Tris sat on her bed, staring gloomily out her window. It was
a beautiful summer day and not a cloud in sight. Tris wished desperately that
it would rain.
Tris was a 15-year-old
weather-witch who lived at Winding Circle Temple in Emelan. She was short for
her age with curly hair the color of rust. Her brass-rimmed spectacles rested
on her fine boned nose. Stormy gray eyes watched the blue sky above,
searching for any hint of a cloud.
“What are you doing merchant
girl?” asked a voice near the door.
Jerking around to glare at her
housemate, Tris nearly fell off the bed. Ignoring Daja’s giggle, she righted
herself.
Daja was a smith-mage, tall for
her age, and very muscular. As a smith, she spent her days in the smithy,
making masterpieces out of metal. She leaned on her staff while watching
Tris.
“What do you want Daja?”
questioned Tris, blushing.
“I just wanted to know if you
wanted to go for a walk on the wall with me.”
“Sure. Is anyone else coming?”
“Briar and Sandry are.”
“Well, then why aren’t we going?
Maybe there will be a breeze up on the wall”
As they descended, they entered
the main room of Discipline cottage, the place where they all lived. Standing
by the door were Tris’s other two housemates, Briar and Sandry.
Briar was also 15, with
golden-brown skin and gray-green eyes shaped like almonds. He had short black
hair the color of ink. Briar was medium height, but still seemed to tower
over Tris.
Sandry was 15 as well, with
golden-brown hair the color of honey, tied back in two braids. Her blue eyes
were the color of the ocean and were used to look down on other people. After
all, Sandry was short for Sandrilene fa Toren, the great-niece of Duke Vedris
IV of Emelan, and cousin of Empress Berenene of the Namorn Empire.
“’Bout time Coppercurls. Ate you
ready to go?” said Briar.
Tris’s only answer was to start
for the wall.
“Hey! Wait up!” yelled Briar as
he, Sandry and Daja dashed after Tris.
Soon after, the four reached
Winding Circle’s walls. The walls were very tall, with watchtowers and stairs
dotting them. There were notches big enough for someone to stand in. They
found the nearest stairs and began to climb.
To Chapter 2
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