Once upon a time – a time somewhat after Zeus banished the Titans, yet before Helios spanned the harbor of Rhodes – Aeolus the Wizard lived happily on the glorious floating island of Aeolia. Whether he was named after the island or the island bore his mark, none knew, but of his happiness, dear travelers, we are assured.
That is, until the great gods, knowing the power of his wizardry, named Aeolus keeper of the four unpredictable Anemoi.
For years after, while Phaethon drove his father’s chariot and Prometheus stole fire from Olympus, Aeolus resignedly harbored the Winds. When Boreas sank an entire Persian fleet because a silly girl in Athens batted her eyes in his general direction, Aeolus sighed and had another cup of tea. When Zephyrus sired yet another string of magnificent horses, this time for Achilles, Aeolus went to bed early with a headache. Always, though, he maintained the stables of the winds in impeccable, pristine condition and tried not to mutter too loudly about how he couldn’t find his sheep in all of Notus’s infernal mist.
But this story is not about Aeolus’s tasks; it is about his fate – for one day upon his shores arrived the King of Ithaca, weary of his quest and seeking respite. Aeolus, always delighted to receive visitors, welcomed Odysseus and his crew gladly to Aeolia. The king stayed a month, telling tales of the Lotus-eaters and the Cyclops, and Aeolus enjoyed the visit so much that, upon the king’s departure, he gifted him with not only the gentle breezes of the west wind to see him home again, but a bag containing the four Winds.
Not a month later, however, as Aeolus read the Daily Oracle that Iris had delivered that morning on the rainbow, Odysseus again appeared on his doorstep, heartbroken. He related a new tale, one full of foolishness and the wrath of Poseidon. Shortly before arriving in Ithaca, unable to stay awake any longer to guard the bag of the Winds, Odysseus had fallen asleep, and his crew, seeking treasure and wealth, had opened the bag. The unleashed Winds, goaded by Poseidon, drove Odysseus and his ship straight back to Aeolia – where, Aeolus, fearing the wrath of Poseidon himself, sent the cursed ship again on its way, bereft even of Eurus’s unlucky squalls.
The common tale of Aeolus, the Wizard of the Winds, ends there, dear travelers, but for us, the true story is just beginning. As Aeolus soon discovered, the Winds not only returned Odysseus to the shores of Aeolia; they steered magical wanderers of all cardinal points and purposes there as well. Aeolia became a harbor for anyone seeking adventure, discovering new lands…or simply blown off course. They arrived alone, in pairs and by the shipload. And Aeolus, remembering how much he had enjoyed Odysseus’s tales of glory and battle and beauty, welcomed them all.
Over time, Aeolia became a regular stopping point for magical travelers, often as much cause for the journey as the journey itself. Aeolus, too, gained notoriety as not only as a gracious host, but a learned man with tales of his own to tell. Some travelers stayed for a handful of days, some for a month or two, and others stayed for years, exhausting Aeolus’s tales and his other guests’ as well.
As his final act before journeying to Elysium, Aeolus established a magical university on his island, a university that provided succor for travelers and adventurers, excitement for explorers and a lighthouse for wanderers of the world. He established a place where students would learn from each other as much as from the faculty, and where a loose but devoted community would form. He commissioned great halls of learning, to be sure, but he also created warm, inviting fires by which tales would be told late into the evening. He created four Houses so each student, no matter how far she had come or how unusual her journey, would have a place to belong – and appointed the Anemoi his first Heads of House. He opened his home to the weary, the brash, the tale-tellers and the hermits, to anyone who traveled a path to his island.
In the time since his death, Aeolus’s University has succored thousands upon thousands of wayward travelers, brazen adventurers, inquisitive explorers and free-spirited wanderers – some for a night, some for a year, some for a lifetime. The school is unique: nowhere else in the wizarding world are students so transient, visiting for a time, then returning home to share stories from the four corners of the world. The University travels, of course – Aeolus’s floating island eventually floated itself aground on the coast of Greece – but students of the world always find it along their journeys: welcoming, friendly, a beacon, a warm fire and a new tale.
Travelers and adventurers, explorers and wanderers, you are always welcome in Aeolus’s Hall of the Winds. May your stay be calm and your departure ride the gales!
