The Gwilikith Moutain Range stood tall over the lands of Imythess, the stone guardians over-watching the area. An Elf flew high above the peak of a smaller mountain, his wingspan slightly longer than he was taller. A long bow lay strapped across his back diagonally and he wielded a blade about the length of his arm. Small beings flew around his head in cheer, a fae horse, a green moth, and a small gargoyle, each no bigger than the width of his hand open. He'd recently acquired the bow, moth, gargoyle, and a silver goblet; which he kept in a burlap bag along with his quill, journal, and harp, in a lottery of sorts. Each non-living item were elegantly decorated with fancy designs and symbols engrained into them. Astalder was quite pleases to have been chosen to win such nice gifts, however, he had no idea what each were capable of. Perhaps fate would shine some insight into the ignorant Elf today.
Carving intricate patterns into the dense air with his sword, Astalder began shifting back and forth, left and right. This pace slowly picked up speed to the point where he was now dodging make believe projectiles and dive bombing imagined targets. Astalder plummeted to a flat surface on the mountain below and jabbed his blade into the ground. He kicked outward, hitting a non-existent foe square in the chest. Then, retrieving his blade he began cutting through waves and waves of invisible armies.
Astalder exhaled, slightly out of breath from his recently discovered training method. It was true what the natives said about the Gwilikith Mountains. The thick air and heavy atmosphere made for ideal combat training while atop one of the mountains, but it also made it hard to breath as well. The Elf rested his hands above his head and began slowing his breathing, pacing back and forth, before leaping in the air again and starting the process over.
A pink sky kissed the tips of the snowcapped mountains as dusk broke over the land. Astalder could hear occasional roars from dragons very far off in the distance, but it was nothing to worry about. He wasn't fully in dragon territory yet, however, he could shake the feeling that some one or something was watching him. He landed once more and scanned his surroundings, he felt some kind of a presence...

The weather was not harsh enough to warrant her wandering like this. She had other things to do no doubt. If she was so inclined to search all of Imythess for them that is. She wasn't so inclined at the moment. It was not her fault that they had been reborn elsewhere. She wasn't about to scourer all of Imythess for her charges' souls when they had died of old age. She had done her job now, hadn't she?

She had been lingering in the snow covering the tops of these mountains when an interesting sight caught her eye. There was a man flying about. How interesting. She had no idea what he was doing at first. So being intelligent about things, she stayed back and out of the way. As he repeated himself she realized he was practicing something. Some sort of training.

What he was doing was not quite as interesting as the man himself seemed to be. If he didn't take too long and wasn't so centered on what he was doing, he would see her form appear right at the edge of the snow. The almost ghostlike shape of a woman. Her long hair was as white as the snow, as were what little clothing she bothered to wear. In all truth, she had no use for clothing, but after so many years of others insisting on it, she wore enough clothing to be considered at least not revealing. As she became less like the snow and more like a living being, her skin became an ice blue, deepening in color as she became more solid.

She curled up her knees toward her chest so just her toes crossed over onto the stone. Should she speak to him? She had spoken to no one in years. She knew nothing beyond the snow and the wasteland of horrid heat separating her from the home she wished to return to. She wished she could have been sent home once her job was completed...

Astalder squinted his eyes, straining to see things beyond his vision. The Elf put one arm out and pointed in front of him with his index and middle fingers. He moved his hands quickly through the air in a few swift yet precise motions. If there was a sheet of parchment in front of him and ink on his fingers, the end result would have been a circle with three diagonal lines running through it. Clouds quickly blanketed the beautiful sky and held promise of some sort of storm. Whether it be rain, sleet, hail, or snow that was up to Astalder to decide. He wanted to be prepared if the presence he felt a few moments ago was true and hostile.
Astalder paced back and forth, leaving light footprints in the snow that the wind covered up momentarily. He whistled sharply for his three familiars to return to him. As the trio gathered around him, the gargoyle on his head, the moth on his left shoulder, and Thysi on his right should, he whispered softly. "Stay alert." Out of his peripheral vision he noticed a small bit of moving and he shot a glance in the general direction. There was a thick patch of rocks that looked like an ideal spot for hiding. Astalder began twirling his sword around in slow loops while his eyes began to flash brightly, as if a lightning storm were hidden behind them.
He searched behind and around every rock carefully, trying to lower the chance of an ambush at all costs. If the force he'd felt was indeed negative, this would be a prime spot for a trap. Before going any further he looked to his small gargoyle for some help. He held the small wonder in his palm and whispered directly to him. "Search behind those rocks." and Astalder made to let the gargoyle go, but it should no signs comprehending what he'd just said. "C'mon, search!" he said a bit louder, pointing toward the rock field. And this time the small gargoyle hopped away and began zipping around that rocks before them. The small gargoyle stopped in front of one rock, and seemed to be looking at something in amusement, than happily pranced to whatever it was. Astalder sighed, out of the three, the gargoyle was truly the most dim.
Astalder walked around the rock and pointed his blade at the woman's nose. "Surely you know it's not polite to spy on pe-wh...wh... Where are the rest of your clothes?" Astalder was clearly taken off guard by that nature of the woman he'd found. She had a rich blue tone in her skin, flowing white hair that blended with the snow, and a lack of clothes that could earn her mischief in the allies of Taras during the night. Despite the initial shock, Astalder kept his blade pointed at the woman. She had another unique feature about her and that was that she didn't seem fully tangible, like if he needed to use his sword, it would merely glide through her body like a ghost. "Wh... Who are you?"

((OOC: Hope I got the whole ghost like non tangible thing right about your character! If not just ignore that part.))

((OOC: She is basically ice right now, so she is much more solid then she looks. Your idea of how she looks is fairly accurate though. Only, if he did swing at her, the blade would hit.))

She sat up straight when she saw him perform some magic. The weather shifted slightly and she felt her spirits lift slightly. The weather was more in her favor this way. Only lightning would be any real problem. Perhaps it would be worth finding out more about him. Besides, he didn’t seem like the fire type. She was about to raise herself to standing when she heard a sound over the wind. "C'mon, search!" She paused, her form stiffing for a moment as she held her breath to hear over it. Then a small little stone gargoyle stopped just around the edge of the stones. She looked at in curiously. Why was it so small? It seemed happy to have found her though and it came over to her. Too busy looking at the little thing; she didn’t notice the man’s approach until he spoke.

Looking up at him gave her first a lovely view of his sword. She sighed as she saw it was fashioned after how many viewed lightning. That would not be fun. Lightning flashed through her like nothing. It wasn’t bad really, not like fire was, just very fast and it made her very jumpy. He started to stay something witty then, something about spying, when his train of thought crashed and burned. Why did it do that you may ask? Once more, because she apparently was not clothed enough for his preference. Clothing again? What was with these people and clothing? Was it taboo or something? It had to be with the way they all seemed to go on about it. Other beings could go without them. You didn’t see people dressing up elementals or demons or gargoyles.

Her shoulders sank and she decided to go ahead and answer his questions. “I’m Nia. And I don’t have more clothing. I would be way too hot if I wore something like that.” She said, gesturing to himself with a jerk of her chin. A slight smile crossed her lips then. “Though I do love your wings.”

((OOC: Okay gotcha. Just curious, is this AD?))

Astalder whistled, signaling his gargoyle to return to his side. The small creature seemed to have other things in mind, or lack there of. The little gargoyle stood it's ground, looking at the blue lady, head cocked to one side. Astalder sighed finally lowering his sword to his side. "That's your cue little guy..." but the gargoyle payed him no attention, gazing as if in a trance... Or just dumbfounded. "Will you get over here?!" which was more of a command than a question. At last the stone monster returned, flying above Astalder's head along with the other familiars.
"Pleasure to meet your acquaintance miss Nia." Astalder said, gazing down at what he was wearing. To be honest, some might even say he was under dressed to be up so high in the frigid mountains. The only explanation was that she was aligned strongly to the element of Ice. People seemed to be mesmerized by his wings. Astalder always thought they looked nice but he was no angel... Yet. "Thank you very much." Astalder replied looking back and stretching them out a bit to get the full effect. "They seem to be the main attraction on this Elf." he joked.
Astalder began pacing, studying the woman. She didn't seem to hostile, and Astalder didn't feel as if under a seductive trance, however how could you tell? Oppel didn't seem to remember much... Astalder snapped his fingers, bringing down a lightning bolt to his hand. He twirled it through his fingers a few times before throwing it against the mountain side in an explosion of color. Silent Spell was definitely a feat he was glad he was born with. Convinced he was under no form of spell, Astalder turned to the woman, hoping the noise and sights didn't frighten her off.
"What are you doing here alone?" Astalder asked, stretching out his arm to offer to help the woman up.

((OOC: ... maybe... :unsure: :P You should get a prize for being the very first person to ever guess that one of my random alts was actually me. Most of my random alts got lost a while back though...))

She found his attempt to deal with the little stone gargoyle rather funny. Her attention flickered between it and the man. She stayed where she was, letting her hands go behind her to prop her up. She did like his wings, but she didn't see the use of them herself. The thought of flying and still being so solid was an incredibly odd thing. She didn't voice that though, not when he was so obviously proud of them. That he called them his main attraction made her smile though. She had to keep reminding herself that this place was not her home. The people here were very different.

She started when he brought lightning to his hand. She paused then, ready to react by shifting to her non-physical self. He seemed to still be practicing though as he threw the bolt at the mountainside. She saw him look back towards her and then she let go of her physical form. Her skin went swiftly from blue to white and then she was gone in a flurry of snow. The snow came up in an arch, as if by the wind, and curled around him to just behind his right wing. There, she let herself manifest again, her skin darkening from white to blue slowly as she solidified once more.

"I think, before I answer that, you should tell me your name." She smiled. "But I will answer anyways. I was brought to this place, Imythess, a short time ago by some people who had fled to the mountains and needed someone to help protect them. Time passed, how ever it's measured, and they have all died of age or sickness, things beyond my ability to defend against. So now I am here. I can not go home, because I have no idea what it is called by those here. Nor do I know where to to find it. It took me long enough to learn about the languages." She waved her hand dismissively, as if it no longer mattered, and turned to look up at the clouds he had called on not long before.

Her next words where soft and rang of hopefulness, "You can't make it snow, can you?"

((OOC: Bwahaha champ! ^_^))

Astalder stood there for a few seconds with his arm still out as Nia performed her own fair share of magic. Astalder felt a chill run down his spine as her new form brushed by him and recreated behind him. He let his arm rest and he looked over his shoulder at the same woman that was just sitting on the ground a few seconds ago. He felt the small gargoyle above him rolling over and clapping in amusement. Astalder rolled his eyes. How simple is this thing?...
The Elf turned to properly face Nia and bowed low. "My name is Astalder," he said careful not to give away his full name, although he didn't know many Astalders. He stood there and listened to the woman's brief story. "Well I am truly sorry to hear of your loss Nia and I can relate somewhat. I suppose since you might as well get comfortable here in Imythess it's an... Interesting place to say the least."
Astalder smirked at Nia's last question. "Well not everywhere, but..." Astalder looked up at the white puffy clouds overhead, "... I think it's cold enough to snow." he finished. Astalder closed his eyes and his hair began whipping around violently a if gale force winds had picked up. He began pushing at what seemed to be an invisible wall, and the strong winds that whirled around the mountain top came to a complete stop, however Astalder's hair still blew around. He opened his eyes which now glowed a blinding white and flashes occasionally as if a storm was occurring inside them. He then made a triangle in the air, with a circle at the top point, then an 'x' in the triangle's center. As soon as the ritual was over, thick flakes of snow fell down nearly perfectly vertical. He purposely calmed the winds earlier so that the snow wouldn't be too much of a nuisance later on. Astalder blinked and his eyes returned to their normal blue/green color and his hair finally settled on his wings. The Elf smiled at the change of scenery. The snow fell fast and thick making it slightly more difficult to see things, yet making everything that much more beautiful. "What do you think?" he asked smiling and putting his hand out to collect the flakes.

Nia repeated the name to herself a few times in her mind, Astalder… Then the air shifted and she felt it through her. The power was a bit of a shock compared to the spells she had seen him use so far. Her gaze shifted to him and she could actually see the magic flowing through him and it stir about him. She felt her breath catch as she waited for the spell to finish. As it did, she looked up and took a breath as snow began to fall. Large flakes drifting down… She closed her eyes at first and just let the flakes fall on face and shoulders. She lifted her hands up then and opened her eyes once more. After the first few flakes hit her, they stopped melting and she was able to actually catch and hold on to the snow. A little pile formed in her hands and she brought it down to in front of her. Then she smiled and she felt happiness well inside her. She was going to have to learn this, to make it snow… it would be wonderful!

She stepped forward, away from him and did a spin in the snow, her arms held out. She spun twice more and dissolved back into her snow form to dance among the falling snow, only seen because there was no wind. Then Nia went back over by Astalder, brushing by one of his wings to rematerializes in front of him, a huge grin on her face. “Oh! It’s lovely! I miss the snow so much and it doesn’t fall in Imythess too often. Not even for half the year. Less then that. It’s so sad to see it all melt away…” She turned to look at the snow once more, then sat down in it, simply looking at the white about her with a smile. She wasn’t going to let the thought of it melting ruin the fact that it was snowing… he had made it snow. Could she make it snow?

Astalder watched in amusement as Nia's jaw dropped at the magical wonder. Technically Astalder could not make it snow everywhere, what he used was merely a Rain Chant. It just so happened he could manipulate the temperature to remain the same so that the rain would freeze on it's way down into snow crystals. If he wanted, Astalder could turn the snow into it's original form as rain, but things would get far too messy for his liking especially since there was no impending danger. He chuckled as she morphed once again into some snowy ghost-like form. He felt the familiar chill run down his spine again as she brushed by one of his feathers and reanimated with a smile across her face.

He blushed slightly as she complimented his work. He'd never used his Storm Kindling abilities to please anyone before. It was nice to hear that he could make at least one soul happy with his grip of Aire magicks. He made a swooping motion with his hand and a small cyclone of air picked up and made a funnel of snow more noticeable to the eye than if it was merely a cyclone of wind. He laughed as he shook his hand and the little tornado dissipated into the air, creating a higher pile of snow than normal where it used to be.

The Elf sensed a bit of... yearning? Perhaps in Nia's tone as she spoke of the lack of snowfall in Imythess. It was clear that Nia came from a place where it snowed most, if not then all of the time. It was custom here for it to snow for only one of the four seasons in Imythess, however, high in these Gwilikith Mountains Astalder believed it could snow year round. Astalder studied the woman as she sat in the snow now, admiring it. He thought of what he could say to her carefully. He'd never really taught anyone how to manipulate and control there magic before, but he wanted to teach Nia what he knew, he saw a great deal of potential in her.

"It's not an easy road, being able to control the weather. In a way it's as if you were controlling a part of the God of Air's powers, yet he is capable of sending the whole world into darkness or light. I see you have a strong connection with the cold and subzero..." Astalder clapped his hands in front of them and brought them up above his head before letting them come down at his sides. Small, non-lethal, hail balls began falling now instead of snow "... However it's not all about snow..." he lunged his foot forward, swooping his arm horizontally in front of him. Sleet began splashing down hard upon them now, his mood seemed to be getting more violent. "... You see my dear..." he jammed his fist into his open palm into his hand. A crash on thunder echoed through the mountains, the sound so loud it could deafen anything within a one hundred foot radius of Astalder for at least five seconds. "... This is no game..." he said with a smile, he waited about seven seconds before repeating "... This is no game..." he jabbed his hand into the air. A bolt of lightning struck him hard and ran throughout his body, wires of electricity visibly snaking there way around Astalder's outside. He stuck both hands in the air, his fingers pointed upward. The remaining lightning exited through his finger tips. "... This is the life..." he simply snapped his finger and snow began to pour down once more, exactly as it had before. "... Of a Storm Kindler." he said with a wink. He let Nia soak everything in that had just occurred before continuing. "If you're still interested, I suppose I could teach you the basics of a Storm Kindler, but I cannot make any promises. I am no master and I have still yet to peak at my Storm Kindling levels."

As she sat, she forgot for a moment that this was not back home, but it was not much more then wishful thinking. The weather shifted to more harsh, which she didn't mind really, but then the snow started to melt some and her mood dampened with it. She heard him talking behind her, but she didn't respond. Then the sound of thunder filled the air and her hands immediately covered her ears and she started to turn to look at him, confused by what he was doing.

She saw lightning come down and strike him and instantly jumped to her feet and took a step away from him. Her expression wasn't fear though, but seemed blank. She let him finish and tucked some of her pure white hair behind one of her ears. Then she took a breath and said in a nearly flat tone. “I don't wish to control the weather. I would never be able to return home if I did that. It's taboo for someone of my rank and station to aspire to such power.” She fell silent for a moment and looked away over the snow falling once more, a thin layer of ice freezing beneath it, but atop the snow already fallen. “I would like to go home eventually. I would love to see my little sister again. They don't even know what happened to me...” She looked back at him with a polite smile. “Thank you for offering though. I am more interested in finding out where my home is exactly, in relation to where I am. Perhaps even when it is or what you call it. Someone knows where it is after all. If other things happen while I'm learning that, I wouldn't mid really, but I have to at least try to find it out.” Then her smile turned into a grin. “It would be grate if, when I find out how to get home, if you visited. Having control over lightning is a rare thing among those who live there. You would be a hit!”

She looked down at the snow for a second then looked back up at him, the smile gone. "If I can not find anyone who knows what I am talking about... then I might take you up on the ofter Astalder."

Despite the compliments Nia gave him, he was still a bit hurt by all she had to say. Perhaps he didn't fully get his point across, but he could tell that she desperately wanted to return to her native land which was understandable. Astalder had returned to Imythess why couldn't she return to wear she lived? Imythess wasn't really all that bad and judging from what'd said about controlling the weather, it sounded like the laws there were perhaps a bit more harsh than the the laws here. Maybe he could convince Nia to stay in Imythess, giving them time to get to know each other more and one day perhaps she could be a pupil of his. Astalder smiled at the idea of this, him... a teacher. That seemed to strike a tender chord in his heart. He'd never taught anyone anything before except that one woman to play flute, but that didn't really count. He studied Nia for a bit, trying to chose his words carefully, before starting.

"I can compromise with you that finding home should be your first priority as of now. To be completely honest though..." Astalder looked at the landscape that stretched across the cloudy horizon. Everything seemed to be at peace but looks in Imythess were deceiving most of the time. Although the surface looked calm he knew that bits of chaos were sprinkled deeper within the land itself. "... I think you'd take a liking to this region. Sure it doesn't snow all day every day, and there a some parts where it doesn't snow at all, but that could be fixed with patience and hard work. Imythess truly is an interesting place. Adventures can be found easily and they can be avoided just as easily. Not every citizen is blessed with magical power which give the ones that were," he gestured to Nia and himself. "a sense of power which could be used for either good or evil, what ever your perception of the two may be. I suppose what I'm trying to say is, a part of growing up is moving on. It was a noble thing you did for those people in the mountains and I believe Imythess could use a guardian such as yourself." Astalder gave her a moment to think about what he said and finished with "Home is a place that is hard to duplicate but I think Imythess would form as a good secondary. If none of this appeals to you, however, I would be more than happy to help you on your quest back home."

She listened to him rather carefully and smiled softly at him by the time he was done. She shook her head then, causing her pure white hair to tumble about. She graced him with a patient smile and said, “I appreciate the complement, really I do, but I don’t know any real magic. The only thing I can really do is draw some water out of the air itself, or the snow. It’s a simple trick, not even worthy of being a parlor trick. They tested me after all. They tested all of us and it was my sister who was gifted with magic. You can’t use magic without the proper training after all, and they said that my magical power was so trivial that I didn’t even have to bother training it. It wasn’t strong enough to cause any harm.”

The way she spoke was like she was quoting something she had been told a few times by someone who understood what they were talking about. She was quoting some professional. It was rather bittersweet for her to talk about it, but she was sure it was true. It wasn’t that she was against the idea of learning magic, it was simply that she didn’t think she was powerful enough to learn what he wished to teach. That and she would have trouble explaining how she learned something like that back home. It was a realm she had been forbidden because of her minor abilities with magic, especially compared to her sister. A sadness crossed her gaze before she looked back at him with a gentle smile. “I wouldn’t mind a little bit of help though. I haven’t had a chance to travel much around Imythess. You wouldn’t know where I would be able to find out about transportation between far away places, would you Astalder?”