ONCE IT BEGAN
A wind blew through the frosty mountains, blowing drifts of fine powdery snow across the lifeless ragged rocks. A sole figure walked across a ridge bundled in heavy clothes and jackets. Descending down the ridge, the figure climbed into a deep crevice. Inside, this fissure became a cave with two tunnels, one left and the other right. The figure leaned against the wall, breaking from a long weary trip. Heading left, the figure passed by a hole in the rough rock and shining out from that hole were the lights of a rather cozy inn, with a bar and restaurant. Many people were gathered in there as the figure peered into the window-like hole.
"Whattur yoo lookin' at?" a rather drunken looking man commented to the figure.
"Hey! Don't-cha know the front door's to the right?" another man in the bar added.
The figure walked on and came to the back door of the inn. Stepping inside, the figure spoke for the first time throughout the whole trip, "Auntie Amirie, I came. I am here now"
"Aariah!? You're here already, Aariah?" An old, but nowhere near withered, woman came over to the back door, her height much shorter "I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow, my little niece!" She wiped her hands on her apron. "Well, come in! Come in! If it only took you two days, you must be tired And famished!"
Aariah was ushered into the back house of the inn, where the owner, her aunt, lived. "Thank you," she mumbled, and took off her heavy, hooded outer coat. Her curly black hair fell into place; two long strips dangled on either side of her face and a short train trailed down the back from a leather strap tied at the cap of her head. "Has my cloak arrived from Mataria yet?"
Amirie helped her get out of her heavy layers down to her simple blue gown, "Yes, it has, dear, and you're in luck, too. I hung it up right away next to the warming area so I wouldn't forget to put it there before you got here."
"Oh, thank you Auntie Amirie! I am rather cold." Aariah was then ushered into the bar room where the warming area was.
"Sit down here, my dear, warm yourself up and I'll make you a bowl of soup to help out." Amirie placed a deep purple cloak upon her niece's shoulders and pointed at a chair for her. The warming area was rather cozy. It was just the rugged area between the fireplace on the wall and the wood stove towards the center of the room. Travelers just arriving were welcome to the spot to shake off the frigid weather.
Aariah pulled the warm cloth around her, and felt the weariness from her trip start to surface. It had been so cold, so long, and so hard to reach Auntie Amirie's place in the mountains. It was not something she was use to, but it was something she would have to get use to.
"Aariah? You don't look well, did the travel not agree with you?" Amirie asked. To her astonishment, her niece fainted, landing on the wooden floor beside the warming area.
"Hey!? Is she seeck or sumthin'? I done wanna catch whutta she got, man! Whutta ya think yer doin' bringin' a seeck person in here? Shee'll make us all seeck!" The same drunken man was swaggering towards them from his seat at a nearby table.
"You know very well the travel from Potoremin to here is a tiring one! And in two days is even more tiring! Have some respect for the weary!" Amirie bristled, then turned to the barkeep. "Siefoth, help me take our niece to a bed. She obviously needs rest before she needs sustenance."
Amirie's husband, Siefoth, was a comparably tall and well-built man who came around the bar counter and gently picked up his niece. He then followed Amirie to one of the bedrooms to tuck the weary woman into a warm bed.
* * * * * * * * * *
Later that day, Amirie checked in on Aariah. "Oh, you're finally awake," she sighed.
"Mmm-hmm." Aariah confirmed from the candle lit desk by the bed. She stretched and yawned.
"Well, good. You had your uncle and I worried when you passed out, out there. Not to mention a few patrons were thinking your were ill with something." Amirie paused questioningly, for she noticed Aariah looking at her barely patiently.
"I've done it." Aariah paused slightly from her still groggy state. "I've captured the air"
"Oh! My dear! I'm so proud of you!" Amirie hugged Aariah, "I never thought that that anyone in our family would ever become powerful enough to capture elements! Oh, this is just like back when your grandmother was a young child. I heard so many stories, with such vivid detail! Please, tell me how you caught the wind! I would like to hear more of these stories!"
"Alright but please, a bowl of that soup you promised me? And a cozy spot for us to sit at?" Aariah asked.
"Of course, Aariah. Let us go back to the warming area, and I'll have Siefoth bring you a bowl of our daily soup. Come now." Amirie guided her niece back out to the main room of the bar and sat her down in one of the booths closest to the warming area. Siefoth came out with a steaming, flavorful, bowl of vegetable soup and placed it on the table between the two women with its wooden spoon before he also sat, at the end of the booth.
Aariah took a spoonful of broth and slowly sipped it after she had blown upon it slightly. "Well, it's like this, Auntie Amirie. I was practicing in the foothills near my home in the out skirts of Potoremin. The majority of what I was practicing were chants, and staff combat"
