenisa]

2th of Summer - 517 AV

Slowly the colours shifted as the houses passed them by, the small band of merry travellers were heading down the street. Aenisa had gotten a lighter load but most importantly, it had been made much smaller for her benefit now, thanks to Elin who had taken one of the boxes from her. She had been at the Bizarre a few times, Aenisa had too and her experiences were most likely, much more recent. Aenisa guessed that Elin hadn’t been there for a long while from what she told her, no doubt though it had changed, stalls opening and closing all the time. For a city that was the size that Alvadas were, it was weird to see how the people within it carried it on to be such a bustling one. Aenisa had never known much about the city life beyond Wind Reach but she had thought that most other cities were nothing more than villages, she had been wrong.

“Thanks for taking box, it was avkvavrd to carry myself. I know not much of cubes, I have not walked in the whole city yet. The street are change all time, never know where you go today, go tomorrow.” Aenisa said casually as she was coming to the end of the street, she cut left and headed out onto a larger street which had some more commotion on it. “Is it good place you think then?” She asked once she had made a small dance around a pair of ill-dressed people who were sitting on the road. Aenisa was keeping a rather calm stance as she was moving, her eyes were more focused on the crowds in the streets than they were on the woman that was with her. It wasn’t that Aenisa didn’t want to spare attention for Elin but rather that she needed to be her own eyes now. “Four? She is big then. That be good…” Aenisa said a little stifled like she had wanted to ask something more but didn’t, she left the whole sentence a little incomplete and open for further comments.

For a moment, she glanced over at the woman, curious as to where her man was at, she had two kids but seemed to have no man with her. Had he died in combat? Was he waiting for her somewhere? Had she ran off from him? There were questions that quickly arose from this when Aenisa had come to think of it. The questions would have to wait, she had just met the woman and it was best to not pry deeper than the surface. Aenisa had waited to start the conversation until they had started to walk again because she wanted to reach the Bizarre before the trial were due to start. Come to think of it, Aenisa didn’t really know when the trial was due to start but she guessed that it would be made clear as they moved through the streets. Ionu was hopefully going to guide them to the trial if their fortunes were in the god’s favour.

“You know, I have not been here long time, when I come to the Alvadas, it been good and bad and it give me strange feeling in…” She paused, trying to figure out the word that she was looking for. “… head, feeling so sometime you can’t see if real or if illusion.” Aenisa carried on from their earlier conversation, she shrugged her shoulders slightly, the box in her hands coming up and down like a gentle wave. There wasn’t much else she could really say about it and so she left it at that, she guessed that Elin would understand what it all meant anyhow. Having been looking for someone in the city the last time that the woman had been in the city, Aenisa had to ask her, “You still want to find person you were looking at? I can feel how to want to be close to home but not being at home. I come from Wind Reach. Hope that the illusion are kind for kids. Ionu like to play tricks. Bad tricks.” It offered some insight into Aenisa but she left the rest of herself closed off, if the woman wanted to know more, she was going to have to ask herself.

Aenisa had no idea where they were but they had taken a right and one left at this point, she would take another left before she would admit defeat. Those around then small group seemed to come in waves, thickening and then thinning out, the city seemed to be like a sea in more ways than one.

SPACER

[Elin]

Elin smiled nodded a 'your welcome' at the girl as she heard her thank her for carrying one of the boxes. She was just glad that she could help out in a more productive way then just trying to help her avoid bumping into any people or walls.
Then she heard her stating that she didn't know anything of the Inn that Elin would likely be staying in.
Shyke, maybe it closed down... It's been a while after all. she thought to herself before hearing the girl continue, speaking of how the streets changed all the time meaning you never knew where you were going, and Elin was about to respond before the girl asked her if she thought Alvadas was a good place.
"I think it is a good place. Hard to get around, but fun, and I remember it being fairly safe. Last season we got caught up in some riots, but it seems calmer here so we hopefully wont have to worry about like that." Elin answered, shrugging her shoulders. To her anywhere was better than Syliras after the riots that happened last season, including the one she'd been caught in the middle of.

"Yeah, she's big. She's got past the more vulnerable years, just gotta get Rion there now." Elin said, forcing a smile as she looked down at the little boy who was now asleep, pressed against her chest in the sling, just above the box she carried, before looking back up in the direction she was going, occasionally turning her head to look at Aenisa.

For a moment it was quiet between the two, and Elin felt somewhat awkward. Even Ilia was quiet aside from a few giggles when looking at flowers outside buildings that they passed, then Elin heard Aenisa speak again.

"I'm not sure whether thats normal or not for Alvadas. I can't remember what it was like for me all that much, since I've been away for a while, but I do remember being unsure of what was real and what wasn't." Elin nodded agreeably as she spoke, though she wasn't entirely sure of what the girl meant by a strange feeling in her head.
"Not anymore, I gave up a while ago, and now I have these two I figure I don't really think I need to find them. They're probably dead or the other side of the Suvan for all I know." Elin smirked slightly as she spoke, remembering how she had spent so long trying to find Ilia's dad, and now they were a happy trio and Ilia had never even asked anything about a father. She just hoped it would continue that way and that Ilia wouldn't notice a difference between them and any other families they might meet. She didn't particularly want to explain to the child that her father had left them before she'd even been born.

Then she heard the mention of Wind Reach and the name sounded familiar to her, though she could have heard of it during her schooling in Lhavit. She seemed to recall it being another mountainous city in Kalea, though she wasn't sure whether she'd met anyone from there before and whether the inhabitants were human or some other race she hadn't encountered yet.

"Bad tricks? I'm assuming that the city and Ionu haven't been kind to you yet?" she questioned, wondering what the girl meant by bad tricks, and she hoped that her children would only have to deal with the fun and playful aspect of Alvadas, with the performances, the artistry, and the harmless illusions that could entertain them or confuse them, but not cause any harm to come to them.

Then as she spoke she heard Ilia speak up, the little girl looking up at Aenisa.
"Is Wind Reach windy? It should be!" The little girl started and Elin rolled her eyes slightly, before continuing. "Ionu play bad tricks? Mummy says you should tell someone if somebody mean. Or be nice to them." Ilia said again and Elin stifled a laugh, realising that Ilia likely had no idea that Ionu was a god or goddess instead of a regular person.
She hadn't yet told Ilia about the god or goddess of the city, and hadn't told her much about any of the city, intending on doing so once they'd found somewhere to stay where they could settle down and speak about what Alvadas was like and how to behave in the city.

Sighing, she looked up, wondering if they were anywhere near finding the Bizarre or whether they were in the completely wrong area for it, or whether Ionu was taking it further and further from them.

Boxcode by Gossamer