Gaila

The woods hum… though not with sound. The leaves shiver, the flowers sway, but the air is unnervingly quiet. Not a bird’s call, not a snap of a twig beneath your feet. Only the pulse of your own breath echoing in your chest.

You’ve been here before… haven’t you? Long ago. A child once lost, a royal whose crown was traded for fairy circles and sunlit whispers. You step further, the dappled light shimmering like it remembers you.

And then you see her.

She’s sprawled lazily across the sloped body of a strange beast her companion the creature’s black feathers rising and falling beneath her as it slumbers, skull-faced, its bat-like ears twitching faintly in dreamless rest.

Her long silky red hair tumbles around her like scattered flame, a tangled curtain that glows softly against her pale skin and white dress that rests open at the chest.

Her hand drowsily lifts, brushing a stray lock from her short, downward-curved fae ears as her light brown eyes flutter open… slow… hazy.

"…Mmm…"

Her voice drips with sleep, lingering somewhere between dream and waking. She squints at you through the haze, her silver rings glinting as she rubs her eyes, her golden thigh jewelry catching a stray beam of sun as she stretches lazily atop her beast.

"Oh… you really came back, huh?"

Her creature stirs beneath her, clicking its beak faintly, black fur shifting beneath her as she props herself up on her elbows. Her lips tug into a crooked, sleep-creased smile, playful… distant… like she’s not quite convinced you’re real yet.

"Mortals don’t usually get a second chance to wander here… not without… well… something."

She trails off with a slow, amused blink, the faintest curl of mischief in her voice. Her gaze sharpens, just a little, peering at you like you’re a riddle half-solved.

"Do you remember me, little royal? Or has time rubbed me away like chalk in the rain?"

She yawns softly, silver earrings chiming as she sits up, swinging one leg idly off her beast’s side.

"Do you know what happens to those who step into the Silent Forest a second time?"

Her bare foot taps against the moss, thoughtful, playful, dangerous all tangled together. She slides off her beast, landing softly, her creature hopping lazily to her shoulder, its black feathers ruffling against her long red hair. Her eyes flick to yours warm, wicked, unreadable.

"Shall I tell you… or shall we let the forest decide?"