[center][h1][color=darkorange]Gwendolyn Abramelin[/color][/h1][/center]

Traversing the city always provided Gwendolyn with a sort of unique struggle. Everything was so... different in comparison to her life with Menes. She missed the derelict city. That was her true home. She could tell that much just by travelling along the busy streets of Dilei. There was just people [i]everywhere![/i] It was rather difficult to find solace in solitude as she used to. This was especially true as Gwen had no home. The remains of her raft was all that she required, though it mostly served as a spot to hold all of her hoarded possessions. Gwen was nothing without all of the nonsensical gold jewelry pieces and strange wooden idols that covered her pseudo-house's floor space. Luckily— or perhaps unluckily— Gwen very rarely slept on her raft. Instead, she chose to find herself resting wherever she felt tired. It was a habit of hers that worked out fine in the derelict city, but things were different here. Gwen sighed wistfully. [i]Different for better or worse.[/i]

Gwen didn't have time for such silly thoughts on this day, though. The day was a day of change. Again, for better or worse. To join a 'guild' was something Gwen never thought she would do. Rather, she was content to scrounge through unfamiliar dilapidation. Alas, her environment was foreign in a different way these days. The thought of such radical change upset her, or rather it would have if she had been thinking about it. Her mind was occupied with other ill thoughts, forcing her anger for different reasons. Not only did she have to clear her raft of her possessions, she had to lug them all through the grossly crowded streets. It was certainly a struggle for someone so accustomed to solitude. She couldn't go back now, though. The offer the Vale Craft Guild had made Gwendolyn was suspicious to put things lightly, but it had the potential to pull her out of this bout of unluck. It took all of her will not to outright ostracize the idea of guilds, but the concept seemed so normalized in Dilei. So Gwen found herself struggling to haul a mass of junk through the labyrinthian corridors of metropolis. 

It wasn't all bad, though. Gwen did find her anger momentarily quelled on multiple occasions when she found herself passing through the street markets near the port where she originally lingered. It seemed that her strange masses of foreign gold and trinkets attracted quite a few new friends— or at least what Gwen had assumed to be friends. Whatever the merchants were to her, Gwen bid them farewells while dragging behind her a sled just a bit lighter or with a slight variation in contents. Save for those unique encounters, Gwen managed to make it through her journey without too much conflict. That was no thanks to her, of course. It just seemed that most of the city-goers weren't as interested in stopping to chat as she was. It was strange to her to say the least having come from a lifestyle where seeing others was something that would happen rarely or never at all.

Gwen's destination appeared much grander than she originally appraised it to be. In all honesty, she felt a bit intimidated by the large guild hall. As such, she approached it with a certain air of cautiousness. Something deep inside the young Powder Mage wasn't sure if she was ready to give in to the idea of joining such an organization just yet. She couldn't turn back, though. It had been so long since she had experienced the rush of freedom that overcame her when she flowed with her Drift, and from what bits of information she had gathered from her brief encounter with the Vale Craft lieutenant, she wouldn't be very easily able to experience her art without the aligning of oneself with a guild. The concept made Gwen angry, but she would conform. She had to at least for now. She yearned to continue her practice.

By the time Gwen had pressed the doors open, the sun was already setting over the horizon. She had spent a great deal more time in the city than she had realized. Considering her distant journey, Gwen wasn't the most presentable when she arrived either. She disregarded her discombobulated appearance, pressing on to meet her colleagues regardless. As she was oriented with the maze-like hallways of the guild hall, Gwen paid little attention, regarding the entire environment around her with a certain scrupulousness. As much time as she had spent inside crumbling catacombs and basements of the derelict city, this foreign architecture felt constricting. Maybe it was something else, though. Gwen thought for a moment that perhaps she just felt an immense pressing dread upon herself because of how limited she had been in wielding her Drift Magic as of late. She spent a long moment pondering the thought when she was finally shown to a room that she could call her own. Personal claims to space— that was another concept foreign to the worn out vagabond. 

For a long while after she was left alone, Gwen just laid upon her bed, aimlessly staring into space. The moon was starting to flutter its way into the night sky now, but Gwen was unaware. She felt wide awake, lost in thoughts wracked by the unfamiliar circumstances she had been thrust into. She didn't know if she was excited or not. Moreso, she was curious as to the nature of the experiences that awaited her, but she would approach them with chaste. What consumed her waking moments most of all though, was thoughts of Menes. [i]What had become of her mentor?[/i] She would likely never find out. Tossing and turning, Gwen couldn't escape her unrelenting mind. In an effort to distract herself, she left her room, wandering the dimly lit halls for a long while in the silence of the night. She didn't really know where she was going, but destination wasn't a variable that entered her mind. She had come out just to wander, at least until she found herself in a much larger room occupied by a hearth that still burned hot with embers.

Without realizing it, Gwen paused in her strides, instead finding herself a spot sitting next to the glowing flames. It wasn't the flames that captivated Gwen's gaze, however. Instead, her eyes traced the trails of ash as they puffed from the cracking wood and floated down to join the ever growing pile. For a moment, Gwen found herself unconsciously reaching a hand out towards the ash before catching herself and pulling back her grasping limb. [i]Things were different now... In more ways than she realized. She had to accept that.[/i] Without her control over the Drift, Gwen found herself merely staring at the ever-growing pile of ash until her eyes fluttered shut, too heavy to maintain alert and awake. Finally at peace, Gwen drifted into a land of peaceful dreams among derelict streets whistling with zephyrous winds carrying deposits of dust and sand. It wasn't conventional, but it was [i]her[/i] peace.

As the sunrise peaked in through the windows of the guild hall, the young girl cramped in the corner next to the long fallen fire found her eyes flicking open. The rays of bright light had managed to pour right onto her. Gwen stirred swiftly, realizing that it was much earlier than she wanted it to be. Perhaps she would have fallen back asleep had she not realized that she had drifted into slumber in such a strange place. Gwen shook her head to wake herself even more. If she wanted to fit in, this wasn't something she could do. Similar guilty thoughts occupied her mind as she rose to her feet, peering around. She intended to wander back to her room with haste before she was accosted by the guild's veterans, but something caught her eye. As the sun started to peak above the horizon, the stained windows of the large hall had momentarily mesmerized the young Powder Mage. Gwen had never seen such glass and the lights glinting off of it only further intrigued her.

With a slightly awestruck gaze, Gwen motioned to walk towards the array of windows. It was only then that she realized that she wasn't alone in the hall. A girl aged similarly to herself was also gazing towards the rising sun. Gwen remained silent for a long moment, giving her disheveled appearance a once over. She certainly didn't look in the best shape. Her stark white cloak was coated with dust and ash that did very little to help accent the array of gaudy golden linings that also accented her appearance. Nonetheless, she approached the other woman.

[color=darkorange]"I've never seen anything like that... I need to get some of this glass."[/color] Gwen paused, reaching for more words. Most of her focus was averted to admiring the sight before her. [color=darkorange]"A good way to start the busy day, I guess. I'm Gwen. Are you a newfound member as well?"[/color]

[sub][@Jinxer][/sub]