Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was the warmth that she noticed first, followed by the brightness of what could be considered the most perfect summer day. Clouds hung lazily in the sky as the sun beat down on the duo whom had appeared upon the wonder. The stood on a grassy knoll. The vegetation swept at to Gwen’s knees, the prospect of small red flowers budded around them, waiting for the proper time to blossom. Around them was nothing more than grass, flowers, and the sky. If one listened hard enough they could hear the crash of waves in the distance, but it was the view of a stone castle that pulled Gwen’s attention upon their arrival.

“Well..” She looked at Scholomance with a timid smile. “Welcome to Hy-Brasil.” She swept her arm around her. “I was actually hoping the flowers would be in bloom by now.” She mentioned as she carefully knelt down to hold one of the precious blossoms in her hand. “But, I guess I’ll have to wait a bit longer. I’ve no idea how long they’ve been like this.” She pushed up off her knees and glanced back at Scholomance.

“We can head up to the castle to chat. The main hall is in alright shape, if a bit dusty. We could also make ourselves comfortable in the courtyard if you’d prefer being outside.” She winked at him. “Enjoy a bit of summer instead of that horrible winter weather?”

Turning her attention back to the castle she started heading towards it before pausing to beckon Scholo to follow her. A rudimentary path of stone could be found leading the duo to the main gates of the castle which the Earth Knight opened with ease upon their arrival. The courtyard, in disarray and in much need of some tender loving care, still had it’s stone benches scattered about, along with more natural forms of seating arrangements in the shape of large rocks and boulders. In the center of the courtyard though stood a large fountain that was carved with floral and celtic arrangements. The double tiered fountain, though quite sizeable, fit well in the space it was in, not seeming too over or under whelming. Of course, it had run dry ages ago.

“Just...be careful on some of the stones. It’s not necessarily as even as it might have been once.” She commented.

Hy-Brasil glanced over at the fountain in question and nodded. "Yes, I am fine with that." She fell in stride beside Scholomance's horse, her eyes darting over the creature that he sat astride on. She hadn't remember ever seeing the beast before. It was a curious sight indeed, seeing a Knight in purple and black riding a horse of pale green. Still, something like a horse would be incredibly useful to getting around Hy-Brasil.

She kicked a stray stone that lay in her path. It obviously had come from some sort of structure, but the pale grey stone could be from anything including the castle structure itself. A glance to her right showed one of the dilapidated wooden suspension bridges that connected two of the towers and she remotely wondered it it had come from up there. And how long ago had it fallen?

"How long did it take you to get Scholomance to the state it's in now?" She questioned the Knight as they finally reached the fountain and she hopped up onto the stonework that made the basin of the fountain. Water obviously no longer ran form it, and plants of all sorts had made their home in the dirt that had collected at the bottom. Even some of the red flowers, still budding, could be found amongst the vegetation. "I'd love to see this place back to how it once was. Or, as close to it as possible." She smiled as she turned her attention to the large wooden doors that stood at the far end of the courtyard. She knew, just through there, was where the main hall sat.

"Anyway, sorry I just sort of, came here." She shrugged. "I always feel a need to come to the castle when I come to my Wonder."

So the repairs would happen the more she was around? Hy glanced around at the old building around her, mentally vowing to visit the wonder more. Not to mention Cashel would probably enjoy her visiting more. Assuming, of course, she could pry him from his research.

"I don't know how many of us really wanted our Wonders at first. Not with the world it penned us up to." She said with a small smile. "But, I've found myself growing fon of Hy-Brasil." She drummed her fingers on the stone she sat on. "Maybe I will have to come here and do some gardening work at least. Try and get the courtyard cleaned up a bit."

The talk of ancestors and reincarnation was new. She had assumed all knights had ancestors to guide them. "Cashel is my ancestor." She remarked. "He is a Prashant enough old man, but doesn't seem to stay far from the research tower. " She nodded her head to one of the towers behind them. "I can't say I've had many conversations with him though. I should probably fix that, too." Especially if he could teach her a few things.

At the mention of her signet ring, Hy lifted her left hand where the silver toned ring sat on her middle finger. "I got this not long before I became a squire. " involuntarily she glanced down to see Solana ring, forgetting he had mentioned he didn't have it until she saw it missing. "How are you going to get your back?" She questioned. "If I can help at all I will." Since possessing her ring, she knew how important they were to the knights.

"Oh, I am fond of it. It's beautiful here. And with the change in weather compared to...well...what we're dealing with now, it's like heaven." She smiled. "But yea, gardening will be the first thing I'll try. It's at least something I know I am good at." In a teasing tone she leaned towards him a bit. "Maybe I'll just have to bring that talent of mine to Scholomance. Add a bit of color here and there. I don't recall seeing any sort of flowers about that place." Mentally she pictured tacky window boxes sporatically around the castle and had to hold back a rather unlady-like snort.

Scholomance's response to her offer to help get his ring back caused her brows to furrow. She certainly hadn't thought that getting his ring back was off track. After all, hadn't he said he needed it to access his own Wonder? Why would he not want to discuss plans to get it back? She crossed her legs and leaned back using her arms as supports as she thought. Maybe he didn't have a plan yet? That was possible. She couldn't imagine it would be easy to get it back.

She turned and point to the tower that marked the north of the Island. "That one there." She looked at him and bit her lip. "I won't lie. It's not an easy walk. Are you sure you want to go up there? I don't mind not seeing Cashel this time around. He can be...uh..." She searched for the right words. "A little high-strung and focused when he really gets into something." The older man that was her ancestor was, in truth, a very kind man. When he wasn't absorbed in whatever it was he did up in that tower. There had been a time or two she'd come to visit and he had been so engrossed that she swear he barely acknowledged her presence. But, maybe Scholomance was right, and it was merely the fact that the old man was just so use to being alone here he sort of 'forgot' she was around at times.

"Another option perhaps? We aren't far from the cliffs and it will be a much easier walk than scaling the Towers, especially since some of the stairwells are a bit dubious. I find the Fog very fascinating to see and watch. It's incredibly thick, like a brick wall made of moving mist." She glanced at the Tower to the east. "Or we can visit the library. That doesn't require too many stairs. It's actually where I found my signet ring."

She shrugged a single shoulder and with a gentle smile. "I'll leave it up to you since this is your first time here." She sat there, legs crossed, completely relaxed. Blue eyes were keenly fixed on the man beside her as she watched him carefully. It wasn't until that moment she realized how many of his mannerisms had changed or shifted to compensate for his lack of appendages. Not to mention, how tired and...worn out, he looked. She pushed off from her arms to reach forward to touch his face, cupping the side of his head with her hand as her thumb traced his jawline. "Consider this some time to just...let loose. There's no one here that will hurt you or is trying to tail you. Really, if all we do here is just relax, I don't mind one bit."

She could see it in his eyes. How absolutely tired he was. She wanted to do something for him, but wasn't sure what. What could she do to help him relax? Was there anything here she could offer him?

"Hm? Oh, the library?" She said pulled from her contemplation. "It's actually the tower there. It spans the entire thing, but we won't need to go to the top if we aren't interested. Truthfully, I've not done much more than peek into the separate rooms to assess what kind of shape they're in. Which is to say, they are dusty, dark, and smell of moldy pages. Who really knows what we'll find, if anything." Texts from centuries ago couldn't have weathered well, especially in such a drafty place as this castle. Still, she was hopeful that something would survive the passage of time and still be legible.

She glanced at the offered hand before taking it and made a point not to put much weight into the assistance as she hopped from the stonework. "We can go through the main hall. We can grab a candle there so that we have some sort of light. While the windows here are helpful, they don't cover everything." The library was case and point. The rooms in that tower had no windows at all. It was the spiraling staircase that was blessed with the small rectangular holes.

"The top floors had a stronger smell to them than the bottom ones, so I feel like we may have better luck on the first and second floor anyway as compared to the top." She said as she led the way to the main hall, keeping her pace at an easy stroll so that Scholomance wouldn't feel the need to have to 'keep up' with her.

The large double wooden doors leading into the main hall were ornately crafted with what Hy had come to know as the Hy-Brasil insignia since it also was on her ring. A celtic design of two flowers blossoming side-by-side. According to Cashel the symbol represented the red flowers around the island that she had been eagerly awaiting to see blossom. The doors, though old, still opened without much more than a squeaky protest from their hinges. The hall inside was well lit between a scattering of windows along the outer walls and the lanterns that hung lit on the walls. Several long tables and chairs, all wooden and quite sturdy in appearance were scattered about. Some had half burnt candles on them, others were bare, while one or two tables had a few scrolls or books sitting on them. Tapestries of different designs hung on the walls as a way to warm up the room.

Hy turned her attention to a table that ran along the wall the doors were on. There she was able to snatch up a fresh candle and holder for it. "The library is a tower down from here, so we'll need to go through the door on the right. "She pointed to the doorway she spoke of before turning her attention to the lantern that hung closest to her. With care, she pulled open a small door on the front and used the lantern to light the wick of her candle. She closed the small door and latched it, and placed the candle in the holder. "Alright, shall we be on our way." She smiled.

The path to the library was far from a scenic one. The tight corridors, decaying decor, and narrow windows did little to disguise the dust and deterioration. But, Hy-Brasil looked past all of that for now. With the hope that the Wonder would return to it's former glory, or close to it, she found that seeing it in such disarray didn't bother her quite a much now. Of course, that didn't mean she wasn't keenly aware that Scholomance was taking in everything around them as they moved through the corridors.

"A bit, yes." She responded as she stepped over a paving stone that had come loose and jutted up from the floor some. If she hadn't been paying attention, the stone would have proved a rather humiliating fall for her, she was sure. "I think it's partly the fog that surrounds this place and the fact that there is so much deteriorating. I've noticed parts of the roof are in rough shape and I am sure moisture has gotten in. I don't mind it much, though." She shrugged with a smile. "Ireland was a wee bit colder than this, but it had it's sticky days. I guess it just sort of reminds me of that." She didn't have many memories of Ireland since she left at a resonably young age, but being on Hy-Brasil seemed to rummage up a small bit of those old memories hidden away from her childhood.

They entered a slightly larger section of the corridor. Two doors, similar in design but not quite as large as the entrance to the main hall, were off to the side. A staircase leading upwards began it's wrapping ascent just past the entrance to the first floor of the library. "Alright. Floor one." She grinned and walked over to the doors. These ones pulled open, and why became apparent at the amount of shelves that had been crammed into the space.

The rounded walls across form the entrance served as a spot for lanterns and a few narrow windows. Two large desks, which had been carved to match the shape of the wall were each positioned under a lantern or by a window. The rest of the room was filled with rows of shelves and books that stood about 7 feet in height. Right to the ceiling of the room. The floor themselves were, for the most part, bare, except for the small study area where a fairly well preserved carpet still lay in red and brown hues.

Though, like Hy-Brasil had mentioned, the room did have that quite distinct smell of moldy pages and books. Still, many of the tomes and scrolls seemed to be in relatively good shape upon cursary glance. Though who knew if they'd survive their spines being bent to accommodate a reader.

"I have no idea if things are categorized in any specific way. I've not looked into that or asked Cashel. I would imagine each room has it's own focus, but that just me assuming." She said as she walked into the room and used her candle to inspect the lanterns, lighting those that still had a candle and wick. The warm glow of the lit candle helped brighten the room more and make it appear more inviting and less unwelcoming. "If we're careful with the books down here, I think we will have more luck than those on the top floors. I thinks something must have happened up there to let water in or something. I didn't notice a hole in the roof when I was there, but who knows what could have happened in this place."

Gwen snorted. “It’s not always cold and wet.” She remarked good naturedly. “There’s plenty of sunshine to go around with the rain, I promise you.” She turned her attention to the shelves around them. Many of the books and scrolls had no indication what was contained within them. The few that had any markings looked like nothing more than random strokes of a pen to dictate where in the library they belonged. Assuming, that’s what the marks meant. For all she knew they could just be the careless act of a student or random reader marking it in mistake.

It was as she perusing the shelves that she heard Scholomance’s apology before the shattering of glass followed. “Isaiah!” She said more out of shock than actual anger as she rounded the shelf to look at him. She looked from him, to the broken window and sighed. Mentally, she told herself that it would be fixed. She’s even take it upon herself to board it up if need be to protect the books, but really? “So claustrophobic you needed to break a window?” She raised a brow at him, eyes following as he moved to shelves she hadn’t yet looked at. “Try not to break any books? I think I’d be more angry over that than a window.” She sighed, running a hand through her hair as she looked at the shattered window again with a bit of dismay. But what was she going to do about it now?

The broken window did draw her attention back to the dusty desk. It only took a moment for her to find a half, moth eaten tapestry, fallen on the ground, to utilize as a dusting cloth. With each careful stroke, the natural wood underneath appeared from underneath years upon years of dust and grime. Amazingly, it seemed the desk had fared well to the test of time and no insects or water had gotten to it. The scrolls that happened to be sitting on it though, well, they hadn’t fared as well. Left opened and unattended to, the ink had long faded due to the light filtering in from the nearby window and the paper itself was so brittle that a touch was enough to destroy them. As careful as she could though, she moved the crumbling scrolls to a nearby empty portion of a shelf just as Scholomance called for her attention.

Tossing the now filthy, ruined tapestry to the side on the floor, she walked over, coming up and taking the book from Scholomance. “That’s….Gaelic perhaps?” Brows knitted together as she looked at the somewhat familiar looking but still strange language on the pages. “I think it is anyway. I mean...it looks similar to it but different somehow.” She bit at her lower lip. “Not that I could read it anyway. I just remember seeing it when I was a kid, but there’s a good chance Cashel could read it. I’ll have to take it up to him. See if I can pry him away from his precious research.”

She turned from the book, still held in her hands, to look up at him with a gleeful grin. “Very good find.” She said with excitement. “I was worried that all of these would be damaged beyond repair or reading.” This just proved that some extra time spent in the library could be rewarding. What else could be found in here? Maybe something in an old English language hid away tucked amongst the tomes? Or were they all written in some archaic form of Gaelic? Who knew, but it made her extremely excited. Not to mention very pleased with Isaiah for having found it. “Maybe I need to bring you around here more often?” She teased him as she carefully closed the book for fear of doing damage to a spine that may be delicate. She moved forward and into him, wrapping her arms around his waist, leaning up to give him a kiss in thanks. The action was smooth, easy and very familiar to her, but it was the push of her body against him and the near hungry bite of her mouth on his that was not a typical move of hers. At least, not as an initiator.

Whether it was her excitement, the joy of being at her Wonder, or the fact that she knew Isaiah was being worn down by his troubles and needed to relax, but Gwen was more aggressive with her advance than normal and practically pushed Isaiah towards a nearby wall, hands wandering over his uniform, teeth and lips well put to use on his own.