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There was probably an advantage to living in Meenah... |
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        But he sure didn't see it.
        This was why he packed up and shipped out for Windurst. He'd been to Windurst a few times before, although he never stayed long. For the size of its inhabitants, Windurst was absolutely enormous, especially when compared to the metropolis of Bastok and that haughty damned San D'oria. He liked the people of Windurst far more than the Bastokians or the San D'orians by far: Windurstians were friendly, open, and went out of their way to make you feel welcome. Theirs was a city of sprawling bridges reaching out like great spindly fingers, weaving in and out of each other over the constant waist-deep swamp waters that, despite their stillness, gleamed a crystalline blue and pulsed with fish and other wildlife. It was like living in an aquatic nature preserve, and fireflies lit up the elevated walkways from dusk 'til dawn. Over by the western part of the city, Windurst Walls, the area was canopied with towering trees with great, thick, ever-living leaves. Come winter or fall, the trees stayed lush and vibrant, and shifting splinters of sunlight filtered through the leaves to cast the bridges in a greenish glow. Near the gates to East Sarutabaruta were the Dhalmels on display: enormous, long-necked orange-and-white striped creatures with horse like faces and short legs ending in hoofed feet. They wandered around in relative peace, either oblivious to the people staring in awe and admiration or simply too at ease and comfortable to care. There was a general peace about Windurst, something in the air that just flowed through you and made your heart swell with an indescribeable sense of joy and contentment. He sought to make his home here, finally, and was overjoyed when the housing commission notified him of a vacancy in the residential area. He could hardly wait to return to Windurst after the long days he spent in Bastok, trekking through the Gustabergs and all throughout Valkurm and for what? All that traveling, all of those new experiences, all of that adventure... and his heart longed for the quiet miracles of Windurst.
        The smell of salty air hit him as if he hadn't been breathing it in all along. Sitting in the cargo bay of the transport ferry between Selbina and Mhaura, Aramis took a moment to reassess his situation. He'd managed to pay a small fee of 100 gold to sit among the boxes of the cargo ship until they landed in Mhaura. He wasn't the only one lining the pockets of the smugglers, either--many others, rich and poor alike, boarded the holds of the ferry for lack of recognition or personal preference: the airship to Windurst from Bastok could cost as much as 10,000 gold and he could barely afford to keep himself fed these days. Often, he got up at the crack of dawn and fought off rabbits and giant caterpillars for whatever scraps of food he could get. By some stroke of luck he even happened upon a fishing rod once, but it snapped in half when he tried to reel in a particularly strong-willed fish. Damn it. That would have made a great dinner. Either way, here he was, waiting to pull into port. By this time, his heart swelled with excitement--he was finally out of Bastokian territory and back in lands belonging to Windurst. He ran out of the cargo hold and up the stairs to the deck, leaning dangerously over the starboard side of the ferry and marveling at the familiar outline of the Tahrongi Canyons. Sure, he'd have to pass through Selbina, the port city, and all throughout the Tahrongi Canyons, and even through all of East Sarutabaruta, but lying just beyond that was his beloved Windurst. His home.
        Finally, he was going home.
 Bleeding Apocalypse · Wed Oct 18, 2006 @ 07:01pm · 0 Comments |
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