"Not rude at all! Fairyland-Below is the part of that world below Fairyland, as the name may imply. Shadows and stranger things live down there. A Marid's a sort of person, though not a sort of fairy, made of wave foam, who lives their life all out of order with the rest of us. I'm one of the six winds - the Green Wind, in fact."

"So is Fairyland-Below underwater?" He glances down at the water below them, trying to catch a glimpse of anything that looked out of place. He tries to imagine what a person made out of wave foam would look like, but he doubts his mental image is accurate. "How does that work, you being wind?"

"Underground, in vast chambers in the earth."

"I'm more an embodiment of the concept of wind, but it's just as accurate to say wind is an embodiment of the concept of me."

"Huh, are the shadows friendly?"

Alek is not sure if he understands that, but he nods. "If there are six winds, are you different types of wind, or just different locations?"

Realizing something else, he asks, "And I'm guessing you know I'm a vampire, right?" The man knew he was feeling fairly lost, so he's been assuming he also knew things about him more generally. The man, or wind, hasn't really said anything else that would indicate that though.

"That's a lot of questions all at once, but fortunately I'm pretty good at answering - the shadows are people, but most've them are people with somewhat less inhibitions, so they can be fun to be around but shadow-folk and flesh-folk get into conflicts over impulses sometimes. And we're different types of wind. My business is Earthly things, so I know what vampires are and how to spot one - plenty of people in Fairyland have odd diets, so as long as you're not assaulting people no one will mind."

“Sorry about all the questions, but thank you for answering.” He personally thinks the shadow people sound fun from that description but he doesn’t know if he’s supposed to say that. “What type of wind is Green Wind then?”

He nods at the man’s comment on his diet. “Definitely not planning to assault anyone. Do you know how I would go about getting blood though?” That might be something he needs to figure out, but he figures he may as well ask. At home there were bars for that sort of thing.

The explanation about the Green Wind does not fit into the margins of this comment, and, like this summary, it is spectacularly unhelpful.

"For blood, I'd assume asking people who seem likely to have the right type, or finding a blood fruit tree, or something of that nature."

The gateway is very close, now. Alek has maybe time for one more question before they're through.

Alek will continue to be confused about what Green Wind is then, but he does not ask anymore questions about the topic.

He doesn’t really know how he’d guess who’s blood would work, but he figures he’ll figure it out later. He doesn’t know what blood fruit is, but he’ll ask around once they’re in Fairyland.

He eyes the gate and debates whether to ask anything else. “Do you think there will be other vampires in Fairyland?”

"Possibly Below, but I don't think Above," he says, cheerfully.

If there's still time for another questions, he asks, "Is it alright if I'm there, if we're going Above?"

"Oh, yes, of course," he says, and then they're through the arch.

It's brighter, on the other side. Much more so.

Alek shields his eyes in response to the sudden brightness. After a second, he tries to look around at his surroundings.

If this is sunlight and it's this bright all the time, he may have to become even more nocturnal than he already is. While he doesn't catch fire in the sun, he does get sunburns very easily, and he did not exactly bring sunscreen with him.

There's a wooden tower in front of him, which the leopard lands on a platform of. The Green Wind jumps down. "Welcome to customs and immigration!" he says, cheerfully. "Also handling visitors, of course."

Alek carefully gets off of the leopard and looks around.

"Thanks," he says, in response to the welcome. "What sort of handling do visitors need?"

"Mostly checking you're not carrying any plagues, and giving people the ability to see things as they are until they adjust."

"Don't think I can get sick anymore, at least not with human diseases. Guess I don't know if there are other kinds."

He glances around him again. "Do you just mean so it's less bright?" He figures there could also be illusions or something similar.

"Fairyland has quite a number of glamors, as well, hiding what it really is. Well, come along on in!"

Alek takes another look around, wondering if anything he sees is actually a glamor. He figures he'll find out soon enough, and follows the man.

The inside is a bit crowded, and noisy, and there's a mechanical person taking tickets and checking bags and trying to get the lines to behave. The Green Wind leads Alek over to one of the two lines, standing with him. It moves quickly, at least.

Alek is kind of fascinated by all of the people, including the mechanical one. He follows the Green Wind, but he also tries to get an idea of what Fairyland is like from the people around him. In particular, he keeps an eye out for anyone who looks how he imagines fairies would.

The mechanical person asks for his name and business in Fairyland.

"I'm Alek Murray." He gestures at the Green Wind. "He brought me here." He hopes that's a sufficient answer for what his business is here.

Then he'll very easily get processed, and then have something blown in his eyes that make them feel a bit gritty.

Alek tries to blink away the grittiness. Then he looks around, trying to see if anything has changed.

Nothing in here, though the view outside the windows is subtly different.