[SE] It's Warmer in the Sun

Nothing could have prepared Kel for the volcano's eruption or the ash that had darkened the sky for days afterwards. It had finally driven him into the Port, seeking shelter along with so many others displaced from Haulani. Now that the winds had blown the dark clouds away and clear skies were returning, however, those from the other city were returning to their homes to begin the process of cleaning and Kel was free once more to wander and try to decide what to make of his new life on this strange world.

Jiao had told him of the portals and he had made his way to the one in the Port, the directions easy enough to follow though the locals had little patience for him with so much else going on. When he found it he hesitated, though, unwilling to step through when it had been one such device that had brought him here to begin with, and Jiao had warned him they could never take him home again. He was just beginning to find his footing here, though, and the thought of traveling to another unknown place where he would again be back at square one was daunting to the young man.

He reached up to run his hands through his shoulder-length black hair, brown skin gleaming in the tropical light. He still wore the clothes from his world; a green tunic padded along the front and sewn with large slices of antler down the chest and stomach and over the shoulders in a kind of natural armor, over dark leather trousers and boots. He carried his bow and quiver of arrows with the confidence of a hunter, but the wariness in his amber eyes looked more like prey as he watched the portal and nibbled his lip, wondering if he would have the courage to step through it today, or if he would come back to it later, once he'd found his feet here in Torchline first.

Niyu

Niyu had been told about the strange portal that supposedly brought one to a different place within Caido. That had been several weeks ago, but not once has she stopped thinking about it, and the possibility of where she might end up. The person who had told her about the portal, some merchant and trader who came to the Citadel to peddle his wares, had been quite insistent of a place he came from, a place filled with warmth and sun, unlike the freezing ice and snow in the stark white landscape she had only known in her life.

Such a thought had intrigued her greatly, and the many sleepless nights thinking about it had only reaffirmed her decision. She would step through one today, regardless of the consequences. She didn't exactly know how to prepare for the trip beyond. She had heard it was warm, and therefore wouldn't need the parka and the rest of the warm outfit that she had worn in nearly every day of her life. Armed with her bow and a quiver of arrows, a spear on her back, and a bag to store her warm outer clothing, Niyu headed towards the location of the portal. She finally laid her gaze roam all over the object of question once she approached the portal.

It was truly a peculiar sight, and never in her life had she seen anything like it. Preparing herself, Niyu mustered up her courage and took one step into the portal, heading into the unknown, and the rest of her body followed suit. The first thing she felt when she reached the other side was a overwhelming amount of heat and sun. It was warm, and sunny.

Kellan

Though he'd been watching the portal and trying to make up his mind, Kel hadn't seen anyone else traveling through in either direction. Some people didn't trust it, but most couldn't be bothered leaving the land they knew when there was so much work to be done at 'home' to recover from the volcano's wrath. Besides, where would they go? Jiao had mentioned a Fae Woodland where her people weren't very welcoming of strangers, and a cursed land within a popped bubble.

Kel was almost ready to give up for the day when a shift in the portal's light warned him of something changing, and a moment later a woman stood in the street, looking very overdressed for the climate. He drew in a sharp breath of surprise, taking a wary step back, but he couldn't help but notice her bow and arrows and for a moment his caution was overridden with a professional interest in the weapons. "Hello..." he offered, a little weakly. "Are you... here to hunt something?" It was the only thing he could think of, with what she had with her, but he immediately winced at how foolish it sounded out loud.

Niyu felt an intense urge to strip herself of all her clothes just to escape from this overbearing heat she had never felt before, and she would have been very tempted to do so indeed, had it not been for the discovery of another individual right in their midst. She watched the other indivdual closely as she rest her weapons next to her while she striped her hide and fur parka and thick hide pants.

Clad in just light and simple outer wear, the heat not felt more bearable and she could finally turn her attention to the stranger who had been trying to catch her attention with his question. Retrieving her weapons once more, she answered him. "I'm a hunter. It is folly to go anymore unprepared without a weapon. One does not court death if survival is something that they wish to preserve. Who are you? What is this place?"

He didn't blame the stranger for taking the time to disrobe, given how sweltering she must have been already. He stood awkwardly, though, shifting his weight and uncertain if he should turn away and give her privacy or if her continuing silence meant that she was deliberately ignoring him. Still, it wasn't his way to turn his back on a potential danger and he had already seen her weapons. It was unlikely that she'd shoot him in the back if he left now...

But not impossible. Torchline was far from friendly, and been threatened by more cheerful rogues than this serious warrior.

Just as he had made up his mind to began a slow backward retreat she turned her attention back to him and he found her oddly formal speech to be almost lyrical after the harsh hawking of the locals. She spoke more like a poet than a hunter, though Kel knew the two were hardly mutually exclusive. "Me? I... I'm Kellan," he answered, a little entranced by her way of speaking, but not enough to lose his wariness. "And this is Torchline. Kaiholo Port, in the city of Haulani, on the Ahi Coast." Terms he had taken some time to get to know himself, that he still stumbled over at times. "Who... who are you? Where are you from?"