EDITED (CAREFULLY!!): as per OOC
An Elven woman floats silently into the solarium, drifting just above the floor. Her entrance is an impact in itself, pulling on many people’s attention. An aura seems to surround her, drawing some nearer: too scholarly to be dangerous, too beautiful to be left alone, too warm to be neglected, perhaps not exactly Elven, but all the more vulnerable and in need of help for her slightly odd appearance. Her presence presses for attention, and though there are some who ignore her, there may be others who give in to the feeling and start to approach, and some who force their eyes elsewhere… for some in the room it seems to take a subtle effort… as if her sheer force of personality keeps pulling to come help her, go with her, travel alongside her, gently but insistently. She smiles around the room at everyone, radiantly, seemingly oblivious to the slight stir she has caused simply by entering the room.
She passes through the group and… oh! No perfume; surprisingly, no scent of any kind when she passed… and pauses to sun herself in a beam of sunlight. The room grows noticeably brighter around her, her unruly long golden hair shimmering; she is breathtaking. Dressed in deep cerulean blues that match her eyes, and pale browns that match the shades in the soft planes of her face, she is elegantly striking in appearance. Tiny dots of ruby catch the light, flecks of gemstone on her gently pointed ears and woven into strands of her hair. She wears no makeup; her skin has a natural healthy freshness, the muted, dappled gray-browns of sycamore bark. Her eyes… perhaps a trick of the light, the blue of her eyes is so intense they seem to glow cerulean blue themselves, matching perfectly the bright cerulean headband that is barely keeping her hair in check.
Some jewelry, linked amulets and charms around her neck and wrists. Long flowing sleeves covering her arms, but no weapons, not even a day pack. She seems completely unprepared for an adventure. Such a strong urging to take care of her, it flows from her and clings like a fine, glazed sauce for the senses.
There has not been a sound as she floated across the solarium with her feet inches above the floor, not even the soft sounds of shifting silks as she moved, but finally she breaks the silence and speaks. Her voice is high and pure, the sound of tinkling bells. She nods at one of the company in recognition, and addresses everyone else.
You may call me CaraVela. It seems to suit. I serve at the Observatory, I make maps of the night skies there, and maps for travel all over. Perhaps you’ve seen one of them.
My Lord, it’s always good to see a familiar face.
For the rest of us, we begin as strangers but only for the first moment; soon we can be friends in our cause, whatever it may be that we can do to serve and give help to each other. It has been such a sudden change these past few months… I sense that some of you know yourselves just what I mean.
She says her piece and falls silent again, open but quietly reserved. At last there is a chance to pull back slightly from the impact of her presence and beauty, and take stock of her appearance. A beautiful lady, with some Elven blood... well, perhaps not exactly Elven, subtly wrong somehow, disproportioned in the shoulders and seat as she went past, but… she looks innocent enough. In human-equivalent age, she looks young, early to mid 20s. About 5’7”, 105lb. Thin, androgynous, very athletic build, like a dancer not a wrestler.
The name is familiar… CaraVela. An odd name, obviously beautiful enough to be a Cara, but Vela, the winged constellation… and caravela, the fast clipper ship for fighters and merchants. A memorable name; which meaning is the true one? CaraVela...
Yes, of course, that’s who she is, just as she said. Familiar to adventurers, soldiers, sailors, merchants; all rely on her. So this is CaraVela, but… she is a legend, or the name of a cartography company, or perhaps it is a name handed down, because that name has appeared on the best maps for many centuries, longer than almost anyone remembers. The best cartographer in the world today; perhaps the best ever. It just doesn’t seem possible that so young looking an Elf could be the original CaraVela, if even there ever was one.
Well, she may not look like much of an adventurer, but now truly there is a reason for everyone to take care of her, not to lose the world’s greatest mapmaker… At least the party may not get lost, wherever it is sent. She might have some small use in her innocence.