My Story - Onela's Return To the Alliance.
by: Me.

Returns.

"So, here I am again," Onela spoke quietly to herself when she finally reached the all too familiar front gates of the Alliance. She waited not another moment to continue on and through the gates, feeling an eerie chill rush down her spine, as her eyes lingered on one spot that brought back a lot of fond memories. "How quaint," she said aloud again, reaching one hand out slightly in the direction of the small, now desolate tree. The leaves had fallen off last autumn, but she knew that in another couple of weeks they would be blossomed anew and the entire Alliance and forest surrounding the grounds would a wondrous sight to behold.



Glancing back up with a smile, she continued on, stopping at the doors to the main hall and deciding to herself that it was not time just yet to move inside and find her new rooms, so instead of pulling the doors open, she turned on her satin bound heel and began to wander the grounds outside a bit, taking in the fresh air and all the while looking here and there.

From what Onela could see the Alliance had not changed too much, but that was just the building and grounds themselves. Onela had no doubts that some things would have changed in the couple of months she had been gone, but she hoped things would not seem too peculiar and foreign to her.

Before she even thought about going to her room, she went instead to the library, one of her two favorite places in the Alliance. For quite a while she stayed locked up with all the books, immediately losing herself in the darkness and silence of the place, looking through this book and that, checking to see what new books they had since she had left and much to her surprise and delight, there were a few that was actually interested in reading.

Her last stop before heading inside and getting moved in was the garden. She knew that she would be spending many hours here late at night, when needed to meditate, relax and pray. Before long she found herself in the back corner of the garden, in her favorite little spot, hidden by vines and flowers. She smiled brightly once she saw her small rosebush was still where she had left it and glowing and sparkling wildly at the presence of their mother. "I have missed you, too, my dear star roses," she whispered fondly as she ran her left pointer finger over one of the silver, luminescent roses. "I am here now." After all the training she had gone through with Liwen Sarila, she now knew what it was like to be one of her roses and she knew the pain they felt when she was away. Sarila had scolded her when she had admitted having no idea that the flowers she created actually missed her, telling Onela that she should know better and that to the eternal flowers, Onela was their mother and their guardian and their life.

Stretching both arms up and over her head, she then sighed, relaxing a little and shifting the rather light midnight blue satchel on her right shoulder. She did not carry much with her as always; a dress or two, she would get some new ones made; her rosewood box with her circlet and a few other presents she had gotten throughout the years; some of the ancient writings that she had stolen from Kalinesti and a few other miscellaneous items that meant a lot to her. Liwen Sarila had told her that someone that had as much training in front of them as she had, could not afford to be burdened by mass amounts of clothing and nondescript belongings.

After retreating from the garden, Onela knew that it was finally time to brave this not too new place and finally go inside from the darkening of the sky and cooling of the air. "Night time is coming," she said to no one at all and instinctively looked up to the clear skies above her for any sign of emerging stars, but there were none as of yet and in another moment she was gone from the outside and finally in the place that would once again become her home and once there, she was relieved to see that even the inside of this extraordinary castle had not changed too much. "Good, good," she nodded once and the again, her eyes running over the walls, the ceiling, the window decorations, the tapestries on the walls, the mirrors and anything else that she could see, taking careful note of the few, minuscule changes that had been made. "I suppose they do have to replace some things after so long."

Then Onela began wondering who exactly "they" were and she let her thoughts move along that path as she herself, moved along the dark corridors of the Keep. She made sure to take a few little twists and turns that she knew would make her trip even longer, but there were some things she just had to see, but once that was finally done and she was finally satisfied and left with no more impulses to run off and inspect anything else, she made her way to the message boards to leave a note for the other members of the Alliance.

"Now, with that done.." After that note was stuck up on the boards, she left them behind, not feeling the urge or the need to read anything up there just yet, but instead wanting to find her new rooms in the Thunder Moon quarters and just get settled down a little. With a tiny huff, she shifted the bag on her left shoulder over to her right before heading to the closest set of stairs that she knew would lead her to her final destination.