Welcome to Gaia! ::

“I can’t believe this is happening to me all over again,” Araie grumbled as she finally spotted a small opening in the snow. While she knew what to look for when it came to looking for caves in the snow, this one had taken her quite a good while to find. Maybe her snow senses were getting dulled by how much time she had spent in Tale. She knew that her body was more used to the heat now. She had actually started to get colder faster than when she had left Zena. She certainly wasn’t happy about that development. She liked being fairly immune to the cold. But maybe it was a good thing. It did mean that she would be able to handle more heat the more she traveled.

Darting into the cave opening, Araie set about gathering all of the sticks and rocks that she could find. If she wanted to get out of here anytime soon, she was going to need to make herself a fire. After several minutes of searching, she had made a small circle of stones that surrounded a small pile of sticks she had managed to find in the cave. She would have been able to gather more wood, but a lot of it was wet from the snow that was whipping around like crazy outside. She was just going to have to make due with what she had at the moment.

Grumbling to herself at what she knew she had to do, Araie removed her gloves and sat them in her lap. She picked up a stick and began to try to make a fire just like the way her father had taught her. It was a long and grueling process and she had never been good at it. She usually had had her brother do it for her, but he wasn’t with her now. After several minutes of trying and getting nothing and cursing to herself as she made the skin on her hands raw with trying to make this fire, Araie gave up and threw the stick back onto the pile. So far, she had managed to accomplish absolutely nothing but hurting herself, and the wind outside was getting much colder.

Araie shivered as she wrapped her cloak around her as tight as she could. This situation was completely and totally awful. She had traveled back to Zena just to see her family again since Casati had taken off to take care of family emergency back with the Wind nomads. She had been so excited to tell her family all about her new friends and all the beautiful, amazing things that she had seen. Instead, she had gotten over confident and cocky, again, and had gotten herself caught in a surprise blizzard. Again. Gah! She had to be the worst Ice earthling to ever be with how often she got caught in snow storm. She was sure that if her brother could see her right now, he’d be laughing his bright blue butt off at her.

With a sigh and a shake of her head, Araie reached into her pack and pulled out the small, hand-made journal she kept there. She had made it quite some time ago, even going so far as imprinting a few snowflakes on the cover to mark the journal as hers. It had become a diary of sorts, although she did far more than just write in it. She jotted down her though of course, but she also sketched out maps and landscapes of all the wondrous places she’d been, and sometimes even doodled the people and creatures she met. But the single most important thing she did was catalog all of the runes she had discovered and their various effects.

Quickly flipping through the pages of her journal, Araie’s eyes scanned the pages. Now she was severely wishing she had organized this thing better. She was sure she had drawn at least one minor fire rune in here some where...aha! There it was! She hadn’t drawn a lot of fire runes in there considering it was the element she was weakest with. Her preferred element was naturally ice. She was good at ice and water magic, decent with lightning, air, and earth magic, and absolutely terrible with fire magic.

The Ice Earthling studied the rune for several minutes, memorizing the beautiful and intricate lines. She wanted to one day memorize all of her runes, but there was quite a few of them and it would take some time. Once she was sure that she had memorized the fire rune, Araie closed her book and gently stuffed it back into her pack. She didn’t want to risk anything happening to it, especially since she was quite literally about to play with fire.

Araie shifted back toward the abandoned pile of sticks in the center of her little cave. Her hands still felt raw from her attempt to make a fire the old fashioned way. She picked up several of the small pieces of wood and pushed them aside, revealing the snow below them. She etched the rune she had memorized into the snow, making sure that every line was perfect. She would accept nothing less than perfection when it came to her magic. Once she was positive the rune was as good as she could make it, Araie closed her eyes and began to focus.

She could feel the warm energy of magic spreading through her body, causing her to smile. How she loved how magic felt. It was one of her favorite things in the world. Turning her attention to the rune she knew was in front of her, she focused all her magical energy on it, doing her best to imagine a fire springing to life at that location. For a minute or so, nothing seemed to happen. Araie peeked open an eye, hoping to see even a small bit of fire. Maybe even a bit of smoke or something. Sadly, there was nothing. She huffed in impatience but continued to focus on the rune. Still, there was nothing. With a growl, Araie threw up her hands in frustration and fully opened her eyes.

“Hurry up and light you stupid thing!” Araie shouted into the frozen wind. Suddenly, fire leaped up from the spot where the rune was and began to consume and burn her small pile of sticks. Araie grinned and jumped up in excitement, letting out a sound of victory. Maybe one of these days she would completely master her rune magic.

Araie squeaked in surprise as she fell and the rug she’d been standing on wrapped around her, blocking her from seeing anything at all. She desperately searched for something to grab onto, but her grasping fingers found only empty air and the blinding rug. A few seconds later, Araie’s feet hit solid ground. A spike of pain went through her right leg, starting at her ankle, causing that leg to give out on her. Her body quickly over and her head was gifted with a very rude introduction to the hard ground.

Owwww. This was turning out to be a far more painful adventure than she had thought it would be. Throwing the rug off of her head, Araie struggled to stand up. Her leg hurt terribly, but she refused to sit back down. It was dark and kind of damp down here and she did not want to stay down here any longer than she had to. Besides, she was sure that this was more than just a pit in the ground. Surely there had to be something exciting down here.

Fishing out the run her brother had given her when she left home, Araie held the rune out in the palm of her hand. A soft light emanated from it, gentle enough to not hurt her eyes but bright enough to let her where she was. Always keep this with you, Araie. It’ll be your light in the darkness. That way you’ll always be able to find your way home. At the moment, she appeared to be in some hollowed out part of the ground. There was nothing but dirt as far as she could see in this strange tunnel thing. Turning around, Araie was met with a wall of earth. Well then. It appeared there was only one direction for her to walk, so she turned and began to walk.

It felt like she was walking for hours, but she was sure the burning pain in her leg wasn’t helping her perception of time. Just as Araie was about to finally give in and sit down on the hard ground, her eyes flicked over and she saw the tunnel open up a bit futher in the distance. Thank goodness. Glad to see at least a change of terrain, Araie forgot all about the pain in her leg and continued forward.

When she finally reached the opening, Araie came to a stop and gasped at the sight before her. It was astoundingly beautiful. The cave she was now in was massive. Tree roots from the surface dangled down from the top of the cave and into an amazingly clear pool of water. This must have been why there had been so many trees in the area around the cabin! It would also explain why everything in the tunnel had felt so damp.

Walking forward, Araie stopped at the edge of the pool and peered inside. It was very clear. There were no fish or bugs in it whatsoever, despite being surrounded by nothing but dirt. Araie sat down her rune at the edge of the pool, making sure it was far enough away it wouldn’t accidentally fall in the water. She couldn’t bare to lose a gift from her brother. She stuck her hands into the cold water and shivered before pulling out a handful of water and drinking it. It tasted good too, especially considering her precious state of being out of water. She drank several hand fulls of water before filling her canteen up as. Finally letting herself relax, Araie glanced down at her leg. She really did need to take a loot at it, even if there was nothing she could really do for it. She was no healer, after all.

Taking off her boot very slowly, Araie inspected the damage. Her ankle had swollen a great deal and her foot was one big bruise, but at least nothing was broken. Thankfully her mother, the skilled healer she was, had insisted that Araie pack several healing herbs with her before she went on her adventure. Grabbing the healing herbs out of her pack, Araie began to mix them just the way her mother had taught her. She may have hated having to learn all this when she was a child, but it sure was helpful now. Sadly, the only thing she could really do was mix the herbs that would help her with the swelling. Everything else that had to do with healing knowledge completely alluded her. She guessed she was just a bit too destructive for the fine nature of healing magic.

Once the herbs had been properly applied to her ankle, Araie took out her journal and flipped to an empty page. This was a sight to see and she didn’t want to forget it, so that meant it was time to draw. Araie continued to draw for quite some time, not even realizing how tired she was until sleep overtook her.



When Araie finally awoke, she blinked sleepily and slowly stretched. Why was she sleeping in the dirt again? After a few seconds, the memory of yesterday’s adventure came back to her. Ah, yes. Her distraction that had lead to quite an interesting encounter. She had called it yesterday when she said this was going to get her into so much trouble.

Now fully awake, Araie packed up her journal and took another look at her ankle. The swelling had gone down considerably, but the pain was still very much there. Well, there was nothing she could do about it now. Hopefully she’d run across Eziya and her group again fairly soon.

Sliding her boot back on, Araie stood slowly. Her leg was supporting her weight fairly well, but it hurt. Now she just had to find a way out of here. She really didn’t want to have to walk all the way through the tunnel again. She wasn’t even sure if she’d be able to climb back up into the cabin again. Maybe there was a way out here in the cave itself. Sliding her rune into her pocket, Araie was surprised to see the cave didn’t go completely dark. In fact, there was a small sliver of sunlight across the way. That was a good sign at least.

Walking over to where she saw the sunlight, Araie looked up. Sure enough, there was a small hole in the roof of the cave. It looked like it was covered in leaves, but she was sure she could fit through the hole if she tried hard enough. For once, she was glad she was blessed with such a small form.

Making sure that her pack was secure and not going to fall off of her, Araie grabbed the nearest tree root and began to climb. Her foot was screaming in pain and the skin on her hands definitely hated her, but she eventually made it to the hole. Hmm. It was smaller than she had thought at first. Getting through it might be more of a challenge than she had initially figured. After several minutes of careful adjustment and pulled up her body weight, Araie finally managed to pull herself out of the cave and back outside.

The Ice Earthling happily collapsed on the ground, letting her body take the break it deserved. Her “minor” distraction had caused herself a lot more pain than she had imagined. As much as she wanted to promise herself she would never do it again, she knew she would. After all, she loved adventuring too much to rob herself of such experiences. Once she felt strong enough, Araie stood up and brushed herself off. She was finally ready to head to that village.

Now...where was she again?

Araie winced as she brushed her way into the healer’s tent, the slightest touch of fabric against her shoulder sending white hot pain through her arm. It had only been a day since her stumble in the cave, but the pain the fall had caused her had just gotten worse and worse until it was now almost unbearable. She wasn't quite sure what she had done to it, but she knew she needed to get it fixed and she needed to get it fixed as soon as possible. After she had finally found a small settlement of Wind earthlings, Araie had immediately sought out where the local healer was. The Wind folk had directed her to this little tent out on the edge of town with a warning that while their healer was quite talented, they could be quite the grouch when they felt like it. That wasn't going to stop Araie though. She didn't care what she had to go through to get her arm back in working shape.

"Hello? Anybody home? Wounded woman here," Araie grumbled as she looked around the empty looking tent. It would be just her luck that she finally finds a healer just for them to be gone or out of commission for some reason.

"Who in the world is it now?" an older man said as he came out from a section of the tent Araie hadn't noticed before. Araie couldn't tell just by looking at him how old he was, but she knew he was no spring chicken. His long hair was loose and all gray, falling to about his chin in length. His small eyes were still scrunched up enough that she couldn't quite make out the color of them and they were buried underneath bushy brows. She was sure he had seen quite a lot in his lifetime, but now she wasn't sure he could see anything at all.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir. My name is Araie. I heard you were a talented healer and I'm rather badly injured," Araie greeted, keeping her voice as civil as possible. It wasn't the easiest task, considering how much pain she was in. But still, it was better to be nice to the person who was about to take care of her wounds than rude, no matter the excuse for it. The Wind nomad waved his hand dismissively, his nose crinkling as he motioned for her to sit on the pile of blankets on the floor. He turned away from her before responding, walking over to the other side of the tent to grab some basic healing supplies. She recognized a few of them from her time with Eziya, but a great deal of them were a huge mystery of her. She hoped he really was a healer and not some man who just fancied himself one.

"Don't be such a suck up, girl. Now tell me what's wrong with ya," the elder grumbled at her as he approached her. Despite his gruff demeanor, Araie couldn't help but smile a little bit. There was something innately refreshing about being around someone who cared little for social graces, especially considering how she had grown up. It had been nothing but learning how to speak and when to speak and what was appropriate behavior for a young lady. She had always failed at those lessons.

"I fell yesterday and yanked my shoulder really hard. Now it's red and swollen and every little motion I use it for just makes it hurts a million times worse," Araie explained, pushing down the fur on her outfit so the healer could get a better look at the offending appendage. The man shuffled over to her and gently touched her arm, his grasp much more careful than she had been expecting. He may have been a grouch, but it was obvious that he knew what he was doing. All her concerns about him not being a healer fled as she felt the cool refreshing feel of healing magic flow into her shoulder, immediately diminishing the near constant pain she had been suffering since yesterday.

"And how did you manage to fall hard enough to dislocate your shoulder, Ari?" The healer asked. Araie almost immediately shot off that Ari wasn't her name, but then thought better of it. Instead, she was much more concerned about what he had said about the damage done to her shoulder. Even it wasn't hurting anymore, she wasn't foolish enough to think that meant she was fixed. Healing was never as simple as that. She had seen plenty of injuries during the war with the Alkidikes to know that some wounds just couldn't be fixed with magic.

"I was exploring a cave with a friend when I fell off a small cliff. I caught a part of the wall and it jerked my shoulder really hard. Did you say I dislocated my shoulder? Is it bad? Is it supposed to hurt this bad? How long will it take to heal?" Araie hadn't meant to rattle off so many questions at once, but she was worried. She couldn't function without her arm. She was a caster, for the sake of the gods. How was she supposed to adventure and keep up with Dezani and Raiha if she couldn't use her arm? The healer seemed to ignore her series of questions, instead doing various things to her arm. Thanks to the magic he had used on her earlier, she couldn't quite feel all the things he was doing. He mumbled to himself for a few moment before nodding, gently placing her arm back by her side.

"Yep, definitely dislocated, and pretty badly too. If I had gotten to you yesterday, it probably would have only taken about a month to heal. But since you didn't make it here until today, it could be anywhere from two to three months to heal, and that's if you don't irritate it even more," the healer explained. Araie couldn't help but gape at him. Months? Her arm was going to take months to heal! That was...one look at the healer's serious face had her frustration fading. Months. Well, that seriously sucked. What was she supposed to do without a fully functioning arm for months?

"Can you fix it?" Araie asked quietly, biting her bottom lip. The healer nodded and motioned for Araie to lay down on the blankets.

"Of course I can fix it, girl. What type of healer do you take me for? But you're going to have to do exactly what I say. And absolutely doing nothing wild to irritate it even more, do you hear me? I know how you youngins love to cause all sorts of havoc, but none of that for you missy," the healer scolded. Araie huffed but nodded as she laid back, putting herself in the healer's capable hands.

Oh boy. How was she supposed to go months without adventuring or getting into havoc? She had really done it to herself this time.

Staring out over the plains of Sauti had Araie sighing heavily. She had grown to appreciate the strange beauty of Sauti. While she had initially disliked the place, she found herself growing rather attached to it and she wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was because it was so different Zena, and anything that did the exact opposite of reminding her of Zena was a good things in her eyes.

Still though, there was something bothering her. It was more than just her injured shoulder, although that had been on her mind a great deal recently. But that was, in the end, just a wound and it would fade with time and careful healing. No, what was bothering her was something far more ephemeral and a great deal more frustrating just because she didn't know what in the world had her so on edge.

Taking off her shoes, Araie plopped down on the soft sand and stretched out as much as she could. She had found a fairly deserted little spot and felt safe enough to relax a few moments. She knew that she needed to keep moving and find the market town she had heard so much about. She wasn't going to last forever wearing this outfit of hers, but she wasn't sure where to even begin looking for new clothes to be quite honest. She wanted to make sure that if she got a new outfit, it was going to fit as well as the one she was currently wearing. Besides, as much as she wanted to distance herself from Zena, she was having a hard time just ditching her clothes. They were a part of her and her identity, even if she didn't necessarily like that. Bah, these were thoughts for another time. For now, her current outfit would work.

Instead, Araie found herself staring at the clear sky above her, her thoughts wandering as she chewed on her lower lip. Was adventuring and seeing the world all she wanted out of life? She wasn't quite sure anymore, and that concerned her more than she cared to admit.

Back when she had been stuck in Zena, all she had ever dreamed of was escaping. She had wanted to go out and see the world and discover all of its mysteries one way or the other. She wanted to step away from Zena's frozen landscape and never once look back. That had been her only desire. However, things had changed since then. They had changed a lot. For one, she had already returned home, even if it was for a short time. And while she was certainly not eager to go back, she had made peace with her homeland. No, if anything, her thoughts were influenced in no small part due to the war not too long ago.

Araie didn't want to say that she had been immature before the war. She certainly hadn't thought herself immature, that was for sure. But now, all she could think about was how selfish she had been. All she had seen was her own desires, what she had wanted to do, nothing more. She hadn't thought about all the people out there trying to make their own living, raise their families, keep the people they cared about safe. She had just assumed that everybody was out for themselves like she had been.

By the gods, she really had been an immature child. But then the war had happened, and she had seen so many people band together. She had seen people who previously couldn't stand each other fight back to back, trusting the other with their lives. She had seen Matori fighting to defend Obans, shifters fighting side by side with the Alkidike that had turned against their sisters. She had seen people truly come together and accomplish something incredible, and it made her feel...hollow.

But why? Why did she feel so upset about this? They had accomplished something truly important, and all she could think about was how upset she was, and she didn't even know the reason why. Why wouldn't this questions stop plaguing her thoughts? Huffing quietly to herself, Araie through her arm over her eyes and took a deep breath. Why couldn't she just figure out the answer right now? She hated not knowing what was wrong and how to immediately fix it. She hated this feeling of...uselessness. Maybe that was it? Maybe she was feeling useless.

What had she contributed to the world? Nothing. All she did was explore and doodle things in her little journal. Sure, she had stopped by a few places and done a few odd jobs to keep money in her pockets, but did any of that really matter? Was she really accomplishing anything worthwhile? Was anybody going to remember the things she had done? No, they weren't, because she hadn't done anything worth remembering.

Still, she didn't think that was what she feared. No, being remembered and admired wasn't the problem, surprising as that was. That wasn't what she wanted. What she wanted...was to make an impact. She wanted to help people, like she had seen Eziya helping people. But she was no healer. She had no special talents besides her magic, and even then, she wasn't exceptional. She was average.

No, she wasn't average. She had never been average. She may not be incredible or powerful or beautiful or anything out of the ordinary like that, but she had always had a spark for adventure that nobody around her had seemed to have. So how could she take that spark and turn it into something that could help people? Did she even have it in her? And was she willing to put forth the time and effort required to discover this mysterious calling that she was determined to find out for herself?

Still, her thoughts fluttered back to that little girl she had met back in the Wind village. The little girl that she had spent all that time teaching rune magic to. Sure, she hadn't actually been teaching her anything serious. But the feelings that had bubbled up to the surface during her time with the girl...well, she hadn't really thought about it then. She had been more focused on other things at the time. But now that she was really thinking about it, she had been so happy with that little girl. Not just because she found children adorable, which she did, but because she had been so pleased sitting with her and teaching her what she knew. There had been something so...pure about her interaction with the girl. She had loved sharing her knowledge with her, even if she had no idea how to be a teacher or mentor of any type.

Araie suddenly sat up, her eyes wide. Had that been the the spark she had been missing? That link, that idea that had been floating just out of her grasp? Was it teaching? Oh, she didn't know. She had enjoyed mentoring that little girl, yeah, but that had been just for a moment. Could she really teach kids every day or all the time? Would she even be good at it? It wasn't like she had any teachers to look up to. She had taught all of her magic to herself.

Regardless of what thoughts were running through her mind, Araie knew that it was too early to decide what she wanted to do with her life. She needed to find herself. Find what her calling was. She knew that a life of just running around chasing adventures and looking for the next thrill wasn't what she wanted to do anymore. While it wasn't necessarily a childish fancy and she didn't regret the time she had spent doing it, she felt like it was time she moved on to bigger and better things.

Perhaps she could seek out some help or something. She was sure there were people she could go to and seek advice from. Maybe she would even return to Zena once more. She knew there were a few powerful rune mystics somewhere in Zena, Maybe one of them would be willing to teach her a bit more about herself. And maybe in the process, she could figure out whether or not teaching others was going to be a possible path for her. But would she really be able to do it?

She didn't know yet. Still, that didn't mean she wouldn't find it. And discovering that was like a new adventure all in itself, wasn't it? The thought made Araie smile. She may not know who she was supposed to be yet, but nothing was going to stop her from finding out. No longer was she going to be selfish Araie who thought only of herself and her own adventures. From this day forward, she was going to be the Araie who thought of others and how she could help them first. It wasn't a big step, but it was a step in the right direction, of that much Araie was certain.