Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Oh. Oh, dear." Galatea hovered for a moment longer and then, with a worried little frown, sank gracefully to stand on a fallen log. Clearly, things were not going well and, had anyone seen her, they certainly would have wondered what such an obviously shy juvenile was doing out on the edge of the running path through the woods on her own. Especially since the sun had only recently made its bid for freedom from the horizon.

For a while, the blood feien simply stood and chewed on her lower lip, mind moving fast. After nearly breaking the skin, though, she started and shook her head. "This won't do," she muttered. "Not at all. Oh, dear. No. The Captain believes that I am strong and capable. She said I could take care of myself. She said I should entertain myself, explore and such." Pulling her shoulders back, she lifted her little pointed chin high. There. That was determination and duty.

A moment later, she slumped once more and sank to sit on the log, drawing her knees up to her chin and wrapping slim arms around them. The morning air was cool. She felt sluggish. Far too sluggish to be completely obedient yet. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and gave over to listening intently to the sounds the trees made. Strange creaks from the wind, rustling leaves from small creatures moving about. A bird sang somewhere and she smiled smally in vague wonder.

Gaia was not so bad. It was just different... But she still wish her Captain had allowed her to follow her on her run.

However, a short, sharp cry changed all that and, suddenly, Hadrian was facing a very wide-eyed Galatea. She stood before him, hands clased over her chest, and looking distinctly doe-like.

She hadn't heard him coming, despite his singing and his lack of subtle movement; she had been too lost in her own thoughts. For some reason, the feel of the dew-damp log beneath her feet had kept her occupied for long minutes. So, when the other feien appeared, it had seemed out of nowhere and she reacted accordingly.

Hadrian was probably lucky, in retrospect, that Galatea had not yet learned to successfully mimic her bond's more martial exercises. The startled look on her face clearly telegraphed that he might have gotten a gutful of tiny fist.

Apparantly oblivious to his state of disarray and shock, the younger feien was already bowing a bit, cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment. "I'm sorry. Very sorry, Mr. Hadrian," she replied quickly. "I did not hear you coming and I got in your way. I hope I didn't hurt you?" She trailed off in a sort of hopeful question, lifting her gaze to his in what was, for her, a bold move.

"But I am," she reassured him anxiously. "I wasn't paying attention to what was around me." She dropped her head then and he could just make out a very sheepish smile. "I was feeling the bark under my toes."

Galatea looked down at her purple toes and wiggled them thoughtfully. "It's rough," she answered quietly. "But wet, too, from the dew. It has to be the dew, you see, since it didn't rain last night." She frowned a bit to herself. "Though it seems like quite a bit of dew. Though this might be normal here on Gaia." She looked up suddenly. "Is it?"

"I will have to see if there is information available." It was said half to herself before Galatea once more raised her voice, "It is hard to tell what sort of tree this was without its leaves. Do you know?"

She tilted her head to watch him as she waited for the answer. Yet even as her eyes remained fixed on him, she began to pad her way forward in a straight line, sure feet following one of the ridges in the bark. "Whatever it was, I think it was a healthy tree before it fell over."

Her cheeks pinked at his direct attention and Galatea dropped her eyes once more. There was an almost-smile on her lips, though. "It looks healthy, I suppose." Carefully, she raised herself on the balls of her feet and bounced. If she had weighed anything appreciable, it would have made a difference in the bark, testing its resistance. As it was, she weighed next to nothing and merely looked a bit odd. Then she raised a hand and pointed down the length of the log. "And there aren't any cracks or holes or pits other than the break points."

Galatea tilted her head as she considered his words thoroughly. Then, suddenly, she dropped to her knees and pressed an ear to the bark, eyes closing as she rapped at it with her knuckles until she scowled at the pain. Still unsatisfied, she straightened and brought her fist to her mouth to suck at her knuckles. "I don't know," she muttered around her hand, a frown creasing her forehead. "I can hardly hear it when I knock it. It sounds all muffled."