By now, Aria was quite sick of Low-Altitude Ferries. There were not many options available for long-distance travel. Ground caravans and ferries were the only forms of travel still safe. Perhaps a century ago or so, she could have arrived in the west in mere hours by taking one of the Sky-Gliders that boasted comfort and speed. But for now, this would have to do, despite how painfully slow it was.
Which is why, when the crackling voice of the captain of the final ferry she would be on for—hopefully—some time rang out across every deck in the rumbling Spelltech ship, she breathed a hefty sigh of relief.
'Thank the Divine.'
She rose her travel-sore shape from the seat she had taken that morning as her own and eagerly allowed her steps to carry her to the viewing windows now showing her long-awaited destination.
It was a breathtaking vista of alabaster stone, rooftops glazed and evocatively inlaid with aquamarine and sapphire. Flourishing greenery stretched as far as her eyes could perceive. The sky above seemed impossibly clear—so pristine that, as sunlight cascaded across the cityscape of the Ivory Citadel, it was as if the Divine Entities themselves had prepared the view just for her. It gleamed with a form of transcendent brilliance that played with her heart, sending a palpable electricity of excitement down to the soles of her feet that urged her to leap from the ferry and run through its streets for as long as she could, seeking every secret the Citadel promised.
For the most part, the city unfolded with disciplined symmetry. A structured elegance that persisted even when her eyes fell to the outer reaches. Despite knowing—from what she had read about the area—that the less fortunate and the mundane resided there, it still did not draw from the splendor of the city.
Then her gaze, as she was sure many others had been, was almost forced to be drawn to the heart of it all. A constellation of impossibly tall towers, ornate and stunning, spiraling upward like marble spears until they pierced the sky above, marking the highest seat of Western power as a crown marks the head of a ruler. The White Tower of the Deva. A proud silhouette tethered to its siblings by sweeping bridges of suspended marble.
'It's just as I imagined,' she thought to herself in reverence.
A bright smile painted her otherwise tired expression. The sound of the suspension engines on all sides lowering their exertion of mana vibrated the panels below her feet, signaling the passengers to life—gathering their things and travel effects together while an excited clamor filled the air.
Aria was no different. After all, she had waited many long weeks just for this. Well… and to see her dear friend, of course, who had promised to be waiting for her at the port when she arrived. Though, knowing Kiara, she would get the time wrong and Aria would be left to find her own way. Not that she overly minded—it just meant she had an excuse to get lost in those mysterious streets. Perhaps do some shopping.
If she had any money. Which she didn't.
She didn't let that ruin her mood, though. Instead, she kept the smile on her face, made sure to tuck back a few loose strands of her translucent platinum hair into the depths of the hood of her cloak, lifted her heavy bag to her shoulders, and took her place along with many others at the front of the ferry waiting for the bay doors to part.
Soon enough, the familiar sound of the locking mechanisms on either side of the ferry rang out with an affirming clunk before the engines themselves went totally silent. Moments later, the bay doors unfolded to either side, and the ramp extension released itself from below to kiss the stone of the dock.
The motion of departing passengers was surprisingly fluid. Most people naturally fell into their own lines in increments that moved in a calm fashion, people shuffling forward and speaking casually among themselves. That, however, was not working very well for Aria.
'Let me out, let me out, let me out!' she shouted inside her head.
Repeating it like a mantra as her feet longed to shove her way past the people in front of her and finally land herself on solid ground once again. Feeling her stomach flipping as she neared and then set down the somewhat steep angle of the ramp—until finally, she felt it. The warmth of the sun reflected on the cobbled white stone, seeping through the thinly worn soles of her boots.
Letting loose an audible sigh of relief and joy, she freed herself from the lines and made her way forcefully through the mob of welcoming family members and lingering passengers until she broke out to the causeway of the ferry docks. Finding a spot where she could let her tight shoulder muscles relax and loose a sharp breath to empty her lungs before sucking in the warm, summery air of the Citadel and turning her face upward to enjoy the blissful rays of sunlight landing on her exposed skin.
After taking these precious moments to herself, she eventually opened her eyes away from the gaze of the blazing sun to glance around, sweeping the strange faces and streets for any sign of her friend's familiar face.
Granted, she had not seen Kiara in person for some years, but she should still recognize her… she hoped.
Aria made sure to have a tight hold of her things before she set off wandering about the area in front of the now mostly empty ferry. As time passed, people filtered out and the mob thinned, making it easier for Aria to scan the faces of those around her for any sign of the tiny sprite of a girl she called her friend. Unfortunately, it seemed that either Kiara had misjudged her landing time or… Aria had no earthly idea what she looked like anymore.
With an expressive groan, Aria noticed a few beads of sweat rolling down the nape of her neck. The heat of the day beginning to get to her, she hesitantly raised one hand up to drag the motley brown hood of her cloak off her head and expose her signifying hair to the world.
The cascade of unmistakable platinum silver was—while beautiful, she had to admit—a defining trait of her lineage. Among most people in the East and many Magus in the West, the radiant hue was rare enough to pull strange looks and unwanted attention. Which, it turns out, is convenient in some cases. Such as this one.
"Aria!!!" The shrill cry of a woman's bright voice pierced Aria's ears, causing her neck to glow a cherry red as she realized exactly what was about to happen.
She had only managed to turn her feet in the direction of the voice when the full force of Kiara Malvo slammed into her hard enough to drive a portion of the air from her lungs. The only thing that kept Aria on her feet was the countless years of conditioning she had endured. For once, she was thankful to her family for something.
"You're finally here! Thank the Divine, I thought I had missed you arriving!" Kiara shouted, her arms wound like a vice around Aria's ribs.
'When did this little monster get so strong?!?'
"Kiara… people are looking!" Aria hissed through clenched teeth as her eyes caught sight of a few people giving them strange looks—albeit with what looked to be amused grins on their faces. The blush in Aria's neck flooded up to her pale cheeks with an intensity that made her skin burn.
"They would have looked anyway. How do you look so pretty after weeks on a ferry?" Kiara answered with almost an accusatory glimmer in her eyes. Their hazel shapes narrowed into a poignant look as she tilted her head back to match Aria's gaze.
Despite her raging embarrassment, Aria had to admit she was very happy to see her dear friend. Kiara was the sort of person that could get away with things like this. A burst of sunlight in a package small of stature, mousey and always-tousled brown hair that never seemed to stay in the same place between glances. Kiara practically radiated chaotic motion. The brilliant mind inside her head was always racing to the next invention or question or piece of food she might eat that day. Her smile was always wide and effortless. Painfully disarming even to the most disciplined of Magus, combined with her bright eyes—so keen and always full of mischief.
"Kiara." Aria's voice tilted down as low and as filled with warning as she could manage at the moment, narrowing her eyes down into sharp daggers that caused a bright grin to spread even wider across Kiara's lips.
"You're so easy to tease, Ari," said the maddening girl. "Now hurry up, I can't wait to show you your room! I worked so hard on it, so if you hate it, I will throw myself from the highest bridge in the tower."
Aria parted her lips to protest such a dramatic thing coming so easily from her friend's lips but was quickly quieted by the firm yank to her hand, dragging her along after her whirlwind of a friend.
With Kiara's guidance, Aria found it significantly easier to make their way through the crowds of citizens on every side. If Aria didn't know better, she'd suspect some kind of convenient spell at work that made it so easy for them to pass through. Though that suspicion faded with a lack of evidence, as their progress through the distractingly beautiful street and architecture was ground to a halt by a wall of undulating and protesting citizens.
"Huh. This shouldn't be happening." Kiara said with a slight scowl on her face.
"What? What shouldn't be happening?" Aria replied through a nervous haze of confusion—quickly and astutely aware that her hair was still exposed as she made to begin tugging her hood back up.
"Well… I thought if I was fast enough we could get around them but…" Kiara answered sheepishly with an apologetic look.
"Kiara. Get around who?" Aria was finding herself less and less impressed as the moment continued.
"That would be me." The silky tenor of a man's voice filled Aria's ears. Ready to bite back with a barbed answer at whatever fool had picked this moment to get on her nerves, Aria's gaze lifted—and her words froze in her throat.
'Oh.'
At first, she suspected she was hallucinating. No human being could be allowed to be that stunning. The man standing over them seemed like the divine themselves might have carved him from marble. His approaching movements were more of a glide than steps—each movement he took was precise and deliberate. He was tall, silhouette framed by robes that shimmered like still water below a moonlit sky. A silverish blue that blended together in a wildly stunning gradient. His hair was like liquid onyx, gleaming and styled flawlessly around the crown of his head to fall back into a bundle to keep his face clear of its visual interruptions. What a face it was.
Symmetrical in a way that defied any rational reason. Not just handsome—and Aria had seen handsome—he was flawless. Suddenly her entire concept of beauty had changed, and she suspected going forward this was the face that would appear when she thought of it. His skin was smooth like polished gemstone, lips curled into a polite and gracious smile, and his eyes glimmered like stars that had been enclosed in ice. Gleaming with something so intelligent and knowing that it would typically make Aria a suspicious wreck. Though, at the moment, she was far too distracted for that.
Suddenly, Aria was all too aware of how grimy she felt. How the dust and dirt of long travel hung off her pale skin and the unkempt wild tangling of her hair stuck undoubtedly in every direction.
"Hello, my Lady Aria Leiden. My name is Kaden Magtera," he continued with his kind expression, a single hand extending in a more formal greeting as his voice flowed into her ears like the warm currents of a summer river. "I am here to welcome you to the Ivory Citadel."