"The Opening Speech and The Feast of the Folk will begin at noon."
Kaylessa heard the announcement ring out as clear as day, but couldn't quite tell where it was coming from. It seemed like it came from all around her. This was the first time she had been inside the old, Gothic castle, and in stark contrast to the outside, the entrance hall was certainly far more modern. There was an unkempt pile of luggage just inside the main doors into which all the others seemed to be dumping their belongings.
I'm not sure how I'm ever going to find my stuff again, She thought as she watched her belongings quickly get buried under the growing pile. There sure are a ton of people here considering I arrived on a bus that only contained Bjarke, Sassa and myself. I wonder how everyone else got here. Certainly, they couldn't have THAT many buses.
She began to wander away from the massive luggage pile to explore her surroundings. She looked around in awe, her gaze being draw upwards by the many intricate etched portraits of what seemed to be ancient warriors and gods. She noticed that the walls were a pale grey, with delicate white detailing and large golden pillars every 30 feet or so. Each pillar had atop it a marble statue of various heroes and celestial beings. It felt like her eyes took forever to reach the windowed ceiling. The midday sun was almost directly overhead and it glinted into her eyes as it bounced off of one of the angles of the skylight. She squinted, momentarily blinded, and accidentally stumbled into a girl with fiery-red hair.
"Whoa! You okay?" asked the girl, while unsuccessfully attempting to make eye contact with Kaylessa.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just don't look up at the skylight," laughed Kaylessa. She felt her face get warmer as she blushed and tried to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"Hey, no need to cry," the girl said, smirking "I'll grab you a tissue."
"I'm not crying. It was just from the..." Kaylessa trailed off as the girl bounded off into the crowd to find her a tissue.
Never mind, she thought to herself as she used the cuff of her sweater to wipe her eye.
She continued walking down the hallway, slowly this time so as to assure she didn't bump into anyone else in all the chaos. The entrance hall was filled with the sound of excited voices and joyful laughter. If she had been shocked before by the simple elf ears that Sassa and Bjarke had shown her, it was certainly premature. The hall was filled with all sorts of people completely foreign to her. She spotted a few other elven looking folks but some of them had skin as pale white as the moon, and others, skin as dark as the void of a black hole. She made eye contact with a waif-like blond that passed by and noticed the girl's eyes glinted a vibrant violet as she gave Kaylessa a cheery grin. She stared in wonder at the myriad of new races, still not sure what this place was or why she had been invited.
"Hey."
She felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw the fiery girl, grinning, with a handful of tissues.
"Thanks," Kaylessa replied, taking a tissue. As she dabbed the area underneath her eyes she inspected the girl. She noticed that the girl's hair really did look like fire, going from a vivid scarlet at the top into an orange, and finally to an almost-blonde, pale-orange at the tips. She had bright, wide eyes with winged eyeliner and her lips were painted a rich, dark red that matched her hair. She had both sides of her bottom lips pierced.
She certainly is an interesting character, Kaylessa thought to herself.
"I like your piercings," she said, not sure what else to say to the girl.
"Thanks! Snakebites are my favorite," she beamed back at her. "I'm Mia."
"Kaylessa. Nice to meet you. What is this place?" Kaylessa asked, turning again to look around the hall.
"It's the Welcome Hall," Mia said, knowingly.
"I mean what is this whole place, the castle? Where are we?" She gestured around herself.
"Oh, wow! You have no clue? This is Bawa Ekin Mani. It's a school to learn magic; it's one of the best, actually - best in North America."
"...Learn magic?" Kaylessa wasn't yet sure what to think about this answer. She had certainly seen some bizarre things today, but a school to learn magic?
"Yep. We should head into the banquet hall to get some seats before Elder Asa gives his talk. I'm sure he'll explain it all for those that don't know what's going on."
Mia grabbed Kaylessa by the arm and started pushing her way through the crowd.
As she followed Mia down the long hallway, Kaylessa thought to herself, "This is turning out to be a much more interesting day than I'd thought it would be."
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