The Beach

[King Thedriol]

Gentle grasses and soft sand snuggle together happily here. The quiet townspeople of Port Mayya often come and sit here to watch the sun go down, the only silhouette on an otherwise clear skyline the Island of the Raeyn. An elderly man sits fishing and a young girl makes a castle out of the sand. It is very peaceful here.

[Khorren]

The sky is painted a mess of warm colours, orange, pink, red and yellow. A large sun burns on the horizon and the moon lingers in the sky. Crickets sing to one another in the grass and the sea laps at the shore lazilly, carassing pebbles and shells in its wake.
A pair of blue eyes gaze about, the face to which thyey belong bearing a slight, contented smile.

Khorren wandered along the tide-line, her longsword, Teiden, held loosely in her right hand, the silver tip trailing along the damp behind her. Swallows were pirouetting in the sky around her, singing and dancing with one another. Her gaze drifted from the horizon to the sky and from the sky to the moon, from the moon, to the inland horizon, where the Port Mayya set. The distant sound of singing, laughter and chatter immitted from a pub-house within Mayya.

Yawning deeply, Khorren reached into her waste-satchel and drew out a map and a beautifully crafted glass bottle filled with a lacey blue liquid. She stopped for a moment to study the map by the last dregs of light, pulling a glass stopper from the bottle and drinking as she did so. By the map, she was to travel through Port Mayya to get to the town of Elidwen, but that would take a good few days on foot. Khorren walked a little way up the bank and set herself down, rolling up the ragged map and placing it and the empty bottle back in her waste-satchel.

It was summer, so darkness shouldn't fall for another hour. Sleeping on the beach wouldn't be so bad. She put her arms around her legs and watched the swallows. She couldn't deny it was lonely around here.

[Laedra]

Laedra flew unsteadily towards the shore, the slightest breath of wind knocking her way off-course. She was so close now, but she had flown such a long way... Why oh why had she risen to her friend's bait? Although if she made it she would be held in the highest honour for longer than any Raeyn before... Wobbling a little, with grim resolution she set about with renewed enthusiasm to reach the beach.

She had nearly made it, she drew closer with every beat of ehr wings. Her breath came in shallow, uneven pants, but as she began to veer downwards a wayward current of wind blasted her from behind and helped her onto the beach. She crashed into the sand near to a girl of a smililar age with long green hair.

Laedra open her eyes, weak from exhaustion but determined to savour her moment of victory.

"Hello..." she said tiredly, and passed out.

[Kuna]

Kuna walked slowly along the sandy beaches looking out across the sea. She was continually fighting to try and keep her hair out of her eyes. Breathing in deeply she enjoyed the fresh air. It was her dream to one day travel but she had never been allowed far from home. She hated her confinement and sometimes thought that maybe that was the cause of her fiery temper. Earlier she had managed to get out from the castle un-noticed hoping that it would enable her to stay out a little longer. She decided to practice her thought magic. Concentrating on a stone she managed to move it into the sea. Trying to challenge herself she tried to lift a boudler but it failed. She sighed. It was hopeless, it didn't matter what people told her she wasn't good enough at her magic. As she continued to walk she saw a Raeyn which seemed to have fainted. She ran to it concerned for its health. When she got there she wasn't sure what to do. She shook them gently then splashed a little sea water on the girls face.
"Hello....wake up.....are you alright?"

[Khorren]

Khorren, who had been watching the Raeyn under the assumption that she was some sort of bird until several seconds before she had crash-landed, had been quite shocked by the new arrival. Surely it wasn't healthy to fly overseas in darkness? There was another girl splashing water in the Raeyn's face.
Khorren took another small bottle from her waist-satchel and handed it to Kuna.
"Here..." she said, wishing she could sound as sympathetic as she was and less dumbfounded, "...it's healing potion, maybe it'll revive her?"

[Laedra]

Laedra blinked grit and sand from her eyes, blearily opening them as someone splashed cold water onto her face. She dizzily reached out her hands, feeeling around to check where she was. Yes, she hadn't dreamt it - she had reached Port Mayya! Attempting to sit up in her excitement, she looked around, her head clouded and groggy. There seemed to be a second figure nearby, offering some form of potion to the girl who had awoken ehr. She hoped it was. She felt sick.

The girl feebly tried to move her wings, but failed miserably. She was in no state to do anything, let alone fly.

[Kuna]

Kuna thanked the girl who handed the potion and then turnesd to te Rayen. She was about to ask whether she was ok when she suddenly noticed the suns position in the sky. She gasped it was late and her father would be worried. She turned to the others and said "I am most sorry for my leaving. I hope you can heal the Rayen but I must leave urgently. Sorry once again." She turned and then ran back up the beach desperate to get to her horse and reach home in time.

[Khorren]

Khorren watched Kuna leave, not entirely sure what to say. She turned the the Raeyn.
"Did you fly all the way from the island by yourself?" she asked, suddenly curious, as she sparked a fire in a pile of wood she had gathered.

[Laedra]

LAedra gladly accepted the potion, drinking it greedily down. She took a minute to brethe, and then looked at Khorren curiously.
"yes," she said proudly, "id did... I did it!" Suddenly ecstatic as she realised she'd won her bet, she threw her arms around the girl lighting the fire before gleefully retreating.

"I'm Laedra" she beamed. "And I'm very pleased to meet you!"

[Khorren]

"Nice to meet you too." Khorren replied, grinning. "I'm Khorren." She had never met a Raeyn before, they were very interesting beings. Khorren wondered if they were usually this flamboyant.

She took her rucksack off and set it on the sand beside her, taking out a small bag of what looked like dried fruit.
"Want some?" she asked, munching some and offering the bag to Laedra.

[Laedra]

"Please!" Sparks lit up in the Raeyn's eyes as she reached for the bag. Picking out a couple of pieces of fruit, she munched thoughtfully on them for a moment.

"Tell me," she said after a bit. "What is there to do here on the mainland?" Now that Laedra had done everything there was to do on her island... she wanted mroe! She'd had a taste of something different, and she was eager to explore. "If there's much to do, would you please accompany me to the most exciting place?" Drawing herself up, she looked at Khorren expectantly.

"Well? let's go!" Noticing the dark sky and then looking over at the warm fire, she said quickly, "Well. In the morning."

[Khorren]

Khorren grinned, she loved to explore.
"Yes! We must do that in the morning! What kind of place were you thinking of?" Khorren herself was on the way to Calidmere, although she planned to stop at Elidwen first. She had never seen a large settlement before, not a big town and especially not a city.

[Laedra]

"Anywhere! Everywhere!" Laedra's eyes sparkly excitedly. "I want to... I have to..." She paused to think for a moment, before an intangible string of words were to come spilling out and she would not be able to contain her flow on non-sensical thought. "We should go... to the the Castle." She said. "But we should visit the towns and other settlements around the capital as well. I want to train! I want to learn how to fight - I think. Does Calamere have an army?" She asked thoughtfully. "As long as there's not too much hard work that means less paly, that could be fun!"

[Khorren]

Khorren smiled. She thought that was a great idea, Laedra seemed to be on her wavelength.
"I want to be knighted..." said Khorren after a short pause, "... and see the world. I want to get strong so I can go where-ever I please without being afraid." She ate a dried mango piece as she thought.
She yawned deeply, inhaling the salty sea air and making her eyes water. She rubbed the water from her eyes with the back of her forearm.
"Maybe we should find an inn or somewhere to sleep..." she thought alloud. "It looks clear out, so we could sleep on a roof or something?"

[Laedra]

"We could just sleep here?" Laedra suggested. The Raeyn looked thoughtful, switching to her "serious-mode". Without saying another word, she curled up in the sand, neatly folding her wings behind her, and went to sleep.

*** ((sorry to hurry this up, but I think it's about time we went elsewhere ;D))

Laedra yawned widely, and sat up feeling slightly happier than she had befpre she'd gone to sleep the night before. For one thing her muscles no longer ached. And for another, sleeping on a problem always seemed to help her make her mind up, help her to find a solution.

"Khorren?" she called over cheerily, "Until you think you're strong enough to go anywhere, I'll look after you! So... Shall we go to see about training at the Castle? Or should we stop by Elidwen first? There's so many places to go to!"

[Khorren]

((That's okay, I wanted to speed it up too, I just didn't do a very good job of it ^^; ))

Khorren had been lying awake for quite a while, watching a sand martin picking for cockles near the shore. She sat up and stretched her arms above her head.
"I think going straight to the castle would be best," Khorren said, blowing her fringe from her eyes. "I'd linger in Elidwen, but I can't wait to start training."

She stood up, picked up her broadsword and trailed the tip back and forth across the sand for a while. "What do you think?"

[Laedra]

"Yes!" Laedra's eyes sparkled as the glimmer of a new idea formed in her head. She needn't go back to the Island just yet. There were plenty of other places to visit first! And to train in an army would be amazing. "I think that sounds fantastic. Elidwen can wait. There'll be more to do in the city, and more to see around the Castle annyway. Do we get free residency as we'll be training to help defend the Golden Lads? Although... from what I've heard, there's not much in the way of war going on."

Laedra got to her feet, and stretched out like a cat. SHe flexed her wings. Still slightly sore from yesterday's flight, she decided not to risk flying at least until later that day.
"Do you have a horse?" She asked. "I can't fly just yet, but if you do, when I can fly again we can travel much more quickly that way!"

[Khorren]

"I'm afraid not." Khorren said, blushing. She took a pocket-watch from her pocket and flipped the lid on the back open on to reveal a compass. She inspected it for a moment before pointing at the town. "We have to walk through there to get to the city, maybe we can pick up some snacks or something on the way?"

She closed the lid, placed the watch back in her pocket and started to walk, her heavy silver-trimmed boots sinking a little way into the sand.
"By the way." she added, "Do your family know you're alright?"

[Laedra]

"My family?" Laedra stopped, surprised. "I don't think so! I barely know them! My mother had me, then I grew up with the rest of the Raeyn." She shrugged. "That's the way things are. Don't you have parents then?" ((By the way, I know I'm just assuming this about the Raeyn. I just can't imagine them as particularly parental types!))

She stretched her wings out further. "Once my wings have recovered," She said, "I can carry you. It'll only slow me down a little - I'm a good flyer!"

[Khorren]

Khorren grinned at the idea of flying, then thought for a moment.
"I do have a family.." she started, "..but I left home to travel the world a while ago." The thought of visiting them some times crossed her mind briefly before she dismissed it, maybe some other time.