Submission (#6981) Approved

Kalea sips her drink absentmindedly, eyes trained on the airship docks before her. There is a throng of people milling about, some boarding, some disembarking and even more loading cargo on the ships. Ilrian is easily the highlight of her family’s trip through Kyendi, so many sights to see and so many people coming and going. And of course, so many new business opportunities. 

In the distance the glitter of the sunshard isles catches her eye, the yellow of the mana crystal deposits that support the floating islands that stretch as far as the eye can see is quite striking in the bright sunlight. IT had taken a little getting used to, being up so high, but Kalea had quickly adjusted. It was just so freaking cool, although her parents were constantly telling her to not stray too close to the edges of the islands.

The murmur of her family’s conversation is easily tuned out as she continues people watching. There are beings of all kinds bustling around in front of her, from Elnin to Kyunru to Sylvans. Even a relatively large number of humans are in the crowd, towering over many of the smaller species. 

Kalea is a bit intimidated by humans, her being a tiny kittom, and the other beings being many times her size, but she’s highly inquisitive, and that almost always overwhelms her sense of fear. Her ear flicks in interest as she catches snippets of conversation from the crowd. 

Suddenly, from the doorway of the restaurant they had ordered their food from, a large figure emerges, and then stops suddenly. Kalea looks up at them curiously. It almost looks like an elnin in gijinka form, although the woman is far too large for any normal elnin. 

The grayish blue haired woman slowly turns, eyes wide and brows furrowed. She’s not too far from Kalea and her family, and Kalea can easily make out her confused,  “Wait, where am I?”

As the woman turns to face her direction, her long slender tail, resembling a marsh tail whips behind her uneasily, and her ears,elnin like, upright, and forward facing begin to flatten themselves. 

“This wasn’t where-” The woman speaks again before cutting herself off, briefly shutting two of her eyes, although a third nestled in the center of forehead remains open.

“Umm… okay, okay. Must have been a portal malfunction of some sort.” the woman murmurs to herself. “But I've never seen anywhere like this before…”

Kalea can’t help but stare in fascination, and before she knows it she is piping up, causing the rest of her family to look at her. “Um, miss?”

The woman looks down, eyebrows shooting up at the sight of the small creature that spoke to her. Kalea is sitting on a table , so she isn’t as far down as she could have been , but the woman is still so so big compared to her. 

“Miss, are you lost?” Kalea had spent much of the last week exploring the airship docks, and the various shops and schools of Ilrian. As such she was pretty sure she could point the strange woman in the right direction. 

The woman’s mouth quirks into a smile, visibly calming herself, although her tail still whips uneasily. 

“You could say that? Where am I, if I may ask? I was taking the portal between my shop and my partner’s shop, but this definitely isn’t Tolly’s place.” 

A sudden crashing noise distracts them, loud shouting filling the air and they both look over to see a pairing of workers scrambling to pick up a box of spilled anima shards. They are a mix of colors, although predominantly the bright yellow that is so common in the area. They stare for a moment, before the turn back to face each other.

“We’re in Ilrian!” Kalea answers eventually. “You know, in Kyendi?” 

The woman smiles a bit, but shakes her head. “I’ve never heard of those places before.” 

“Whaaaa?” Kalea is shocked. Ilrian is the coolest place she’s ever been, a floating city high above the rest of kyendi, and home to the biggest airship industry in Eyre. How could someone not have heard of it?

Evenne reaches over to nudge Kalea. Kal looks up at her mom, who smiles at her before turning to the woman who is still looking at them curiously. 

“Miss, this is a world called Eyre. We have people stumble in from misplaced portals from time to time. I’m thinking you must have accidentally slipped between our world and yours when you used that portal you were talking about. It’s not unknown to happen unfortunately.”

The woman turns to look at the door she’d walked through. “Huh.”

She sighs before smiling at the small group of Elnin. “Well, odder things have happened.” 

“My name is Loralei. I hate to ask, but would you happen to have any idea how to get me back?”

Kalea perks up in excitement, blurting out “ Oh I know I know! Mom, we can bring her to the magic school right? Won’t they know?” 

Evenne places a paw on Kalea’ shoulder, urging her to calm down. “I’m Evenne, and this is my daughter Kalea. Kalea has a good idea, I’m sure if anyone around here knows how to get you back, it’d be the people at  the local university.”

“Mom, Mom! Can we show Miss Loralei the way? Please? I know exactly how to get there!” 

Loralei smiles apologetically, before sweeping her gaze around again in fascination. They’re quite high up, the sky a clear blue. The glint of the anima deposits that support the surrounding islands is almost blinding as the sun begins to angle lower. Off the edge of the island they’re residing on is open air, though off in the distance in one direction you can barely make out mist-covered mountains, their tops distinctly rounded. In the opposite direction is an endless blue ocean.

Evenne speaks again, and Kalea wiggles in excitement, shoving the rest of her food in her mouth quickly. “Of course we can. As soon as we finish eating and clean up.”

Loralei blinks and refocuses back on the group of Elnin. A grateful smile slowly blooms. “Thank you so much Miss Evenne, Miss Kalea. As much as I love to stay and explore, I do have a store to take care of back home.” 

Kalea reaches iver to grab her brother Sumarlidi, and drags him down to the ground with her.

“Okay okay I’m done! Lets go lets go!” 

Lidi fusses a bit, before giving in, and Evenne and Soren quickly clean up, chatting with Loralei as they do so. Kalea laughs and scampers after them, Lidi hot on her trail. This was going to be so fun!!!