Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was some time later, at least a week later, before Ella emerged back into the woods surrounding her family home. For the most part, she'd been in her room, the library, or out in the garden. Not doing a whole lot. Just reading. Relaxing. Weathering the occasional prank until she finally got tired of it once more and sought the pure solitude of the nature all around her. No siblings, no father lying in wait for her to pass by. Sometimes she wished she was the king of princess who could just marry a bachelor and get away from it all, to her own space on earth where she was the boss and could put a stop to it all.

But also, she could imagine that would really suck. Being married off to some rich monarch you didn't even know who'd more likely than not just mistreat you.

Maybe she'd been reading too many books and this trip outside would do her some good. She'd even taken her staff this time, strapped tightly to her back while she roamed around on four legs, acting more like the fox she resembled than anything else as she sniffed at everything. Sometimes it was fun to just explore in a very simple and primal way.

Ella, oblivious to any company she may have, continued to inspect the different trees in the area. She was sure many would consider this very abnormal, behaving like a wild animal checking the trunks of trees for curious scents. But when you lived out in the middle of nowhere, with a family who often drove you nuts, you found what joy you could around you. Even if it meant acting like a primitive Kitsu. Which, in truth, she found fun to do every now and than. There was a lot of nature up here, even in the constant winter. For instance, she could tell a buck had come by earlier, rubbing his antlers on the trees. The bark was scratched up on a few trunks and there was the telltale signs of hooves in the snow. While over there, a rabbit had scurried away very fast, likely scared by either the deer making loud and unfamiliar noises or the scent of a predator down wind. She hoped it wasn't her who had frightened the poor thing. She hardly had any need to hunt for her own food. Eira would always provide for them.

Still on all fours, Ella shuffled through the snow towards a bush where she had heard the sound of rustling. She could hear Aurene in her head, warning her away from obvious danger. But she couldn't help it. If she didn't investigate everything, it would haunt her for the rest of the day, wondering what it was that had been in there. So she stalked up on it to stick her nose between the branches. A pair of eyes stared back. Ella blinked.

"Oh. Hello, again. This is a long way from the pond." She backed out of the bush, glancing over her shoulder at the top of the ice castle just in view over the hill and through the trees. "Did you move? It's always winter here, I hope you know."