As she came to a stop amidst the trees, she let the cool wetness of the fallen leaves absorb her bare feet. The woods were her home now for many seasons and she relished the rain.
The trees and their magical and non-magical denizens alike rejoiced when water came and doused the thirst of the woods. She could feel it in her as she placed her hand against the bark of the nearest elm tree. She smiled and took a deep breath.
The damp spongy moss which clung to it was like a miniature forest in itself. Her touch was delicate so as not to hurt the infinity of small things that lived within it. Rain drops washed over the golden skin of her cheeks.
She felt the approach of her first contact of the day with the wood fae. Her friendship with them was beyond words; a mutual sharing of pure emotion. It was beyond anything she had ever felt with her own kind, except perhaps her uncle back on Thanatos. But he was dead a long time now. The forest lived, and she lived within it.
Some time earlier she noticed a man wandering through the woods. His presence piqued Deira's curiosity, and she had been keeping an invisible distance from her throughout the day. His clothes were dirty but fine, not at all like the damaged tunic she herself wore since the day her Serendipity family released her from slavery. But despite the protection his clothes offered him, Deira could tell, from what she remembered of people, that the man was unhappy to be caught in the rain.
A mighty drum roll came from above. Thunder. Deira was in awe, but at the same time disappointed. The storm would keep the fae and all her other woodland friends away in their hiding places. There would be no meeting of friends until it passed.
She decided she would catch up with stranger, and observe his strangeness for her own curiosity.
She found him soon enough and watched from behind the trees as the woman found a road. Deira disliked roads. They were an ugly cut through the forest. Humans were always doing such inconsiderate things as that.
The sight of the man running up the road caught her, and she followed.
