Aelonya.
It was autumn when she arrived in Daelstadht, leaves gently fluttering the ground when the train had finally shuddered to a stop at the station, causing perching crows to screech out into air. The station, positioned alongside a sea of German beech trees, was painted in fiery colors that came into focus as Aelonya stepped off of the train, one hand easily holding up a small suitcase, while the other held gingerly onto what appeared to be a disembodied, skeletal hand. The tip of her boot neatly clipped onto the side of the track, and she propelled herself forward into a crowd of lightly-dressed - and evidently drowsy - students, who hardly gave her a second glance as she weaved between them. They did not notice that the large trunk following her was supported by sets of skeletal hands, nearly covered by the back of Aelonya's cloak. It was still earlier in the morning, dew collecting at the eaves of the station's portico, condensing against the windows. As she crossed into the town, Aelonya tugged the long scarf off of her neck, tossing it to the side where it was neatly caught by outstretched hand.
"Danke, Svetovid," she cooed to it, the warmth of her breath condensing in the cool air, as she stepped onto the pale cobblestone street. It was slightly sepulchral, this town, she thought. Though perhaps it was just her imagination.
By the time she arrived at the school, the sun was well above the horizon, glancing off of the neat, but worn stones that made up the academy's buildings. The light, which happened to shine directly into Aelonya's eyes as she stepped onto campus, only amplified and agitated the slight sense of budding nervousness blooming in the pit of her stomach. She roughly swallowed, a disembodied hand roughly clipping into the side of her face to block the sunlight. In response, she groaned slightly, and flicked it away as she took in the buildings.
The main hall was preposterously large, instantly reminding her of some of the later gothic cathedrals so tall they actually broke in half. Studded with spires and interlocking stone facades, it seemed entirely out of place in the small town. Even more out of place in Aelonya's mind, which was filled almost entirely with images of her home and the small dwellings around it - small little wood-and-stone huts, connected by unpaved, dirt roads, hardly discernible in the dead of night from the shadows of the tall trees that blanketed the ground. There was no familiar scent of slowly-burning wood smoke, so intense that one would easily be able to descern when the wood was cut, and how long it dried. Other than the sight of the sun, and perhaps the small pickings of evenly-spaced trees here and there, this place was completely foreign to her. There were a few students loafing around the grounds, though few looked in her direction. The ones that did showed contorted expressions of bewilderment, directed at the floating hands that accompanied her, flitting around through the air like stony birds.
As she stepped forward to pass by the main hall, a tall man in a pinstriped suit waved at her, beckoning her closer. Clipboard in one long-nailed hand, he looked vaguely familiar to Aelonya, yet a slight chill ran up her spine upon glancing into his coal-black, beady eyes. Though a few other students were clustered around him - obviously, he was some sort of administrator - his smile was unnervingly directed at her, or so she felt. It was entirely saccharine, she thought, almost bemusedly wondering if he had a set of jagged teeth behind his lips. Her thoughts were interrupted at once as a skeletal hand stopped Aelonya in place, pushing her chest back, and nearly causing her to fall backwards into the pavement.
She barely had time to murmur a choice curseword to the hand, deemed 'Perun', before a dark-haired girl in the most ridiculous shoes Aelonya had ever seen nearly impaled her foot, cutting swiftly in front of her. The sight of this girl - with black-rimmed eyes, blisteringly huge lips, and grim-looking footwear - instantly reminded her of mythical antagonist Koshei the Deathless, causing her to double over in laughter. She dropped her suitcase to the group and hunched over her knees, as a million images of Koshei applying mascara, shaving his legs, and other effeminate things rushed through her head.
Newly - and oddly - reinvigorated, Aelonya waved back at the pinstriped dude, stepping forward to speak to him.
