Vata closed the window in his study before sitting down at his writing desk. He had no wish to let either the noise from the street or the slightly chilly winter breeze disturb him while he worked.

Several minutes later, while he was writing a response to a student, Vata started to feel incredibly sleepy. Despite the fact that it was only several hours since sunset, he thought little of it. He had been up all of the previous night finishing an essay after all. Moments later, he caught something dark out of the corner of his eye, and then lost consciousness.
[hr]
Vata woke up to a shockingly cold gust of wind blowing snow into his face. The last thing he could remember was that he was writing a response to a letter sent to him by his most recent student, but the last time he checked, writing a letter did not transport one to places unknown. He'd heard that shaping had been done through the use of runes carved into stones or written on parchment, but he'd never heard of shaping being done purely by accident or that it could allow for swift, if not instantaneous travel over distances as long as from Nishi'an to the cold mountains of the North.

His thoughts were interrupted by him noticing that there was a figure approaching him. He thought he could also see a couple figures in the distance, but the snow and the wind made it difficult to see. He stood up from where he was sitting and raised a hand to his face to try to keep the snow out of his eyes as he tried to get a better look at whoever, or whatever was approaching him. When that failed, he called out to the figure.
"Is somebody out there?"