not all who wander are lost
Wayra had a thing or two to say about withdrawing, though she wouldn’t utter them out loud. In a way, she had done just that. At the apex of childhood, right when most would dive into adulthood feet first, the little blue girl had taken the uncertainty, the life looming before her, and tucked it into a box. She put that little box far at the back of her mind and left it there.
Every once in a while she would lift the lid and peak inside, but only when she was alone, and only when it nagged at her. Like a little rat scratching at her mind.
Wayra hadn’t opened that box in a while. It wasn’t that she was childish, at least not in the most common usage of the word. She held herself with poise, and spoke with grace, but she saw the vastness of the adult choices before her and panicked. She wasn’t proud of it, but it was the truth nonetheless. There was no point in denying the undeniable.
She had ended up at the Chamber, not because it called to her, and not even because it had spoken to her once she arrived. No, she had family here, and that made it as good a place as any. However, Wayra couldn’t help but feel like she didn’t belong. The strange beat of the kingdom’s heart seemed to say, “outsider, outsider, outsider” with each thump. The trees seemed to whisper about her in their papery, hushed voices. Wayra swallowed hard to think about it.
Was she a total fool? It was hard to tell.
But still, she felt like a moth trapped in a spider’s web. What was it about this place? She had never known a piece of land to be so alive. It had a heart, it had a voice, and often when she had been thinking far too much and her imagination had run truly wild, she would even say it had a soul.
Today was one of those days.
She had been wandering the woods, happy to be by herself and to avoid anyone who might force her to confront her situation. Hello, I’m so and so, who are you? That alone might send Wayra into a fit of pensive reflection. Who was she really? It was more than she knew at the moment. Eventually, the acres of pine thinned and the damp moss gave way to grass. Before, she could change course a young man was before her. Wayra looked at him for a moment, and sighed.
He seemed right at home, he was probably born here. Natives of the Chamber had a look about them, and he had it. She smiled a little, wistfully, and with some longing. How nice would it be to be home?
“Is this a private party or can anyone join?” She studied him for just a moment. If there was something on his mind Wayra couldn’t tease it out, and chose instead to take him at face value. How pleasant it would be, if things were always as simple as that.