Utopia's Prejudice

Discomfort etched itself throughout her body. She felt uncomfortable.

A culture that Rayla was used to seemed foreign now. Completely and totally foreign.

Well, she didn't know if she could call it foreign, so to speak. It was a culture that she still completely recognized, and had hundreds of fond memories of. A culture that she understood, and knew how everything worked within. A culture she could navigate. How couldn't she?

This was home.

One could observe a lot just by sitting in a public space in Xadia. And this particular town, Lichterluft, she had passed through on the way to Katolis. She knew the town well. Everything was exactly as she remembered her homeland. Magic flowed through everything, from the streetlamps that let people see at night, to the gardeners and construction workers, beautifying and building respectively with any number of spells. Bakers produced their loafs by utilizing the elements, and performers displayed their skills to appease and entertain the children, to inspire and enrapture them, and get the brats out of their parents' hair for just a little while.

In the middle of the Glittering Lake – The lake that this town had been founded alongside - Stood the Hall of Residency, where over half of the town's population resided. It was held afloat, hovering above the water with the air magic this place was known for having an affinity for. Along the edge of the entire lake, was a pier, and on that pier, were stacks of slabs. All someone had to do to reach the hall was step out as though they were walking to fall into the lake – And those stacked slabs would shoot out, ensuring no one fell in, and created a bridge wherever said traveller walked. All hovering, just a few inches above the water, almost like it taunted it, and the laws of physics that were utterly powerless against the might that was magic – A symbol of Elven architecture. Almost like it was done just to prove that they were capable of doing it. To an extent, it was.

All of it was home. All of this – This was what she had lived in her whole life. What she had fought for. What she had been ready to defend with her life. Against Humans.

Against.... Those 'monsters'.

Rayla sighed. She looked towards Callum. It had been.... A monstrous effort, but they had been able to procure him an illusion enchantment. Getting him through all the small towns and alleyways and everything in between, just to find someone willing to sell illusion magic and was also willing to ask absolutely zero questions had been one of the hardest things to do when you were trying to hide a Human who needed the damned thing, but they'd managed it. Now, he was disguised as a Skywing Elf, and no one around them was the wiser.

Skywing Elf suited him, she supposed. The way he looked around everything like a child in an amulet dispensary, looking to select their first magical item to take home – It went along with the Skywing Elf culture of intrigue and excitement they were known for throughout Xadia. No one thought much about a Skywing Elf getting all excited over what to them, would be incredibly mundane usage of magic.

He was scratching some touches onto one of the drawings within his sketchbook. His tongue was poking out of the corner of his lips, just slightly. "Rayla?"

"What is it this time?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

"What did you call this again?"

"We call that magnificent feat of magic a 'streetlamp'." She said, with that sarcastic edge to her voice. She found it hard not to smirk. "You've got these in Katolis, don't'cha?"

Callum gave her an incredulous look. "Ours don't tend to fly."

The Moonshadow Elf glanced up at the hovering lamp – It's surface was spherical, and it travelled among the air currents. The underneath of it let out a very mild light- When it became pitch black at night, it would shine and illuminate the entire street. She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "I guess. Yours also tend t'be on fire."