The Bridge Gate [Post here first.]

They were walls made of stone. A bit larger than Flidais is used to, sure, but still just walls. She looks relatively unimpressed. Anything man builds pales in comparison to the beauty of nature anyway. She looks over at Caedryn and raises a brow at his obvious amazement, and then approaches the guardsman standing at the gate.
"I request passage, sir," she says, her voice as stony as always.

As Salam passed under the arch of the gate a guard stops him. Odd that he was picked out from the crowd. No one else had been, perhaps it was because of his appearance.

"Excusez-moi monsieur! Please come this way."

Assuming the guard is obeyed. Salam would be lead into an office. He would be asked to sit. If he raised a concern he would be told not to worry. The guards are very polite, but not talkative. Eventually a clerk would come in with a shift of papers. He sit at the table and slide some documents to Salam.

"Pardon for the inconvenience monsieur. I take it you entered the country through some sort of teleportation? While not strictly speaking illegal, when you skip the boarders you don't get your travel papers. Luckily we understand that some people travel with magic. Just fill out these forms and we can issue you some papers. After that just make sure to keep them on you at all times. If you lose your papers report to a city guard immediately. We do not recommend being caught without your papers, after they have been issued."

The forms are rather simple. Just asking for full name, country of origin, reason for visit, and some other general information.

Just as the sun is reaching the height of its journey across the sky, Madame Naoki’s party completes theirs. Two hundred thundering hooves roll up and come to a stop a short ways away from the Bridge-Gate of Travére. They pull over to the side of the road as not to disrupt traffic, cavalrymen and all, and remain mounted for a moment.

From her gray mare at the head of the procession, Madame Naoki looks to the city. Across the arch bridge lies Travére, capital of The Kingdom of Gauldin. Though she had seen the city a few times through Reese’s looking glasses, and has seen numerous artistic renditions, to stand here on the coast and look out over it all is an entirely superior experience.

A city built on an cove island, merchant, fishing and navy ships alike swarm like small insects around the base; sailing to and fro, docking and undocking, navigating the waters surrounding the city. Further up, the bulk of the city is visible in red-roofed homes and great arching architecture. Nestled farther back, The Royal Academy of the Arcane is visible, with its white marble domes peeking up over the residential district. And of course, at the very peak of the small mountain of the island, its steeples highest of all, is The Royal Palace, Le Palais Des Ailes, The Palace of Wings. Truly a sight to behold, Travére and its palace. However, Naoki is looking for none of these things.

After taking some time to digest the sights, Naoki’s gaze falls back down to the waterline, the docks, where ships continue to move and dock. Using a large, gray-sailed brigantine as her point of reference, she shortly locates the individual she is searching for. Sitting on the far end of one of the docks, a single, unremarkable man sits fishing, wooden pole held between his legs.

Upon noticing this man, Naoki’s ear (and with it, her earring), begins to move and twitch erratically. One watching from behind might think that something had gotten caught in the tuft of her ear, but in reality, she is signaling down to the man on the pier. The sun glints and flashes in a short pattern, reflecting down to shimmer in the eyes of the fisher.

Shortly, he responds with his own short code of flashes, before opening mental communication. Naoki’s earring ceases its twitching and begins to glow as she makes contact with her contact, and by extension, the rest of her men in the city. Sent ahead months previous by Reese, it has been their task to keep tabs on the city of Travére, and report back information on the happenings within. However, today, their task is to ensure the safety of the Embassy and its guests in a covert manner.

The fisher informs Naoki that all seems to be well within the city, and that they judge conditions safe to proceed. She responds with acknowledgement, affirmation, and her plans to proceed. The whole exchange doesn’t take longer than a minute, and immediately following it, Madame Naoki turns to her comrades, suggesting that they prepare themselves to enter the city.

Madame Naoki is aware of the symbolic value of what they’re about to do, and prepares herself accordingly. The Ambassador of Isra, visiting Gauldin with the stated intention to create a strong and lasting alliance between the two great nations. Quiet implications and kind words had made it seem now to all that King Renaux is not opposed to the idea, and plans to receive the embassy warmly. Assuming all goes as it seems it will, this will be a momentous occasion, or at least one of the minor events leading up to one. Even now, some passing travelers exiting the city pause to eye our party, recognizing the Isranian Sun insignia present on the uniformed embassy members. Some stern looks from the crossbow toting lieutenant see them along, but it brings to mind an important consideration: the public will be watching. The King himself may be present for their arrival, as well. The accommodations regarding their arrival had not been reviewed in much detail, so Naoki is unaware of how exactly the government plans to handle her arrival.

She lances down at her attire. A black riding coat over a white tunic. Even though the tunic is quite tight, it’s hardly the most flattering outfit in her arsenal of attire at the moment... She glances to the silver box strapped to one side of the horse’s flank. Hm.

After a moment of consideration, she reaches into the pouch on her hip, and pulls out a gemstone. A bit of polished but uncut smokey quartz, she wastes no time in channeling a bit of energy into it and tossing it to the ground.
Instantly, a plume of whitish gray smoke matching the color of the gemstone erupts from the ground, immediately obscuring Madame Naoki, her horse, as well as Artemis, the lieutenant, along with their mounts.

Over the course of about a minute, the smoke gradually dissipates, revealing the same three mounted figures as before, but with one major change. Naoki is now wearing her recently purchased gown, and sitting sidesaddle. First impressions are of the utmost importance.

The silver box remains shut and strapped as it was to the saddlebags, but now contains her riding clothes. Something of a quick change artist, it seems. She moves as if to adjust the fit, but hesitates before lowering her arms again; no adjustments need to be made. Amazing.

With this change of attire and demeanor made, and once again in full view of any who might care to ogle, Naoki reaches back ever-so-slowly into her saddlebags and pull out her travel papers, still rolled into a scroll. With the reins in one hand and the papers in the other, Naoki gestures to her group, indicating that they should follow her. A short communication to the cavalry lieutenant sees the guards splitting off to form a new formation on the road. Now that the group have reached Travére, security would become the responsibility of the city guard and Naoki’s stationed men.

Guiding her horse back onto the road and to the gate, Naoki leads the other nineteen members of her party directly up to the gatehouse, and stops wherever it would seem appropriate to do so. A guard approaches, and formally requests to see travel papers. With a perhaps over-exaggerated leaning motion, she provides them, along with a few hushed Gaudlish words to the guardsman. He blushes profusely as he checks the papers over, and evidently finds them in order, as he mutters his approval and returns the papers. Naoki receives them, and proceeds on horseback through the gate, ‘accidentally’ brushing her tail across the guardsman’s face as she does so.

Naoki stops just inside the gate on the first span of the bridge, and pulls over to one side of the thoroughfare, a position from which she considers the wandering eyes of the other passersby with a mischievously raised eyebrow. However, it isn’t long before the rest of the group is passed through the gate, and Naoki proceeds to lead them across the bridge and into the city proper toward the palace. Though she makes sure to ensure Artemis , Queen Arianne , and Lady Genevieve St. James stay with her, if Royal Fletcher and Ravven Fletcher choose to part ways here, they would not be pursued. 

[Exit to The Royal Palace with group]

After a few more days of travel, Raulio Fletcher and Megan Zachurr would arrive at the bridge gate to Travere. Megan would approaches the guard checkpoint and reaches into her pack for her travel papers. She spoke to the guards in her noticeable Aaedanian accent, "Top o' the mornin', lads! Here are my papers. I'm looking for the Magic Academy, could you give me directions?"

Silas walked with a merry jaunt. His pockets were full of coin and he was in good company. This was sure to be a good night. He nodded to the guard on his way in.

"W-wha? Raulio!" Megan blushes from the surprise affection from Raulio. "Er, thank you sirs!"

Megan would leave with Raulio down main street, she felt flustered but still held onto Raulio's hand.

A dwarf in casual leather clothes and a parrot, sitting on his shoulder, arrives and walks through the gates, whistling cheerfully, as the parrot squawks. He raises his right hand to greet the guards on his way in.

Oliver followed in tow behind Cairex. He to was awed by the grand city. There was something majestic about it.

Kalum walked quite calmly across the bridge of Travere. Not showing signs of impression from the locale and features of the beautiful city like the tourists and those away from home to long. He was quite simply, bored. Little excitement from his last job has left him feeling rather downtrodden. For there is no fun if he cant spill the blood of at least something.

He produced his papers as he walked past the guards and filed them away into one of his many hidden pockets of his suit. There were a few places he could find some entertainment, though the nearest was usually where the drudge of society could gather, his kind of people.