Late Morning on Srennia
Fifth Cycle of Ponutis
Season of Winter
The city had become stifling, confining. There were so many people, the roads narrow...at least in comparison to what she had become used to in Acumin. Every once and a while it felt good to get out and explore the terrain beyond the city, see the sights that the Lauryllian province had to offer that her previous homes had not. It was one thing to learn to be a druid, to acknowledge the fact that she was bound to nature, but to actually embrace it and spend time among it...it lifted the strain that Aydyn had felt weighing her down.
On a day off such as this, Aydyn could not resist the urge to saddle Adagio and go on such a jaunt for the afternoon. It was early morning when she rose, nearly dawn, and she was out of the city several candlemarks after the day had started for most workers. She had struggled with whether or not to leave the alicats behind. They needed the time to stretch their wings and loosen any fat they had gained over the past few cycles, but they were often a hassle during travel and Aydyn had wanted to indulge in a simple, pleasurable ride. The alicats would only weigh her down and she could always take them out to the park when she returned. They'd enjoy that. Or at least Whimsy would.
Aydyn guided the plainsbred mare along the road leading away from Mystique. They were traveling at a leisurely pace, a slow walk that was almost a little too choppy for Aydyn rocked back and forth in the saddle. Still the middle of winter, Aydyn had bundled herself in her cloak, donned the scarf she had purchased back at Crystaltide, and had stuffed her legs of her trousers into the tops of her boots. The chill wind still beat at her, licking cheeks, ears, and nose until they were red and numb. She was again grateful for the leather gloves that she had purchased upon her arrival in the city, else she was sure her fingers would be numb and sore, which only made riding more difficult.
She waited until the city had grown smaller behind her when she finally edged the mare off the road. She went south-east, away from the forests and more towards the snow-dappled expanse that doubtlessly wore grass in warmer seasons. Aydyn did not wander far from the road, keeping it in sight as she usually did. She stopped when she reached a lone oak tree, tall and thick, its branches naked for the winter and touched with snow. Here she dismounted and unhooked the saddlebags before allowing Adagio to wander freely, unafraid that the horse would wander off and get lost--where else had she to go for food and warmth than back with Aydyn? The horse would graze where she could find bare snippets of dead grass...hardly anything that would fill the mare.
Aydyn settled the saddlebags alongside the trunk of the tree, transferring the few objects she had packed into one pocket so she could sit down on the other. They were small, but so was she and sat down on the empty half of the saddlebag, wrinkling her nose when her backside became chilled by the icy ground. She had nowhere to be, nothing in particular to do...she simply leaned back against the frozen bark of the tree, eyes closed, and concentrated on the noises and sensations around her.