Welcome to Gaia! ::

With the mischievous part of her character growing more pronounced, Heidla was growing restless. She was having an endless walk round the outskirts of the Clans settlement, running from useful things she could do for the others. She still felt uneasy about it - both from the thought of spending to much time with others (and probably not all of those others deserved her company, that's what she thought) and from the though of helping someone (are the priestesses supposed to help, after all? she was not sure about it). So she preferred to skip communal tasks and find adventures of her own. That suited her independent and capricious character far better!

Now, there was a pond where she could stare into the water and probably encourage visions that haven't troubled her since she started going out more. No more breaking spires and shrieking companions in her head, what a relief! And at the same time she longed for seeing it - the bitter memories of how the whole essence of her life was taken from her. It made her ready to fight for the future. And it allowed her to escape the awkward routine of the new horsemen community - after all, they didn't have that much in common to try and build a new life together. At least that's what Heidla thought at the moment.

So she just followed the familiar path, when she heard a disquieting noise. She could not get used to all the life around, not yet! Was it some small animal or - her heart beat faster - someone of a bigger size? Was it .... a ghoul from Amityville? Heidla almost jumped out of the bushes trying to get a better look at the person who was busily doing something in the pond. Something that Heidla thought was really fishy.

"Strategic disadvantage?" Heidla seemed surprised, "Well, then tactically you can play it out better, 'cause you're far more familiar with this place than I am. Besides, I don't know you, neither your abilities, nor your intentions. So you'd probably win if we're playing a game".

That was the basic truth about her life in the Halloween world. She just could not get used to it. Being haughty rare social animal didn't help, so she had to develop skills of communication. In Heidla's case that implied speaking it out to strangers, everything that bugged her. Not she was feeling friendly towards creatures in general, she was curious and not really caring. Those she didn't know seemed to her some dream-like warped creatures that definitely deserved studying them but never demanded real concern.

There were exceptions, after all. Say, Calder with whom she had quite a curious adventures. Or that small seal girl she met the other day. And horsemen, of course. Some of them were almost friends now. At least, she could relate herself to them. Not in a family like manner (she knew all about families now, Calder told her a lot about being in a circle of relatives, so that part didn't excite her at all), but enough to feel warm towards them. And that girl at the pond.... she was not quite a stranger, was she? Heidla vaguely remembered her face. "We have met before, haven't we? But never mind, it doesn't matter anyway".

The priestess came closer and sat on the shore as if meditating. Still she wasn't too much at ease, so she squinted her eyes and darted out quickly. "Are you one of Amityville students? What brought you here, to the outskirts of the Horsemen reserve?"