Dawn returned Verita’s bright smile, her eyes shining. “I’m not sure who she is,” she said with a little shrug. “Plus, we didn’t even come from the same direction.” She tilted her head to one side, still smiling. “I’m not even sure<i>what</i>she is, actually, beyond an elf.” Maybe it hadn’t been coincidence. Even so, the pixie attack had made enough of a disturbance that it didn’t really surprise her that the elf had noticed.<br/><br/>“I’m from the Vale,” she said, as if<i>that</i>name meant anything anymore. If she felt sadness or regret, her face didn’t show it.<br/><br/>She nodded at Foran when he rejoined the group. She didn’t quite understand why his friend had left, but it was really too bad. There was an aura of profound loneliness about him now that she couldn’t bear to look at for too long. She wasn’t sure what to say to him, so she chose to say nothing. He didn’t even know her, after all. Her words weren’t likely to help.<br/><br/>She didn’t know where they were going, like the Vulpari, Donchen, but that didn’t matter so much to her. She’d been headed to Arebion to resupply and for news, but it seems news had found<i>her</i>. She wasn’t about to let such a strange party out of her sights so easily. And... it wasn’t like she’d had anything else in mind. She moved, she drifted, she danced. Time flowed and people came and went, but everything stayed the same.<br/><br/>Dawn only blinked at Darion as he spoke. He was rather hard to take seriously in his semi-clothed state, but she couldn’t really blame him for what he felt. She<i>had</i>found them around the same time the elf had, but she’d really only wanted to help. There hadn’t been any moment of consideration or even any kind of threat. She could have done a lot of stabbing if she’d wanted to.<br/><br/><i>‘I don’t trust the elf, and she could kill us all. Let’s follow her!'</i>she thought, rolling her eyes. Still, the grey elf<i>had</i>almost been swayed by pixie worship, as far as she could tell. Now that she thought about it, having an army of pixies didn’t sound half bad. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all.<br/><br/>The sudden appearance of the lake didn’t come as a surprise, especially after Verita’s warning, but the sight still took her breath away. The morning sun danced in the rippling surface of the lake, and she wondered what it would have looked like still. The elf was already in the water. Surely nothing would go wrong if they decided to join her. She smirked a bit, curious about what she’d do.<br/><br/>Verita apparently didn’t care either, and Dawn cocked her head as she practically jumped out of her new cloak and into the water. The elf couldn’t<i>not</i>notice. What had Darion called her?<i>Lilith</i>? A strange name.<br/><br/>She watched Foran curiously, partly because he was grumbling and partly because she’d never seen a Ramen wearing so little before. Most of the time, they were too busy glaring at her. Or brooding. Sometimes both. “Okay,” she said simply to him, although she wasn’t sure what he was ashamed of.<br/><br/>Cat-like, she unlaced her boots and hopped onto the beach barefoot, feeling the sand between her toes as she paced toward the water. She dipped her toes into the water and thought for only a moment before parting her robes and letting them fall from her shoulders into a neat pile on the beach.<br/><br/>Her nakedness didn’t seem to bother her at all, even as the winter air brought goosebumps to her bare skin. Her dark hair drifted on the breeze as she gazed out over the lake, grey eyes clouded. Even with her small and delicate frame, there was a certain power to the way she held herself that spoke volumes about the things she’d seen. Her breasts were a bit on the smaller side - certainly smaller than Verita’s - but they stood proud, even as her pink nipples pebbled against the cold.<br/><br/>Eventually, she just walked into the water, barely making so much as a ripple. She wasn’t sure she’d have called it ‘warm’ by any stretch of the imagination, but it had been a while since her last bath, and it probably wouldn’t kill her. Probably.<br/><br/>She smiled at Verita, but her eyes were on the ashen elf. She had caught a whisper of the song on the breeze, although the words were strange. And, unlike the other human girl, she had no intention to look away - her curiosity was far too strong for that. Would the elf see it as an affront?<br/><br/>Dawn’s smile grew. She’d know soon enough.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>