Manchester - Late February, 2010

Korshan sat alone upon the floor within the quiet confines of his small, one-bedroom apartment, brooding in a tired and agitated sort of way. He was restless, a perfectly natural condition for one who bears the lineage of the Rom. He knew well that part of it stemmed from the long winter that he had returned to Manchester to face. The Earth Spirit slumbered through the colder months, awaiting the rebirth of the natural world with the spring. His powers suffered during this long sleep, waning as did his feeling of connection to the Earth itself. This was part of what it meant to be Dhartime, claimed by the Earth Spirit, and he now understood why his family chose to avoid the winters by travelling south. True Gypsies were not content to stay in one place for too long, and this migration only lended to to that need for motion.

Shaking his head to clear away the thoughts of his family and his clan, now so very far away, he looks about the dimly lit room. "What am I still doing in this place, anyhow?" He asks of the deepening silence, not really expecting an answer from the air around him, but needing to fill it with sound of some sort. There is an answer, though, of a kind. A few uncut and unpolished stones clatter across one of the shelves beside him, the now half-full jar rolling away from where it had been tipped over. As the remaining stones tumble within, he calls out to the small scattering shadows around it. "You have awakened, little ones...I was almost beginning to miss your mischief and little pranks." Small whispers and giggling are the only reply from the Gremlins as they hide themselves away. "Oh, well, some company is better than none at all...even if you are still sleepy." He knew the answer to his question anyhow, so the lack of a voice speaking back at him hardly mattered. He had come back here because of the Mages.

His sister's abduction and his part in her rescue was what had led him here, finding that enjoyed the company of her 'new friends' was what made him stay. Breathing a heavy sigh, and reflecting on how very isolated his own people were in the greater sea of humanity, he stands to begin collecting the spilled stones. Gathering up a pile in one hand, he rights the jar with the other and gazes into it for a moment, lost in thought.

~The Gypsies stay together in families, groups and clans to avoid feeling lonesome, to be with others who are like them and understand them. A different people entirely, separate and separated by a heritage that is powerful and alien to most of the world. The Gaje, we call them, anyone who is not of the Blood. They feel it somehow, they know we are different, know we have the power of knowledge that has been lost to them and posess a truth that has come to be beyond their grasp, and do not even understand that feeling. They fear us and often hate us, and do not even know why.~

Korshan knew how deep this misunderstood feeling ran and had seen how it kept him from getting to know any 'normal' people. They were uncomfortable around him, nervous and edgy. A few of them had even apologized to him for leaving his company so quickly, saying that they had a strange feeling that something was wrong and had to go. Chuckling to himself and shaking his head, he pours the small, rough stones from his hand to the jar. "I guess tall, dark and handsome only goes just so far...perhaps I am a little too dark for some." His chuckle turns to an ammused laugh. A roll of brass wire thunks to the floor, pushed off another shelf by one of the unseen Gremlins. "No, do not try to distract me from my thoughts, little ones...I know my restlessness will pass as spring nears." The faces and names of the new Mages in Manchester drift through his mind. "Besides, there are more people here, now, who have no feel for my being so different...for being Rom." A small smile lights the darkness of his face as he nods to himself, thinking on in silence as he retrieves the fallen roll.

~I guess I have already decided how best to break the gloom of winter. There are new faces out there who may well welcome my company and appreciate my understanding of how different they feel from everyone else. They may not be a part of Compton House as the others were, but that will certainly not keep me from spending time with them and finding out for myself just who and what they are. I will place myself into the hands of the Wind once again, and see where Fate carries me. Perhaps I will gain another companion as the wind blows on...~

Staying with him, the lingering thought of having someone new to share his affection with carries him easier into sleep, dispelling the agitation he felt. Beyond the bounds of the waking world, he stands a little taller, bearing a contented smile and walking onward into the Dreaming...