<div class="floatleft">(http://i.imgur.com/rcYHbkb.jpg)   <br/></div>Character: Jude Talonius (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=1068434)<br/>Location: Docks, disembarking the freight vessel<br/>Wearing: Full linen cloak and scarf, parade armor beneath, rucksack, scimitar<br/>Tagging: Open<br/><hr/><br/>The river had enchanted Jude for a while... the sparkling of the waters had spoken to her of home, of childhood, of naked childhood swims and of sand and pebbles between her toes.  But now, after the hours of voyage, it was a constant reminder of how long she had been gone from these lands, or those like them.  The flowing water, she had heard, would drive a native of Akkali to fits of madness-- the sheer volume of these rivers and the alien customs of the people induced a sort of dementia, temporarily, as they were overwhelmed by the stark and constant reminders that they were far from their oasis.  Not so Jude... this was a home... not<i>her</i>home, not yet.<br/><br/>Jude lingered near the stern to watch the dock swell closer and closer, to study the approaching shore with a mixture of excitement and dread.  The letter in her pocket, which she had read dozens of times, hinted at grand expectations she was unsure she could meet, and at vast opportunity she felt, perhaps, she did not deserve.  These weeks had been long, and the purpose of the journey had overshadowed her nerves along the way, but now that she could pick out the waiting figure of the one who would certainly be her guide-- the solitary, unmoving figure among the active dockhands-- she was certain that she was in over her head.<br/><br/>As the gangplank was lowered from their ferry, she hung back for others to disembark first, then edged tentatively toward the man and produced the letter, much of its wax seal still intact despite the journey, and waited to see what the others would do.