Seven suns and seven moons had passed since Golsha had arrived in the forest whose name she did not know. For seven suns and seven moons she had searched for signs of a spirit of this land, and though she had encountered traces of a few lesser spirits - the spirits of an old tree, or a pristine pond, or other such intimate places - she had yet to find any sign that a greater spirit dwelled in its hidden paths and secret spaces. Though she had yet to explore more than a fraction of the land in so little time, Golsha suspected, or perhaps only hoped, that her search would be fruitless.<br/><br/>Still though, she wanted to be sure before she lay down any roots, and so, as the eighth sun set since her coming to the forest, she approached the stone ruins. She had felt the magic of this place some days ago, and though she could not yet place the nature of that magic, it bore investigating, as did the motley group of strangers who appeared to be making camp outside its doors.<br/><br/>The orc watched the group from the shadows of the foliage some distance off; far enough that she could not make out words, but close enough to hear their voices clearly. They were a varied group, humans, elves, and even an orc and dwarf mingling with apparent casualness, most bearing some manner of weapon. A couple displayed their magical proficiency, their fireplay bringing a slight grimace to Golsha's lips.<br/><br/>A melancholic feeling tugged at her heart as she watched the group. So many times before she had spied upon groups like this from the concealment of Golsha, the great forest that had been her lifelong home. She would watch them, invisibly stalking them from within the forest's embrace as she understood their intentions, and acted accordingly. Here, though, what would that be? This was not her forest - not yet, at least - and she had no idea how many more there might be. If there were a settlement in this forest, angering them by killing a band of their own would do her no good, but nor did she have the inclination to shadow them in the hopes that they might lead her to such a settlement when she still had so much of the forest to check.<br/><br/>Her thoughts were interrupted when one of the group, the one with obvious demon blood, suddenly rose and headed in her direction. Golsha's heart skipped a beat, thinking for an instant that she had been detected, but the half-breed was clearly focused entirely on herself as she scampered toward Golsha's concealment. With predatory silence and grace, the orc withdrew deeper into the undergrowth, her green skin naturally aiding in her camouflage as the tiefling burst into her previous hiding spot with all the subtlety of a newborn ox and began panting like a wolf in heat; an appraisal reinforced by the subtle movement in her pants and obvious smell of arousal she emanated. These civilized types were so repressed.<br/><br/>A thought crossed Golsha's mind. If she didn't want to dedicate time to shadowing this group, but had to know if there were more of them in this land, there was a quick way to find out. She frowned at that. Direct interaction with other people had never exactly been something she'd had much practice at, aside from that carried out at the end of her staff. Still, this was a time of new beginnings for her in the first place. What was one more?<br/><br/>With the languidness of a panther, Golsha unfolded from her concealing crouch, standing up straight amidst the undergrowth as if a piece of the scenery had suddenly come to life. When she was sure the tiefling had noticed her, she stepped forward, completely into the open between the two of them, and watched the other woman with a neutral face.<br/><br/>Golsha was a hair over six feet tall, thickly built with toned muscles beneath smooth green skin, decorated with dark tattoos in the patterns of slender vines crisscrossing their way around her limbs and across her body, every inch of which was exposed. She was nude from head to toe but for smudges of dirt and other forms of wilderness detritus that had clung to her body as she traversed the land. The closest thing to clothing on her was the strap of a ragged pack slung across her back, its strap crossing between her large breasts. Her amber eyes watched the tiefling like a wolf seeing a new beast for the first time, appraising whether it was food or not, and the coarse black hair that hung to the small of her back was decorated with small feathers, bones, and flowers. A thick bush of the same black hair covered her mound. She carried a wooden staff that flared at one end, like the blade of a glaive, which she pointed non-threateningly toward the ground.<br/><br/>There. She had revealed her presence. Now she waited for the tiefling's response, too focused on this strange new experience to notice the dark elf approaching from where the tiefling had come from.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>