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 Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 3:58 pm
The Nanedin Waystation is a fairly large building, operated by some colorless. It is located just outside of the Nanedin border, past the fields, so that elemental powers were active there. Many elementals preferred to stay there instead of in the city, feeling a bit naked without their powers.
The building is three stories. The ground floor is where the Stationmaster's office is as well as the headquarters of the post, headed by the Postmaster. The post runners were elementals, coming in to the Waystation to take any post to and from their city. Also on the ground floor is a large kitchen and eating area.
While board and food is free, often the elementals do something to help, especially if they're staying for an extended period of time. Fire elementals sometimes help keep the oven and bath fires going, while Earth elementals help with the back garden or forging. Water elementals often care for the large baths and Air elementals keep the air circulating, especially in the kitchen area.
No fighting is tolerated by the Stationmaster, who's quick to boot any offender out of his waystation. He repeatedly states that the war does not exist inside of his station and to keep the peace.
The second floor and third floors are all rooms for those staying at the station, most rooms having two or three beds, though many have their own room except when the station is especially full.
There is a large one story building behind the waystation which houses the baths. These large heated baths are very popular among all who stay at the station.
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Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 7:13 pm
Selma set her bag on the bed she would be sleeping on while at the Waystation and looked around the room. It was sparsely furnished and decorated, but pleasant. She sighed and began taking the few items out of her bag and putting them in the bureau beside her bed, as she didn't know how long she would be staying. Her eyes fell on the towel and sandals in the bottom of the bag, and she thought about the bath house she had been told was located on the back of the property.
She glanced out her window and noticed a couple of people heading towards the bath house, towels in hand and made up her mind to head down as well. As she grabbed the necessary items, she wondered whether she would see any of her age mates down there and slipped out the door, heading towards the stairs.
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Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 10:46 am
Having tossed her bag onto her bed, Niki wandered back downstairs. She wanted to watch some of the elementals work, especially some of the Air element. After all, she'd be learning all of that shortly, so she might as well observe some of it in action beforehand.
She still wasn't exactly thrilled to be travelling with Vincent to Telphe. And that they'd already left Parmida behind and she would soon be leaving Tali and Selma behind as well. They had all known each other all of their lives. And now they had to split? Sighing, Niki tried to turn her attention back to the elementals and off of such depressing thoughts.
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Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 8:43 am
It was still fairly early but with how stressful the day had been, Tali didn't find it much amiss to go soak in a bath and think things over. The young man glanced at the pristine new blue clothing waiting for him before digging out his towel. It was a faded blue, with his name embroidered in gold on it. Wrapping the towel around his waist, 001 didn't even stop to consider that he would be going out in public with nothing but a towel on. Afterall, in the tower he simply shared a bathing room with the rest of the boys (not that it was used very often).
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 6:53 am
Selma heard a door open down the hall, and turned her head slightly to see out of the corner of her eye, that a boy was coming out of his room, with only a towel around his waist. She turned her head away, blushing, before she was able to identify him as Tali. The Earth Elemental wasn't used to seeing a lot of revealed skin. The boys had never been permitted to wander the halls without a shirt on in the dormatories. Selma continued walking, keeping her gaze averted, and started down the stairs.
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Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:37 am
Several days after the new adults had arrived at the waystation, there was a commotion downstairs in the evening. The guides from the cities had finally arrived, bringing some news of the three cities with them. The three men talked with the Stationmaster for a few moments, who sent word to the four adults that they would be leaving in the morning and to be ready.
That next morning, the three guides were waiting outside of the Postmaster's office for their charge, or charges in the case of the Air elemental. Each had a small bag of mail slung over a shoulder. As soon as the four new adults had joined up with their guides, the group headed outside, splitting up almost immediately to travel to their own cities.
The Air elemental, with Nikiana and Vincent in tow, headed for an air ship. The ships were commonly used to get to and from Telphe. The elemental in control shifted the winds to guide the ship where it needed to go.
The Water elemental and Taliesin headed for a nearby river, where a boat awaited them. This was the common way to get to and from Ceiba, for the elemental controlling it could speed and slow the currents as needed.
Selma and the Earth elemental just headed into the woods. Shortly, they came upon a very large tree and the Earth elemental laid his hand upon it for a moment. The tree began to stir and a branch moved down so that the two could climb up onto it. Here was their ride into Notuma.
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Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:45 am
It was a rather teary goodbye, at least as far as Tali was concerned. Not only did tears stream from his eyes, the very heavens wept with him. As soon as the guides arrived it slowly started to drizzle, despite clear skies. By the time they actually had to split up, well it wasn't quite a downpour. But a steady rain pounded the ground churning up dirt into mud.
With a fierce hug Tali whispered to Selma. "I'll write often. Promise." A quick peck and he turned to Niki, giving her a hug as well. Awkwardly the young man faced Vincent. He hesitated weighing options, before giving his age-mate a *very* quick hug. A heavy hand dropped down on Tali's shoulder as pulling him away from the group.
A dry water elemental stood there. "Get a hold of yourself boy. You've got to control your powers now. Else we'll never get home." A scowl darkened Tali's new teacher's face. "And first things first. Control you're emotions."
A matching scowl danced on Tali's face, though he did try his best to calm down. Slowly the rain slowed to a mere misting and his teacher nodded. "Let's go," the man said brusquly, propelling him towards the river bank.
Briefly Tali turned around and waved at the group, as each of them were taken away by the Elementals.
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Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:58 am
Nikiana's eyes were dry, of tears at least, but her stomach was doing some flip-flopping about. She was both excited and nervous. And a bit upset, too. After all, she was leaving her good friend Tali behind. And Selma, though Niki hadn't gotten to know the girl as well as she had Tali. And she was getting to travel with Vincent. Wonderful.
She glanced at the man wearing the yellow robes to match her own new ones. The man's robes were hemmed in black, unlike Niki and Vincent's own white. So the man was a teacher.
As they walked out into the rain, a wind picked up for a few moments before dieing down. It continued to pick up and die down during the group's farewells. Niki hugged Tali and waved at Selma as the group split up.
The man glanced at his two charges. "Alright. You guys have got to calm down, or else I'll have a hard time getting us home."
Niki glanced up at the man, realising he was talking about the unreliable winds at the moment. "Oh..." She took in a deep breath, trying to settle her stomach and her emotions. Slowly the wind died down to just a steady gentle breeze.
The man raised an eyebrow, then nodded. "Much better. Let's get going."
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Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2006 7:09 pm
Selma hardly noticed the rain as she hugged Tali goodbye. She laid her head on his shoulder for a moment, silent tears running down her cheeks. What if she never saw him again? When he told her he would write, she tried to smile and nodded.
"I will too," she whispered, returning the peck on the cheek. With one last hug, she turned away from him, not having the courage to look at him anymore. She moved on to Niki and Vincent, giving them each a hug, before facing her teacher. Silently, he indicated that she should follow him into the woods, and she sighed resignedly, before making her way after him.
Once within the forest, she found herself calmed slightly by the growing things around her, but shortly after entering, her teacher cleared his throat and indicated the ground by her feet. The grass and nearby plants were starting to look slightly wilted.
"Best get a hold on yourself, miss," he said matter of factly, before walking a few more paces and placing his hand on the tree that would take them to Notuma.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 11:48 am
Vincent watched the others and their emotional goodbyes. He was aware of the rain and the strange breezes tugging the hem of his robes. Selma and Tali almost had to be physically parted and to his surprise his former roomate turned to him and gave him a quick hug which, in his surprise, Vincent returned. A slight depression washed over him. He never really tried to get to know any of these people and he lived with them his whole life. It was sad really. He waved at Selma and Tali as they left and avoided Niki's gaze as she boarded the ship. Their new teacher told them to get under control and Vincent swolled his emotions just as Niki did and the winds slowed to slight zephyrs.
Vincent settled down against the railing and glanced at Niki. She wouldn't look at him. Fighting the urge to smile at this interesting encounter he tried to think of something to say. Most of the things he came up with were random and redundant. Giving up trying to talk to Niki he turned to the teacher. "What can we do to help?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 12:00 pm
The man looked at Vincent for a brief moment. "Just... keep those emotions in check right now."
Meanwhile, Niki was trying to do just that. 'Deep breaths, deep breaths.' She told herself, trying not to think of anything that would get her too excited or upset or nervous. But thinking that made her almost too excited or upset or nervous, so she tried to settle on a thought that wouldn't do that. Cute babies. There we go. The cute babies....
The man took in a deep breath and, concentrating for a moment, released it slowly, a wind building up as the teacher exhaled. The airship slowly rose and started to drift upwards, over the tops of the trees.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 12:29 pm
Vincent watched the trees recede mezmerized. His stomach flopped and his vision skewed in a sort of vertigo. It was one of the same reasons he never looked out of the windows of the toweres or anything else. You had to be kidding, an air mage who was afraid of heights. He forced himself to look, his thoughts clamped down tight on how nice this flight was. Yes, nice. Nothing could be nicer. He wanted to melt onto the deck of the ship but he had to keep careful check on his emotions. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts. Thunderstorms. He liked those. But not now. He switched thoughts quickly and burbled out the first thing he thought of.
"So how have you been, Niki?" It came out slightly rushed and with more feeling than he normal bothered putting into speech.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 12:56 pm
Cute babies... cute- eh, what? "Hmm? Oh, uh... good, I guess?" Her train of thought derailed as Vincent spoke. "Uh... what about you?"
The girl glanced down at the receding ground. So cool to be flying, even if it was in a ship. She wondered how Tali was getting to wherever he was going.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:19 pm
Without checking himself he just burbled on in nervousness. "Oh, well, I've just kept in my room mostly... I've got some new drawings. A lot of them actually...there was a lot to see at the waystation... well, people... Did you watch the air mages? I think I saw you." His eyes stayed glued to the tree tops, his palms were sweating as he clamped hard onto the railing of the ship. Nice. This flight was nice. The breeze was nice. The clouds were nice. Niki looked very nice in her nicely tailored robes and with her bright red hair blowing in the breeze and...hello? Where were the trees? Oh... He looked over the side. They were far away. He looked at Niki again. He was liking that better than the trees that looked like grass. His face colored. His emotions weren't exactally overwhelming, just strange and he felt somewhat faint. Maybe it was the sun.
I'll just stare at the deck for a while, he thought. Nice and safe.
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Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:28 pm
"New drawings? You draw?" Goes to show just how much Niki knew about her classmate. Then again, she'd avoided Vincent a lot in their younger years.
"Yeah, I saw the air elementals. And some of the fire elementals too. It was neat watching them." She was rather enjoying the flight. She'd never been this high up before, but it was a lot of fun. And the breeze felt good.
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