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Aydyn doubted that many could say they had witnessed turtle eggs being laid. Sea turtles. She lingered back a few paces, hands clasped behind her back, and watched with a sense of contentment. She had no need to step forward and interrupt, no desire to interrupt this very natural part of life, and ever desire to simply stand as spectator.
She smiled to herself, glad for the relaxation she was finally able to claim away from responsibility and painful problems. She rubbed the scar of her empty finger socket, a reminder of the past that no longer stung as sharply as it once had. While memories floated, it was easy enough to pick them out of the air and discard them in favor of the stinging cold of winter and the beauty of the turtles as they laid their eggs.
She shifted as movement caught at the corners of her eyes, a light tickle that didn't quite fit with the rest of the scenery. She frowned at the distraction and narrowed her eyes, trying to discern what else was out there, her senses telling her that it simply wasn't what it should have been. Ah, then she picked them out--people, weapons in their hands.
The Druidess shuddered, repulsed and suddenly feeling a gnaw of worry at her gut. What else had they to hunt and catch except the turtles that had come to spawn?
She reached out with a gloved hand brushed clothed fingertips against the shining gem at her throat. Just a few moments it would take to unfurl the spell within, even if it wasted one of the Imbuement charges she had set in the Peridot. She quickly weighed the options--stand as a human and try to dissuade them, let them take the eggs, or dry to stave them off as something more efficient and brutal.
Aydyn hated violence, but she swallowed back a pang of hesitation and Activated a charge of the Animal Form within. She knew that spears and knives were a dangerous thing to soft fur and sleek muscles, but she stood a better chance of warning them off as a puma than as a soft-fleshed, weaponless human woman. She wrapped the spell around herself, to let it shift her into the tawny limbs of a stalking wild cat, long-toothed mouth agape to scent at the air, thick tail balancing out her movements. As a puma, she could stalk the beach, pacing, and wait. Most people weren't stupid enough to approach a mountain cat. But these had spears. Hunters. She was certain that would be a problem.
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