One foot found the grass and then the other, the texture of the strips of green soft against brown skin. No shoes here... no need for them on a world that sighed to the touch of its princess, the soil warm beneath her feet as a breeze caressed a face marked with its power. Even fighting through the fog of chaos, to return here was to return to sanctuary, to home. She felt it wrap around her like loving arms, like the greeting of a well-missed friend. The hum of energy under her skin eased its frantic notes, meeting with that which surrounded her and equalizing between the two to a state far easier to bear. The song of it felt comfortable now, natural, a touch of connection that always brought her such joy.

Fabric soft as spider silk brushed against lean legs as she took the familiar steps, the ones she always took when she came home. They carried her through the grass until the smooth texture of pavers found the soles of her feet and her path was set to the winding sweep of the Idan road. It knew where she wanted to go, all she had to do was follow it and it would take her there. The breeze that had stroked her at her arrival played through the down of white wings now, curling playfully between the feathers and dripping from their tips. The wings themselves trailed serenely behind their owner, held in a loose position that kept them just above touching the ground. The power was not needed here, of all places, but she had found that it came the most natural to be in this form when she walked the surface of her planet, bathed in the source.

Eventually the path ran out, river-smooth stones turning to grass once more and bare dirt. She was unbothered by the dust that clung to her skin and hem as she passed the standing pillars and low wall, finding it no more troublesome than the clothes she wore. She could have been coated with it head to toe and still not found it unpleasing. All around the slender figure in purple trees stood chest high in silver bark, their branches curling in a way no Earth tree would ever dare, expressing a whimsical nature at odds perhaps with that other place's traditional views of death. Here, death was not marked with stone and holy images. Instead, life marked the resting places, offering them shade and the loving embrace of roots.

One tree stood out among the rest, not by looks as it appeared as any other tree in this grove, but for the memories it held hidden in its leaves. Reaching out, she ran her fingers lightly down the whorled bark and it came to life under her touch. Light scrawled across its surface, pooling in the hollows and seams of the bark until it was apparent the marks were not random, but some form of writing long ago lost to the mist of memory. Smiling green eyes were in that writing, hair a light brown that curled just so. Height just under six feet and sight that required the correction of glasses. A heritage not of this world, but the one she had left behind her.

"Hello, Da." Ida said softly as she ran her hand down the tree that marked her father's grave, a sad smile gracing her face. "Its good to see you again."

Gathering her skirts, the young woman sank to the soft grass and turned to press the curve of her spine to the silver trunk, wings carefully arranged to either side. Head falling back, she let it rest against the solidness of the wood and dark eyes closed, letting the flow of energy that passed between her and the tree, the ground, the sky ease the ache inside of her. Too soon reality would demand her return, but for now she soaked in the golden sunlight and let a mind too full of too many things go blank and peaceful. Tension melted away, stress seeping out of her like water into soil, as it always did when she was here. Thus cradled in safety, sleep came like the breeze that plucked at her hair, sweeping away consciousness for a time.