✱ New Beginnings ✱ [Meliora Vitae Group Intro]

It had been a few weeks since Cassiti’s fateful meeting with Dagda Maclean in Minstrel. Much had happened to Cassiti during that time, though most of it had simply been getting further exposure to the modern people and cultures of Earthland. She had eventually made her way into Fiore, which seemed to be the hub of the continent’s activity. There were a great deal of people that lived in the country, and most of the cities that she had visited so far had been so crowded that it had been all but claustrophobic for her. The Avalonian wasn’t used to being around so many people at one time, and not just because the population of her own home was only a few hundred. Cassiti had spent most of her life so far in all but total isolation, occasionally seeing people from afar but never having any real interactions with anyone but the priestesses that raised and educated her since birth. Naturally, a country that had thousands if not millions of people living in it was quite the cultural shock.

But that certainly wasn’t a bad thing. For the most part, the people she’d met were exceptionally nice, and very understanding of her as a foreigner. Most people struggled with her thick accent, but there was little Cassiti could do to help with that. She was about as fluent in the common tongue as she was ever going to be, but nothing would shake the roots of her speech. Nonetheless, most people were very good about answering her questions, guiding her toward things she was looking for, and helping her understand concepts that she’d never needed to worry about before, such as the use and importance of currency. Luckily, Cassi had yet to actually need jewel for anything. She had plenty of supplies to feed herself for a while, and she was always more than content to find a quiet spot to rest in the embrace of mother nature at night. While a lot of things that people used money to obtain were certainly interesting and desirable to her, they were things she could live without.

During all that time, however, her interaction with the exceptionally tall man with dark hair had been ruminating in the back of her mind. He’d had a kind aura, and she had been quite moved by the way he had dedicated several days of his life trying to help an injured horse in a herd that had staunchly denied his attempts to approach them. He’d shown patience and persistence, despite his worry about not being able to help the beast in time, wanting to do what he could even if he didn’t have magic or any other sure means to heal the animal’s injury. The horses had come to her of their own accord when they’d sensed her in the distance, drawn to her through her connection to her goddess. Once she had been there and reversed the injury on the animal, she had calmed and reassured the herd enough to let Dagda approach, and it was from that conversation that the man invited her to the guild he was in the works of forming.

She had liked the idea of the guild immediately, but needed time to think the offer over, unable to rashly pledge herself to anything without being sure that it wouldn’t put her in a place of compromising her faith and responsibilities as an Oracle. Given that the guild wasn’t quite ready to launch at the time anyway, her request to think about the offer had been received and more than reasonable. The problem had laid in the fact that she had no means of remote communication, but Cassi had faith that if joining his guild was the right thing for her to do then they would cross paths again, some day. And ever since that meeting she had given the matter great thought, coming to the conclusion that not only would joining Dagda’s group not cause her to stumble in her path, she came to believe that it would actually give her more opportunities to do Aryannrhod’s work.

The problem was whether or not she would be able to find him again. Luckily, her faith had been rewarded. She had been passing through a town, looking for any local churches to visit, when she found a flier advertising a feast being held by Dagda himself, requesting an open meeting for any and all that might be interested in the field of natural preservation. And luckily, she’d found the flier with enough time to actually make it. After getting some quick guidance from the locals as to the general direction of the location on the flier, Cassiti hopped on her horse and started making her way there.

It wasn’t a terribly long flight. Kismet was a strong mare, dun colored with black mane and tail, black hooves, and a slight black coloring on her muzzle. She had powerful wings adorned with feathers that matched the coloring of her flank. The horse was the only kind with wings that she had ever run into on Earthland so far, and there had been no mistaking for her that the gentle but dangerous creature had been sent by her goddess to aid her on her pilgrimage. It had found her during her journeys and had not truly left her side since, only letting Cassiti stray into cities and towns for a time before eventually finding her again when she left.

The Arborium came into view after only twenty minutes or so of flight, the great ship hovering in place out in the distance. As she got closer, she could see its top was almost entirely plan life, like a miniature forest atop of a field of metal and glass. The S.S. Endeavor was unlike anything she had ever seen before, the very sight of it taking her breath away. A cluster of smaller ships rose up to meet it from the surface, which must have been the transports that Dagda was providing to those that needed assistance getting onto the ship’s deck. Since Cassiti didn’t need any help with that, and presumed that trying to bring a winged horse inside a smaller, enclosed ship would be more of a burden than anything else, she simply made her way straight to the deck on her own.

Kismet touched down gently in a small field of grass just outside of the treeline, in full view of the podium and the area that had been set to greet the incoming guests. The mare stretched her wings briefly before tucking them back against her sides, giving Cassiti the room to carefully and gently dismount. “Asante, Kismet,” she murmured softly to the beast, petting the horse’s head before offering her a fruit in gratitude. “Tafadhali subiri hapa kwa sasa.” The mare accepted the offering, the fruit gone within only a few quick bites before she started chewing on the grass in the field, her tail idly flicking away any flies that thought to try for a nip on her flesh.

Cassiti walked slowly toward the spot were people were beginning to disembark from the shuttles, clearly a little uncertain about what she was doing. She knew no one here, and likely would not aside from Dagda himself, but he was up at the podium already talking to another person with him so unless he saw her and wished to come say hello she would not bother him for now. Instead, she carefully went to stand amongst the others gathering in the area, looking awkwardly and shyly at the sizable group. She pulled her cowl down so that she could see better, the white and gold cloak hanging gently from her shoulders. She had dark brown skin and black hair that was done up in thick braids with gold bands. Deep emerald colored eyes scanned the area cautiously. She wore a black long sleeve shirt that left her midriff exposed, and a tight fitting pair of matching black pants with a white belt that hung loosely around her hips. Standing at slightly over five and a half feet, she was somewhat shorter than most of the people present.

Not entirely sure what to do just yet, Cassiti merely stood off to the side by herself, glancing around and taking everything in as she waited for further guidance on what to do next, or for someone to approach her if they wished.