Welcome to Gaia! ::

The girls brown eyes peeled up off the grown and turned to lock with Ares magenta ones. "Forgive me, for feeling a bit neutral on everything. I didn't even know that magic existed before I woke up here. I'm feeling a little out of my element, and a little thrust into something that you obviously know more about; of course you're opinionated. Give me time to process." She looked at the other girl seriously before turning her eyes back to the ground.

The group veered around another corner, following the signs direction. Calintha felt vaguely bad about snapping at Ares, who was only trying to explain everything to her. It was just frustrating, starting over. The girl felt a bit like a preschooler being taught long division for the first time. She scuffed her feet against the ground before offering a sheepish "Sorry."

The ground was still snapping and crackling every time they walked. The sound was even more deafening. "It seems like the sun is always setting here." It was bizarre. Every time she looked up the sun was in a different position. Calintha felt a bit like she was living the life of a sundial, days blurring together into simply seeing the sun at different positions. "If you want, I can hold the sign for a while?" After all, she was the only one who hadn't had a turn yet.

Ares liked having the last word. It was important to her. Over the horizon, a castle bobbed into view, far off and distant through the haze of hanging mist and crimson sky. More important than her competitiveness was her dedication to duty, and here was her duty. "There's a castle," she said, stopping suddenly on top of the hill. It was the highest they had been in the entire walk.

She held a hand over her eyes, as if it would help her see better. "It's so far off." Too far. Tragically far. It was large and important-looking, set with black spiraling towers and raised ledges. "You all see that, don't you?" Ares pointed.

Her eyes glanced down to the sign. The arrow still pointed forward, not toward the castle. Either the path to the castle was long and winding, or that castle was not Vetrel. Ares couldn't be sure. She quietly passed the sign to Calintha, ignoring the questions posed by Moonstone as if they hadn't been said at all.