[hider=Siren Shenanigans]Natawa spent the majority of the day practicing walking around in the white sands. Luckily wherever she was there were no people around.  A naked young woman strolling down the beach might raise some questions.   She was slightly hidden from view by the rocky cliffs, and tall beach grasses waving in the breeze, but all the same her self-awareness was low at the moment. She was just enjoying watching her footsteps be erased by the waves brushing the shore. This was not her first time on land, but having legs was always strange and entertaining. She had spent months in a dark elves dungeon back when she was a child. There was even a time when she used to spend the day following a Foreas boy named Taryn around the old Lagoon she and her friends frequented as kids. Taryn was the one who taught her the common tongue of land folk. Though she didn’t know how to read or write the language. 

Oddly enough a pigeon flew overhead and dropped a something in the sand next to her. Looking at the ground, a bundle laid at her feet. When she touched the envelope her hand burned and a discolored marking appeared. She frowned at the markings on her left hand and used her finger to trace over the pattern.  She recognized it as magic, but she had no idea what kind.  Natawa was curious about the paper, but also hesitant to touch it again.  She stared at her hand, and felt its weight. It looked as if something was moving under her skin. She was scared of it. The poor girl had officially been on land for four hours, and had already been cursed by a bird carrying magic paper. 

After a few attempt at trying to get the scarring magic off her hand she sat defeated on the beach glaring at the envelope. Her hand felt heavy and the skin was scratched raw from trying to rub it off with sand, and rocks. She was tempted to just abort mission, jump back into the ocean and swim home. With a sigh she scooted closer to the letter, and tentatively opened it. Oddly enough she watched as the foreign land letters morph into her own language. Apparently based on what she read, marking someone and threating to turn them into a blackened husk was how land royalty summoned their people to festivals. Whatever this was, Natawa was fairly certain that this message was not meant for her. But she was not taking any chances so finding her way to whatever the Festival of Ardent was, was now a priority. 

Holding the envelope in her left hand she made her way up the sandy hill, leaving the salt water behind. After hours of walking through fields of grass, and tripping over every pebble in her path she finally came across a village. Natawa watched the humans from afar, as she crouched next to a boulder. It occurred to her that she didn’t exactly blend in with the village people. For one she was naked, secondly her super long hair was a tangled blonde mess full of twigs. Her feet were covered in dirt, and stained by grass. Not to mention her knees were a mess from falling down so often.  She was trying to come up with a plan, and wondered if the marking on her hand would get her anything. 

[color=c4df9b]“Catch em! Hurry Nia. Dad will have are hides if we lose em!”[/color] Lora yelled.

Out of nowhere two young girls came running by as the chased an escaped piglet. Natawa watched the scene unfold, and backed closer to the boulder to hopefully keep hidden. It took the two girls ten minutes of running around the field to catch the little pig, but as fate would have it the piglet ran over to where Natawa was and the girls looked just as surprised as Natawa was when they saw her.  [color=B1A1B8]“Hello.”[/color] Natawa said wide eyed. The younger of the two girls, Nia, burst out laughing at Natawa’s appearance. Lora the older one dragged Nia behind her protectively. [color=c4df9b]“Who are you…why are you naked?”[/color] she asked appaled. Natawa stared at them for a moment, and then remembered she needed to answer. [color=B1A1B8]“Oh…I’m called Natawa. I’ve um…lost my clothing...”[/color] Natawa stumbled through her first interaction with a human. Lora raised her eyebrows skeptically, but Nia once she finished giggling, stepped around her sister. [color=f6989d]“What kind name is Natawa? Hahaha. I’m Nia Rivers, and this is my sister Lora. Just wait here.”[/color] Gwen chimed and then she ran off towards the village with the squirming pig in her arms. [color=c4df9b]“Here you can wear this for now…”[/color] Lora said taking off her cloak and tossing it Natawa. 

Nia soon came back carrying a bundle of cloth and her mother in tow. Thankfully ending the awkward silence between Natawa and Lora. Modesty, and clothing in general weren’t really Siren concepts, but it was clear just based on observation that this was not the case for land folk so Natawa was feeling slightly embarrassed for how ridiculous she must look to them. Their mother came to her own conclusions upon seeing a naked woman with bloodied knees looking a mess. [color=fff79a]“Oh my gods! Ya poor girl, who done this to ya? Here ya are, put these on and come with us.”[/color] The older woman said gently to Natawa, helping her stand up. [color=fff79a]“Lora dear go boil some water for the bath.”[/color] She said to her daughter. Lora rolled her eyes but followed her mother’s command and walked home. 

[color=B1A1B8]“Thank you.”[/color] Natawa said quickly pulling the brown dress over her head. It was obviously two sizes too big, as the sleeves kept falling down, but Natawa didn’t notice as she followed behind the large woman. [color=fff79a]“Ya can call me Kate dear. Will get ya a hot bath, and then ya can tell me what happened over some stew. I bet it was them bandits, wasn’t it? Anyway when Nia came to me telling she found a naked woman in the fields, I thought it was another one of er fibs, but ere ya are.”[/color] Kate chatted on as they walked to the village and entered an old farm house. 

[color=fff79a]“Now have a bath, and I’ll find something that fits better than my old dress.”[/color] Kate said pointing to the big barrel full of steaming water, and then went into another room. Natawa sat in the bath water and stared in wonderment around the humble room. The water stung the cuts on her hands and knees but she ignored the stinging as she looked at the furniture and objects scattered about the room. This was her first time inside a house, and taking a bath. To her right was a hearth burning bright, and the fire was mesmerizing.  But then the burning and weight in her left hand brought her back to reality. Nia made a loud entrance, and smiled as she sat on a stool and began her barrage of questions. [color=f6989d]“So Nadia, where are you from? Are you an Elf cause you looked weird like them? Do ya have pointy ears too? How did you lose your clothes? Can you te…”[/color] Lora smacked Nia on the shoulder. [color=c4df9b]“Shut up will ya. Go feed the horses.”[/color] Lora said annoyed. Nia stuck her tongue out and then ran off. [color=c4df9b]“Nia never stops talking, it’s best to just ignore her.”[/color] Lora pushed her red hair out of her face. 

Natawa flexed her left hand under the now muddied water. She glanced at the pile of brown dress on the ground with the magic envelope plopped on top. [color=B1A1B8]“I need to go to the Festival of Ardent. Do you know where that is?”[/color] She asked Lora. The ginger girl blinked and the squinted at Natawa like she had asked what color the sky was.[color=c4df9b] “Are you kidding? The [i]Ardent[/i] festival is in [i]Ardent's[/i] Fall. It’s like six hours by foot from here. Where do you think you are?”[/color] Lora said mockingly. Kate walked into the room with a sack of clothes for Natawa to wear. [color=fff79a]“Leave if you’re going to be rude Lora. These’ll fit ya girly. You’re about the same size as my eldest daughter Gwen, and she won’t mind you borrowing her clothes.”[/color] Kate said placing the folded garments on the stool, and then looking pityingly at Natawa. [color=fff79a]“Wash ya hair girl and will get ya something to eat.”[/color] 

It was midday by the time Natawa was washed, dried, dressed and sitting at the table surrounded by the Rivers family. They all stared at her like she was a side show, but Kate kept everyone in line as she went around the table and plopped a bowl of rabbit stew in front of them, and Natawa. As they began eating, Natawa copied by picking up the spoon. The smell of the stew was strange and far from anything she’d ever eaten. Her diet consisted of shellfish, kelp, raw fish, and other crustaceans. She took a bite and chewed. Whatever the orange chunks were she liked them the best. She ate and listened as the family chatted about their day, and the work that still needed to be done. [color=fff79a]“So Natawa, Lora says you need to be in Ardent's Fall for the festival today. My husband Pete can get you a ride on one of the wagons if you’d like, he knows the vendors that will be leaving for the city soon. Are you meeting your family there?”[/color] Kate asked trying to figure the strange girl out.  

[color=B1A1B8]"Not my family. I was summoned by a royal person."[/color] Natawa said candidly as she set the spoon down and got the crumpled letter out of her pocket. [color=B1A1B8]"I don't really understand."[/color] She said handing the letter to Kate. The woman scanned the letter, and then handed it to her husband. [color=fff79a]"I see...I think it's best to get ya on your way then. Best not to keep Clarus waiting."[/color] Kate said her voice laced with concern. [color=fff79a]"Come now, leave the bowl and follow Pete, he'll send you off."[/color] She said hurrying Natawa out the door. Pete grunted as he got out of his chair, and warned his kids not to touch his food. Natawa followed behind confused at the changing in atmosphere, and Kate's personality. [color=f6989d]"Bye"[/color] Nia yelled after them. 

She follow silently behind Pete, glancing here and there at the village. A group of men stood around a line of wagons and carts, tying down bits and securing their wares. Pete chatted with a man for a short second, and then left her sitting in the back of a wagon full of squawking caged chickens. Twenty minutes later she was on her way.
[hr]
It was dusk by the time the wagon passed through the front gates of the port city. The smell was foul, more so for a Siren woman who never smelled anything so bad in her life. She felt nauseous from the jumbling wagon ride and the smells were just making is worse. The wagon stopped only a few paces after the gate, and the bearded tanned man told her to get off. And so she clumsily climbed off the wagon and stood their holding onto a post waiting for the nausea and dizziness to subside. People were everywhere, and it was extremely loud. Overall a bit much for the senses, from the sounds, smells, and sights.  

After some time of just staring dumbfounded at all the hustle and bustle she came back to her senses. She glanced at the letter again.[i]"Revel in the merriment that it provides you..."[/i] it said. She wanted her hand fixed, but the letter said nothing helpful in that aspect. So she began wondering around the less crowed areas. The jewel vendors quickly caught her attention, and she made her way over to them, almost falling on her face after being pushed out of the way by a man darting down the street knocking people and carts out of the way.  [/hider]