Somehow, right after passing through the arch, into the darkness guided by the glowing jade stairs and the visage of the Mother, Nura felt she needed to return to her roots. She stripped off all her clothing and her jewelry(despite much of it's sentimental value). As bare as the day she was born, she followed the fireflies up the stairs, and to the crystal caverns.

It was surreal - the jade steps and the statue, the cavern of crystals, the jungle, the salt flats, the rolling plains, the orchards, the forests… Nura spent a little over a fortnight exploring the realm. She had fashioned herself a skirt out of vine and leaves. It looked unfinished, as there was a large bare spot which showed the entire length of her leg. Her top was even less covered. She had mud and dirt smeared on her bare flesh, and her hair was a disheveled mess with leaves, flowers, tiny twigs, and even a feather stuck in it.

Now, finally, she stood at the massive tree that was known as Mother Earth's Temple. She stood, marveling at it for several long moments, and then finally entered with bare, dirty feet. Silently she slowly wandered the temple, admiring the architecture and appreciating the beauty of the place. Finally, she ended up in the throne room. She first looked through the herbs, mentally naming each and every one of them, gently brushing a leaf here or there.

Then she nimbly moved to the empty throne and knelt down in front of it. She had nothing to offer, other than what was in her hair, and so she pulled a couple of the flowers out and set them down on the ground in front of her as offering. Then she bowed her head. For a long while she was motionless, quiet in meditation, contemplating her experience, as well as her thoughts.

“When I was out there, I almost felt…” Nura began, but paused trying to come up with the correct way to explain it. “I have this constant need to travel, which I get from both of my parents. My mother was a Ghawazi of the Nawar who are a nomadic people of the deserts and Mamlak, and my father is a Moon Elf, so travel is in my blood. But these past days… I almost felt feral. I felt lost, but at home. My grandmother on my father's side is possibly half wild elf.”

It was a long story, but simply put, her grandmother did not know for certain who her father was. There was a possibility that he was a wild elf, or one of two other moon elves.

“After my experience here, I think it may be true. I think there is wild elf blood in my veins,” Nura said. “I would like to meet them, and learn of their culture and ways. But they are so very recluse. Could you help me?”

It took but a few moments for the room around Nura to change like paint sliding off a canvas onto the floor. The world melted down her and in the darkness the flowers glowed like the sun. "Then we will find you home my little Honeysuckle. You who are lost will be found. You will blossom and grow from the lost darkness you have found yourself in. Answers just lead to more questions but I can end them."

A gust of air picked up around Nura and suddenly the flowers began to explode into radiant light. They grew fast and began to scroll around the darkness. As they spread cobble stone began to appear. The vines of the flowers were in the cracks of the cobble stone. The plants grew rapid and wild until the entire scenery changed.

The Goddess just like Nura was nude in all of her glory. Her parts hidden behind long wild locks of red. Those green eyes wandering Nura as if looking through her, into her soul. "We are more than just the blood that flows through our body. It gives us the seed but what we blossom into my dear," Angela's voice began to drift as she approached and dipped her hand through Nura's body pulling out a seed that blossomed into the most beautiful white and purple lily Nura would have ever seen in her life, "My dear you choose what you are. Soul searching begins with who made us but we write the rest. We spread our roots and cover our story not those who are within us." She took Nura's hand and put the lily in it. "For you."

The room around them was like a broken temple. The sun shined down through the collapsed ceiling as Angela descended into a pool. Three statues depicting different women with vases had water flowing out into the pool. The water glowed with an eerie green and lotuses floated around. "Come into my pool child. It will make your body sing. It is a healing herbal bath."

Angela had been avoiding the child's real wish as she turned her back and put her head through one of the waterfalls. "I can help you meet them. I know where they are but everything has a price. I can make you something that will take you to them but you must do something for me first. No god will ever give you something for free especially in times of crisis."

Nura remained knelt, but she had a dancer's poise: her back was straight and her shoulders relaxed and rolled back and down away from her ears. Deep indigo eyes, which had once been described by a fellow bard as “containing the galaxy”, glanced around to her surroundings as they began to melt all around her. Her lithe body tensed slightly, preparing for the possibility that she might need to move quickly in fight or flight. But the glowing flowers stayed her, and was captivated completely when she heard the Goddess's voice.

The flowers were so vibrant in their beauty, making Nura almost want to weep out of sheer joy. And then her breath caught in her throat when her gaze fell upon The Mother, who was far more beautiful than even the flowers.

“I have always believed that we write our own destiny,” Nura reflected thoughtfully. “I suspect that is part of why I am so comfortable with not having a home… at least in the traditional sense. My mother said I blossomed when I started dancing, and then truly grew and shined when we began traveling the lands.” She took the lily with gentle grace in cupped hands.

“But I think there is something powerful in both nature and nurture that helps to shape and guide us, and this is what I seek to uncover.” She uncovered her body as eagerly as she would uncover the truth, shedding the vines and leaves she had fashioned into a makeshift skirt, and then slowly waded into the warm waters after the Goddess. An audible sigh of relief and relaxation escaped her lips. She had felt as though she had gone feral for too long, she had almost forgotten what luxuries such as this had felt like. She too tilted her head back to let the statue pour water through her hair, letting it wash away any twigs and leaves that had been stuck in it.

“Crisis?” Nura questioned, her brows furrowing in confusion and her head tilting slightly to one side. “How long did I lose myself in your wild lands?” She could have sworn it was only a fortnight, maybe two at the very most. Nura had always prided herself on keeping up to date with current events throughout all the lands. Being an in demand artist, she was privy to gossip in many of the courts. But she had heard of nothing that could have been deemed a crisis(especially to a Goddess of all people) before she had passed through the arch into Angela's domain.

“Of course, I will do whatever I can to help,” Nura said. “What would you have of me, Lady of the Land?”

Closing her eyes she thought about it all for a moment. Nura's words reached her ears and a smile crossed her face. "You were lost long enough but the crisis is that orcs now burn the lands of our beloved Canelux. People lost, people needing to be saved, and the guilds have showed themselves for what they really are. They are the heroes that people need. We Gods can be figureheads but what Mortals need are other Mortals who can show them the true power of having a limited life span.
Removing herself from the fall of water she stood up and stared at Nura for but a moment. "Travel to the ice lands with my daughter Belle. I will grant you an artifact to locate the herbs and other necessary things you will need to bring the Academy. Bring them to us and we shall help heal the people. Not as a Goddess and her people but as a Guild. This is important. Mortals should be able to look to each other for help in hard times as well as the Gods."

Angela lifted her hands and in a shimmering light a stone necklace crafted itself. "This necklace will act as your guide to the ingredients that the college is in desperate need of. I would suggest being ready to fight for what you need. Belle is gifted in the healing arts and a few other magics. When you complete your findings in the Ice Lands the necklace will break."