Robyn peeked around the corner, seeing the nun in her pure-white habit, and bit her lip to hold back a curse. She needed to escape her confinements, but after last time, if she was caught now...

The boardinghouse clerk turned away for the briefest moment and she took the opportunity, darting across the short distance to the door and throwing herself out into the sweet spring morn, ignoring the clergywoman's call of, "Stop! Sinful girl, where do you intend to run off to?!"

Snatching the glider she'd hidden behind a broken wall, Robyn pulled it over her head and leapt from the floating isle, plummeting straight down into nothingness and cloud. It was what she intended.

A current caught the flags of her glider and she was sent straight up again, leveling out as she fled the boardinghouse and circled the mighty Cathedral, hoping the nun hadn't recognized her from the few other girls in her housing. She knew it was a useless hope, but feared they might force her to commit to the abbey this time.

The breeze fluttered through her pinned hair, threatening to pull out the ties that precariously held up the mass of waves. A few of them fell, leaving dark strands to flutter in the breeze.

Higher and higher she rose, circling a wide pillar of stone until she was up on a cloud. There, the topmost part of the Hope Tower was all that could be seen. Silently, she tipped the wind machine forward and landed gracefully on the balcony, folding her makeshift wings as she did so.

Robyn crept to the door, sneaking a look inside to make sure no one was there before stowing away inside the domed room. Swiftly, she made her way on tiptoes to a cosey place behind an intricate writing desk. There, she knelt, and looked around again for any sign of worshipers who might have stumbled upon her. No one seem to be near, though she thought she heard the echo of prayer from somewhere below.

Letting out a tense breath, she pulled the necklace from her pocket. At first glance it appeared to be a normal thing, a common stone of purity set in bronze, something that was given to every monk and nun upon commitment to the monastery. She knew better.

Though this stone was as pure and christaline as the ones about her proffesors' necks, it had a sense of power to it...at least to her. She could almost see a wispy, white aura floating aimlessly about the little teardrop gem.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she wrapped the simple leather band around her palm and held it to her breast.

A moment passed, then two. She didn't expect anything to happen. Not yet.

She opened her soft blue eyes, focusing on the air before her. It became a moving, living entity and she could see it clearly, a tendril of wind stirring at her command.

There was a clang of metal falling to the stone floors and she yelped, clasping a hand to her mouth only too late.

"Who's in there?!" A rigid, hoarse voice croaked.

Robyn peeked around the writing desk at the open archway that led to a neverending spiral stair and saw the elderly monk, a tin bowl of charred incense lying at his feet.

Biting her lip to the point of nearly drawing blood, she called upon the saints to pull her out of this mess. If they saw that she had stolen the necklace after so many other things, she would be deemed a damned soul, incapable of staying to the path.

Robyn was beginning to fear that the nuns would lock her away for her deeds when she heard a strange roar. She gasped and was very still, her eyes wide in fear. She had never heard such a sound.

After a moment of feeling her frantic heart slam against the wall of her chest, she peeked again around the desk to face the creature.

Robyn blinked, seeing that not only was there no monster, but the monk had disappeared and the door had been closed. Had it all been her imagination? But it had been so vivid...

And then she saw the melted lock.

She spun back around and prepared to snatch her glider and flee. A scream caught in her throat as a boy around her age was suddenly in front of her. Had he been the one to make that terrifying sound?

Then he spoke, and her shocked stare became curious. "Hello. Who...are you?" Many foreigners were said to come to the cathedral, but the girls were kept far away from them. She suddenly became very interested in his strange style of dress and appearance, and her eyes brightened. "Are you from the fire plain?!"

Robyn watched him with a look of awe that turned into a mischeivous grin. She could tell that he was showing off and tried her best to look uninterested when all she really wanted to do was jump up and down like a four-year-old and demand that he did it again.

She realized her hands were still held to her chest and she unfolded them to reveal the little necklace. On her palms were the indentations of the simple little stone. "Ziek," she said his name as if testing it.

Then she closed her hand around the necklace again. "My name's Robyn. I...think I'm a Charmholder too..." She looked up at him, focusing more on the air between them. Again, she tested it, making the air around him come to life and entrapping him for a moment in a whirlwind. She did it with a certain amount of question. Her life had been so monitored that she really wasn't sure what a Charmer was, and wanted him to tell her if that was indeed what she was. "What are you doing here? I didn't think foreigners were allowed in the tower."

Robyn was ecstatic to find out that she was indeed a Charmholder. She'd never thought it could happen to someone like her.

When he spoke of the view, she cracked a grin. "Well...have you seen it?" She didn't think he had and stood, grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the balcony. "It makes some people sick, but don't vomit or you'll hit the nuns," she teased, then stopped to think. "Actually, maybe you should aim for the nuns."

Robyn tied her Charm about her neck and grabbed her glider before stepping out into the strong winds, the breeze circulating ever-higher. She leaned out over the edge and reached for a cloud, knowing she wouldn't be able to touch it. "Have you ever glided before?" she asked, turning briefly to look back at him before leaning out further, her feet rising up off the ground for a moment. "It's so like flying...that sometimes I forget I'm not a bird." She laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, that sounds stupid. But it's true."