Mariel
@Lurking Krog @XxFellsingxX @Guardian Angel Haruki
Mariel moved confidently through the crowd, showing nothing would betray the worry that tugged at her heart. To show weakness, would drawn attention, and was the surest way to invite predation, especially in Sigil.
Her home was gone. Alundal was missing. But there was no time for sadness. Grief would have to wait. She still had hope. She believed that there was a way. A way to make things right again. And a way to get home. The spirit within her spoke to her of the importance of caution and the value of patience. Difficult responses that she struggled to enact with emotion thundering with each of her heartbeats.
Merchants carefully ignored her, seeing the frown set over her lips. The wandering customers gave her a wide berth, noticing the wildness about her person. Mariel did not mind the city. It was a different sort of forest. However, her fondness for the cities that had sprouted up and grown across all of the multiverse, did not change that she was no creature tamed and collared.
Mariel needed no sharp eyes to spot the tall woman standing at the entrance to the Bazaar. Lissandra had asked for her aid. She had offered information. And most importantly she had told Mariel about the portal disrupting the carefully calibrated scales of the Bazaar.
"I greet you, gatekeeper," Mariel said, eyeing Lissandra and her two companions, "Forgive me for my late arrival."
"I was delayed," The druid added, offering no explanation beyond a shrug as she rubbed the toe of her right boot against the ground, removing a spattering of blood that she had noticed too late.
She could not name the goliath, well-armed and well-armored, standing patiently next to Lissandra, but seeing the amulet he wore around his neck, Mariel pulled out her own treasured emblem to show him. The symbol that Alundal had carved for her and given her. It was good to see one of her own. It was good to know there was someone she could trust. She nodded to the other plane-tender, fighting the urge to speak telepathically with her fellow plane-tender, but she knew that some found such gestures threatening if not forewarned.
"Your presence is heartening, fellow caretaker," Mariel instead said to the Goliath.
The other person that Lissandra had gathered, likely the woman that she had wanted Mariel to help, was a familiar face, and returned a measure of happiness to Mariel's ashen face. The traveler was a welcome reminder of happier times.
Aaliyah, Mariel remembered, recalling her journey to the Elemental Plane of Air. The generosity and kindness of her master, the Noble Djinni, Ishaan, had been a great boon to the traveling plane-tender. He had seen her fed, more than well. She had rested in his great palace. A creation built with solid ground, a rarity in the zephyr realm, and structure worthy of the storied artifacts the genie had collected over the eons.
"I greet you, Aaliyah, of the Elemental Plane of Air... it has been some time since our last meeting. What brings you away from the realm of your master?"
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