As you ride, the city on the horizon becomes clearer through the haze. A strong wind blows, whipping sand into intricate seeming dust clouds. The last few weeks have been rather windy as well. You get the feeling that the wind is always blowing here.
A particularly dense dust cloud envelopes you for the last stretch of the journey. When it finally clears away, Helatia is right in front of you. It is just as Shadya described, beautiful. The buildings have an ancient, eroded look to them. Nary a corner can be found, the walls bend and curve gently, as though streamlined to allow the wind to blow freely by them.
The first structures you come in contact with are the Twin Djinn, the famed guard towers at the northeastern edge of Helatia. They stretch high into the air, their bases are thick, sculpted clouds, their tops are the torsos of djinn with folded arms. The left djinni's face is stern, the other is smiling. In both djinn, arrow slits dot the massive structures. In the bright daylight, you can't see faces behind the slits, but you know they must be there.
Out of the base of the right djinni, the smiling one, a man in the flowing garb of Sairundan steps out. At his hips are two scimitars. He approaches you, sees Shadya, stops, and waves you on with a nod. He returns to his post in the djinni's cloud column.
Beyond the Twin Djinn the city stretches. It is small, as far as cities go, but dense. At the center of the circular city is a tall, sculpted edifice. At its base is a hemisphere. In the center of the hemisphere, a smooth vertical segment continues upward, then splits in two, then joins again, creating a sort of torus. It is to this building that Shadya leads you.
As you walk through the streets, Shadya recognizes almost everybody. Humans and dwarves of the Hurakan tribe walk the streets, going about their various lives. Many bid her a courteous hello, but everyone seems to be in too much of hurry to catch up with her. Kurgahz can't help but notice some less-than-friendly glances cast his way.
After a short while, you reach the base of the large central hemisphere. A large, ornate arch is carved into the side, depicting (as many of the fancier buildings do) clouds rolling and flowing into each other. Above the arch a flowing script is carved. It is Sairundan, it says...
[sblock=Sairundan: ]Wind is strong, wind is swift. Like the wind, we cannot be contained.[/sblock]
Inside the hemisphere is a grand hall with great columns and statues of the sons and daughters of Sairundan. Shadya doesn't lead you to the center of the hall, where a ring of large hewn thrones is located, but rather she takes you to the side, through a series of rooms, to the chambers of her father, an advisor to the patriarch. She is waved through up until the last passage, this one concealed by a red curtain. A Sairundani guards the entrance, he halts her and says in Common, "Shadya yn Hayder, your father has long awaited your arrival. He will be relieved to know you have arrived safely. But I cannot allow this ug.... unclean one... passage into the holy chambers." His hand makes a vague gesture at Kurgahz.
[sblock=Shadya: ]As best you can remember, Sairundan leaders have always been respected, revered, but never classified as "holy men", so this man's claim that the chambers are "holy" is a little surprising to you.
OOC: Shadya recognizes basically everybody. Feel free to assume you know a few random people very well, and also feel free to give some people names. No ai Hurakan, though, if you want to know some powerful people, let me know first. Shadya, being somewhat of a noble, is known by many but shouldn't know too many people personally.
This guard she recognizes as a man of Typhoon descent, and is not the same guard who has been with her father since before she can remember. That man's name was Venka ai Krishnan, this man's name she cannot recall.[/sblock]
