There was so much to do. She’d made sure her parents thought she was spending the night with a friend, and that said friend could cover for her if her parents tried to get a hold of her. Because she needed to explore her homeworld more. She needed to see what she could find, what she could learn. And she needed to get past the gnawing sense of dread that had settled in her belly once she’d first realized how quiet it was. So it was with her little camping set up in tow that she made her way to Subra-the-World, determined to not leave without...some idea of who she’d once been, or what her people had been like.

The anxiety hit her in the gut when she arrived, the unnatural silence settling in her ears like too much earwax. She dug through her backpack of Stuff and pulled out the radio she’d brought with her, putting in the ‘nature sounds’ CD she’d bought a few weeks before. The sounds of wind and trees and small animals helped soothe her nerves, let her breathe deeply and start setting up her ‘base camp’. After all, any good exploration team needed one! Even if her team was only a team of one at the moment. She planned to bring the rest of her court and the boys there eventually, but first...she needed to set up! To make it so she wasn’t always nervous and uncertain whenever she was among the ancient trees and undergrowth.

The tent was easy enough to get up. She’d practiced it before, and it wasn’t a large thing; just big enough for her and some backpacks, in case it rained or got too windy or something like that. Once that was set up, she set about getting her sleeping bag rolled out and something was put to the side for her to snack on later. Subra knew how she got if she was too tired, and she wanted to make sure everything was already set up just in case! Satisfied with the inside of the tent, she made her way out and started setting up the little folding table and chair from her bag. They weren’t the best, or all that large, but they were perfect for a young senshi just starting to explore her old homeworld. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and let the wind rustle through her hair.

It was her first time alone. She wouldn’t even have Tömörkhums with her. And she was nervous. Even if she was the od ünseltssen, she was still a young member of the Gerel, and she would prove herself worthy of the tribe. Finding her campsite, she took a deep breath and began the process of setting up…

Subra’s hand fell from its place on the tree trunk it had found its way to, her eyes wide. Was that her, long ago? The Subra before? Shaking her head, she let the last fuzzy bits of the vision fall away. There was exploring that needed done before the day ended. She couldn’t climb very far up the old-growth trees, but there was still so much to do, so much to clamber over and trip on that by the time she stumbled back into her little base camp, she was as she thought she’d be; exhausted. The little senshi didn’t even try to let her transformation melt away. She just changed the batteries in the radio, munched on her premade packaged food after crawling into the tent, and then passed out in her sleeping bag. Her dreams were quiet that night; sweet things with her and her boys, everything okay and not painful like the dreams of that horrible future or Daniel’s mother being a closed minded b-

Silence woke her.

It was light outside, and at some point, her radio’s batteries had died. Frowning, she rubbed sleep from her eyes and went to replace the batteries as the nervousness started to worm its way back into the pit of her stomach. At least she only had to pack up a few things, most of the set staying behind to form the very first cornerstones of her homeworld exploration base camp. Something felt...different as she went about cleaning up her mess from her exhausted meal. Her steps felt a little steadier, the strength in her limbs a little different. She didn’t pay it any mind for the moment, stuffing things into her bag and getting ready to return home.

It wasn’t until the next night that she would discover what exactly was ‘different’.

Word Count: 778, according to Google Doc