Keithia wasn't excited to get into the press of people. It reminded her too much of the travel in the slavers wagon, pressed up against so many bodies. No room to move, the overwhelming smell of... of well, everything. Surrounded by people drenched in fear and sweat and unable to relieve themselves for the entire journey anywhere besides where they were.
It'd been a nightmare.
Much like all the other terrible things in Keithia's past, though, it only resurfaced if she thought about it. So, promptly, she focused on what was happening now. On the feel of Kanimir's hand wrapped around her own and how best to navigate the crowd without getting her feet stepped on. It still happened, but that was a nice way of keeping her from dwelling too much on anything.
Her free hand lifted to try and keep her antlers from snagging on anything or clipping anyone. That still happened too. Every time she bumped someone, the snapped at her and Keithia winced. Not because their voice bothered her or that she was sorry, but because the antlers were sensitive and it
hurt her when it happened. Not enough she couldn't go on, but it was a stinging pain through the top of her head.
By the time they were out of the crowd and beyond the gate, there was a headache blossoming along the top of her skull and she gingerly rubbed at the top of her head, between her antlers. She missed the first part of their freedom, the thinning of the people just outside the gate and the eventually branching of the road out into the valley beyond. It wasn't until he expressly said something that Keithia slow blinked to take it all in.
Something beyond the city, where she wasn't in shackles. Chained up. Confined.
The rank of the city still swelled and pressed at her back, but it was still nice to
see space beyond. To have the world open up before her. Compared to how oppressive the city had been since she'd been in it – rooms, cages – this was... Keithia rubbed at her eyes and smiled, glancing at Kanimir. A sky with no buildings to block it, a horizon with no structure to obscure it.
Keithia wasn't sure she'd see it again and hadn't realized how much she'd missed it. It was an effort not to run from him then and just lose herself. That'd probably result in her being caught again. The nymph needed to be smart now that she was in a human country, but even so... It was nice. Beyond that, lovely.
@HeartOfFlame