Turquoise eyes, ringed with gold considered her surroundings, her kingdom was cold, but the harsh wind now blowing through the tall trees her still caught her by surpise. She now crouched on the solid ground, not yet trusting to stand. Listening to her surroundings, she tugged uselessly on the string to her Fae form, and found she could not reach it. The block on her magic also stretched to shifting then. It was like being back in Adarlan when she was Celeana. A shiver ran through her, not completely to do with the cold.
First thing on the agenda was to find out where the fuck she was. Eying a tree with branches lowest to the ground, the queen finally moved, sliding over the mud and pouncing to haul her lithe form onto the bottom branch. Step one complete.
Tilting her head back, Aelin stretched up for the next branch. She wasn't an expert on being stuck in the woods, but she would make herself one if need be. The climb was slow, joints already stiffening in the extreme wind, but eventually she made her way to the highest branch that would support her weight and hooked an arm round the trunk to prevent falling back to the packed earth.
A broad expanse of trees in every direction, stretching to the bases of all the mountains surrounding the area. One mountain towered about the rest and she felt an inexplainable pull towards it, just like the pull that had brought her here from her own world. If you thought about it, climbing up the tallest mountain, when you had no idea where you were, who was nearby, and with nothing more than the clothes on her back seemed like a pretty stupid idea. However in comparison to some of Aelin's ideas, this one was positively perfect.
Perhaps if she found where she was being pulled, cutting her palm and pressing it to the ground would take her back. The Wyrdmarks were still marked on her back, a map home to her mate. She would find him again. With that thought firm in her mind, the assassin started to leap from tree to tree, in the direction of that towering mountain, and that in the direction of that inescapable pull.
The branches were surprisingly resilient against her weight, and she soon found a rythym. Even in her human form, her years of honing reflexes allowed her to be swifter than any other.
Running kept her warm, and staying warm was one of the first things on her mind, after water and food. Unlikely to find any food, not to mention safe food, Aelin decided to focus on water. She seemed to travel for hours, and when she came across areas sparse of trees, she slid down the trunks and ran over the ground. The natural terrain sloped up to meet the mountains and so the entire way was an uphill struggle.
It seemed more likely to be a lucid dream when a river eventually appeared, too good to be true, the river came from the direction of the pass to the right of the largest mountain. Ideally she could follow it closer to the peaks and have a fresh supply of water the whole time. She should check first however...
Snapping some kind of frozen leaf off of a nearby tree, too small for her to use to climb, Aelin kneeled by the river and dipped it in to scoop up the flowing water. Only her reflexes saved her, dropping the leaf and shooting backwards. The moment it had touched the surface, the leaf had been sucked into what she wasn't so sure anymore was water, and let off a strange mist, that nearly froze her skin on mere contact.
Blowing out a breath, the queen rose on slightly shaking legs. Never, had she seen anything like that, nor heard of anything of the kind.
"You see that body, no swimming today..." Maybe laughing at herself made her crazy, but fuck the definition of crazy, she was Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius, and no matter what she saw in this world, she would not be afraid.
The mad part of her kept her laughing as she scaled another tree, no longer thinking as she did so. Spinning on the top branch she cackled another laugh and took off at a sprint, 4 steps on the branch, then leaping, falling through the air. Skin stung as it was brutually abused by the wood she had grabbed, cursing she swung her legs, building enough momentum to land feet first on a thicker branch, further away from the strange liquid running through the forest.
Now she felt alive, she hadn't felt like this for so long, hadn't risked it all in one dangerous leap in too long. But she knew the only way she could ever get home is by following her instincts, that was all she had ever done. Now that she had crossed that bridge, she turned to face the next, dropping down to the ground and taking off in a run again towards that mountain.
It was evening now, and Aelin knew her time was limited to find shelter. Then she came upon a stream, cut deep down into the ground, and she saw leaves falling from the trees, and settling on the surface. Safe. This water was actually safe. Good timing was the only thought, as she crouched by the water and cautiously reached out, still safe.
Finding something to drink from thankfully wasn't too tricky and so the queen of Terrasen drank deeply from the half muddy stream, in those strange woods, alone in filthy leathers with no idea where she was.
A cave was nearby, yet more good luck, and Aelin decided she would not risk a fire in case it attracted the monsters that undoubtably lurked nearby. Crawling into the furthest corner, away from the gap that would allow people in, she moved some loose wood and stones to make the gap even smaller, to make herself more secure. And then she waited, and allowed herself a gentle, light slumber, for a few hours at a time.
The monsters she heard sounded far worse than ghost leopards, Lysandra would have a field day with these creatures, and likely terrify the shit out of Aedion every time. She allowed herself to think of her court for a short time in one of those moments stolen from her sleep. Her sadness didn't seem as sharp as it should have been, until she thought of Rowan, and her heart ached enough that she went back to sleep, pushing down thoughts of him as she forced herself to slumber.