[center][h3][color=orange]~ Carmen Calandra ~[/color][/h3][/center]

Carmen sat in her pride and joy, the little fashion shop that was a hidden jewel in a nation of fashion shops. Business had been unusually slow today, so she had been given (for better or for worse) time to sit and ponder.

It had been years since the Academy had been destroyed, but it felt like yesterday. It was full of so many memories and wonderful experiences, all vaporized in an instant. Carmen had been very unsure where life would take her afterwards, even though she had much more of a fallback than many of the other students - and, of course, she had survived. That fallback turned out to be vital to the survival of the remainder of Athalia's population, and was where they all were now.

But for Carmen, it was more than just a place to run.

As she grabbed her purse and her trumpet and walked out the door of her shop, she looked around and smiled. Oasari was a beautiful place outside of monsoon season, and today was exceptionally picturesque. The sun was out, the sky was clear, the birds were singing and the town hugging the side of a mountain was chirping with activity. As Carmen walked past more shops and things, she turned her head to the right to bask in a view she had never tired of: down in the distance, glistening brightly, was Crystal City, Oasari's capital. She found herself stopping to admire it like she always ended up doing, soaking in the crisp mountain air, and finally continuing her walk.

It was a walk she had become familiar with not since Athalia was destroyed, but before she even knew Athalia existed; this town was not only a refuge for Athalian immigrants, but a special place for its one Athalian non-immigrant: it was Carmen's home. And as she walked down its winding streets, Carmen realized that coming home was the best possible place she could have gone, both for its sentimental value and her ability to store her entire fashion collection in a way she was satisfied with (she realized this about twice a week).

The town, located in the mountains northeast of the coastal capital, hugged the mountain side like a terrace farm. Winding streets made of cobblestone zigzagged up and down the sloped settlement, dividing rows of shops and houses either buried into the earth like they were in the Shire or hanging off the side, watching over the terrace level below. Two story buildings did both, having an entrance on both levels. The roads and rows of buildings all centered around the town square, the one completely flat location in the town. Closed to automobile traffic, the pedestrian zone featured an open space with the town's best restaurants on one side, an open vista overlooking the valley on which the capital city sat at the bottom, and a beautiful fountain in the middle. The fountain's water was purified, and people could freely take a cup and drink from it. The town had a unique charm all its own, and was a frequent destination for Oasarians and mainland Lavanyan tourists alike.

After Carmen returned from Athalia, she had been welcomed as a heroine of sorts, and was a prominent figure in the town's (and indeed all of Oasari's) culture. She hadn't decided yet whether or not to go on this big adventure to stop Marcus, but she figured it would be good to show up to the meeting at the inn to see exactly what was up. Of course, she had a lot of reason to want to take down Marcus, but just as much reason to stay and defend her town and country in case Marcus decided to invade. Why he hadn't yet she had no idea, but Oasari had become the one place of refuge for those wanting to escape Marcus' grasp. She wondered about who else would show up and indeed who would go. There were plenty of old faces and several new ones, but even more present were those faces not there. Remembering those who fell, many of which she knew, to Marcus in the attack brought her back to reality as she neared the inn.

Walking into the inn, Carmen saw that it was mostly empty, save for one long-haired fellow she recognized. She went to the bar and ordered her special drink, the Skylark cocktail. Once she got it, she walked over to Criston and sat down, placing her cocktail on the table and her trumpet standing up on the floor next to her. She hadn't seen much of Criston back at the Academy, but had seen him frequently in town since they had arrived. [color=orange]"I am [u][i]amazed[/i][/u] that I'm one of the first ones here,"[/color] she remarked. [color=orange]"That's just...well, it just [i][u]doesn't happen[/u]."[/i][/color] She sat back and took a sip of her drink, knowing that Criston would speak if he wanted to.

Meanwhile, a certain kitsune sat in the corner, brooding as usual.