Welcome to Gaia! ::

Leaves rustled across the grass speckled linear strip of flattened ground that cut through the densely wooded forest. It was a quiet night other than the few wisps of breeze that fought its way through the branches and the gentle stirring of owl's wings. Yet another presence lurked in the shadows there, purple eyes gleaming like pinpoints of light in the darkness.

Her dark skin provided perfect cover for the young half-drow as she stayed off the path, choosing to manuever her way through the underbrush instead. This was the way she had heard. This was the path that she knew she had to find. Still, there was a heavy rock rolling around in her stomach, making her nervous, and when she got nervous, she got sloppy.

Tucking a silvery strand of hair behind her left ear, Alauniira glanced from left to right wondering within her mind, Does this place even exist? Despite her reservations, the half-elf would not stop now. It would do her no good.

After all, where else did she have to go?

The sound of boots on the pathway had sent Alauniira's defenses into immediate alarm, pushing her to throw up her walls. In this case, it was an old stand-by that she had used so many times that it was as natural as breathing for her.

Dark skin quickly paled to a more olive-toned hue, and wisps of white and silver turned to black. Her eyes remained purple, but the effect was enough to present Alauniira as an entirely different species of elf. Besides, at her age and with her training, this was the best disguise she could muster, and it was practically impenetrable to an untrained eye.

Still, even with her disguise, Niira was prepared to bolt at the first sign of hostility on the part of this strange man. Her feet stood at attention to run, but she lost her nerve at the sound of her name dripping off foreign lips. Unable to fight a kneejerk response, her voice raised in response, "...yes?"

Well, he didn't seem hostile. Besides, as far as she knew, he couldn't see through her illusory disguise, which gave the elf a strong sense of security. Awaiting a response from the man, she shifted uncomfortably, keeping her eyes locked on his.

Alauniira blinked twice in the slow, contemplative way that suggested she was truly listening. It surprised her to have bumped into the Headmaster himself of all people, but even more to see that he had recognized her as a half-drow. Of course, she should have expected that. Despite how impressive her deceptive appearance was, it could still be seen through by skilled and well-trained magic-users, especially when they knew what they were looking for.

The young girl stood silently as Headmaster Windsor continued, dropping her eyes at his vocalization of what she was. There were hardly- if any -half-drow children in these parts (largely because they are killed if a 'mistake' happens), and Niira fully understood how hostile she was perceived to be. She descended from the cruelest race of elves to have existed, and personally, her adopted family had been particularly evil and violent toward outsiders before they knew that she was one too and set out to slaughter her for tainting the bloodline.

She was too much of a drow to be accepted by anyone else and too much of them to be accepted by the drow elves. "I will maintain my guise for my own protection," she said flatly. Yeah, so she didn't quite trust this guy. Innocent as he may seem, Alauniira had learned not to trust the seemingly nice ones. It had been in her experience that those were truly the ones that were most wicked of all. "But, yes, I understand, Headmaster Windsor." Not rude, no. Just to the point.

Besides, shouldn't he be telling her to be herself? Oh well. Who was she kidding? No one liked the drow. No one trusted them. The worst part is... they were right. Purple eyes flickered over the Headmaster's shoulder. "So this is the way to the Academy?" she inquired, craning her neck to see down the pathway as far as she could.

As Headmaster Windsor moved forward, Alauniira was careful to follow behind him, trailing just a bit as to keep her distance. In drow culture, it was shameful to invade someone's personal space so Niira seemed to always stand a polite handful of steps away from people, despite her attempts to shake this habit.

"It must be a large campus," Niira rambled, hoping to break up the silence in the still of the night. If she was this close to the school, then she really didn't have any dangers to worry about.

...right?

Pushing a branch away from her face, the elf was thrilled to hear that she was living alone, and a little less than thrilled to hear that it wasn't a permanent thing. "Oh," she muttered under her breath. Hoping to move the conversation away from her roommmate status, Alauniira glanced over to the Headmaster and asked, "So, this is a small school, then?"

Harold nodded patiently toward Alauniira, a bit sad that his personality wasn't going over quite as well with the stoic half-elf. "ah well, you can't win them all," he thought to himself as his boots continued the monotonous journey up a rather large hill toward his fathers school. He heard her voice and attempted to answer her when he felt a strong wind approach from their back. He turned suddenly, looking back down the path they had come from. His eyes flickered over to Alauniira's face. "Someone is playing with wind magic, it appears," he said calmly, trying to remember if he had any other requests for admission to the school. They were nearly half way up the hill, but judging by the speed and ferocity of the wind that swept past, the caster could not be that much further back at all.

"Would you induldge me, by any chance, Miss Rilynduis?" He spoke kindly, and gestured down the path. He wanted to be certain he wasn't leaving any pupils behind.

[ Message temporarily off-line ]

The forest at night was probably Alauniira's favorite setting. She lived for the rustling of the underbrush and dark shapes of trees creaking in the wind because, more often than not, she was one of those dark shapes, blending seamlessly with her surroundings.

Hearing the approach of another, Niira had to remind herself not to dive into the bushes and disappear immediately. If the Headmaster wasn't worried, then she wouldn't be either. Besides, the half-drow had spent most of her life running, and it would take something of a miracle for a human to catch her if she got a head start. And of course, there was also the issue of her having to drop her illusory appearance if she really wanted to become invisible.

Planting her feet, she placed a hand on her hip, fingering the vial at her waist. Who goes there? she thought critically. Is she a footman? Passing it off as an idiosyncracy of this new girl's character, Alauniira kept her eyes locked in the direction of where the sound was coming from.

She had hoped to avoid people when she first got to the school long enough for her to get settled and get her bearings together, but unfortunately, it looked like the duo was about to become one member bigger.