Her mind was restless, and in return, so were her long legs.
Aela spent very minimal time in Taiga. She took to spending most of her time in Nerine, but if they (a triumvirate of characters in a setting that still surprised her) were to succeed in finding those missing from when the Pampas sank and if Aela ever hoped for the sheltered territory to regain the reputation that the Flower Court once held, the former Seneschal understood that she would have to spend a portion of her time there, meeting with Cheri and Obscene, working with them to formulate a new plan for their future.
It was a necessity, she reminded herself.
But that necessity took place in a forest that Aela cared little for. That forest was damp with fog. It was often cold - as was Nerine - and she found herself missing the milder weather of the Pampas and even the sweltering summers of Pangea. The slender palomino - well camouflaged by the thick tree cover - shivered away from the notice of others. She knew they were out there; Aela could sense them in a flurry of emotions. There was a horse nearby who was irritable from the cold. There was another who was hungry. A young mother who was looking forward to the spring, when she could wean her colt.
They were too close, as far as Aela was concerned, if she could discern those things.
The Empath turned from them and moved in another direction. The ground was covered in a light layer of snow and the golden woman sighed, disparaging of the way that the ground crunched beneath her hooves. Despite the way that the filtered sunlight glinted off her gleaming stripes, there was little warmth to be found. Her soft, exasperated breaths came out in little puffs of silver smoke that irritably gave her presence away.
She wanted privacy and a place to simply soak up the sun for a few hours.
When Aela finally finds it - a rather convenient spot by the River that truly seems too convenient to be unclaimed - she does as she has always done; she takes it simply because she wants it and because she can. For the afternoon, it was hers and hers alone.
If anyone wanted to dispute that fact with the lovely thing who rested at the center of the sun-filled clearing, they were welcome to try.