When was she ever going to learn? Aria thought. The morning rays of the sun shined through the lone window in the kitchen. Aria glanced around the house, two rooms were adjacent to the massive room that they used to cook and eat in. They lived off the blacksmiths shop where Telsa work.
Aria chugged back the goblet, grimacing at the taste. She got up and grabbed the small dagger that hung by the front door before exiting the house. Walking into the blacksmith shop, she noticed Telsa wasn't there. Where was she? And where was Graver?
She walked around the shop, making sure Telsa and Graver weren't around. She stopped at the door and smiled. With everyone out, she could finally test her skills she'd been fine tuning for the last two years. Aria raised the fur hood up and over her white hair, hiding her dark purple eyes and pointed ears deep within, before slipping out the door and into the busy street.
The city was coated in pristine snow, bathing the crude walls in a sheet of untouched white that glittered in the morning sun. the cloth awning above the street-side stalls straining under the weight of fresh powder that still fell from the sky. Aria looked up at the sky, a featureless, un-moving steel blur that blocked out the sun. She felt a snowflake land on her cheek, a sudden chill as the ice quickly melted against her skin.
With a sigh, Aria began to walk down the path, wet snow sloshing beneath her feet. Through the winding back streets, she passed other citizens, most dressed in shabby rags or leather jerkins. Aria pulled the hood tighter to her face as she stepped onto the main street, the sound of the bustle reaching her ears. On the main road, carts and carriages flew by with the clatter of the horses steel shod hooves against the brick road. The baying of merchants at their stalls echoing over the chatter of the city's citizens.
Aria joined the flow of traffic, listening intently to the sounds of the city. Her eyes were alert, conscious of any eyes that may be on her when hers landed on one of the glass window of a shop. She glanced into the glass window and saw her reflection, shimmering against in the hue of the glass; blonde hair, tanned skin and beautiful blue eyes peering out from under the hood. But for only a second, the visage shimmered again, revealing her true face.
Pale skin, violet iris, and hair whiter than the snow falling from the sky.
She looked away, making sure no one saw what she did, sighing softly, relaxing when she saw that no one had paid her any attention. She quickened her pace until the merchant district was well behind her, when she heard a sound, not of horses or vendors, but a sonorous voice that called for silence of all others.
"My brothers and sisters!" the voice intoned. "We stand at a precipice!"