Did she come up north again to see if she could find him? Probably. It was enough to know that he was close, that somehow they had found each other again. Somewhere in Helovia, he existed, and that was enough for her. She suspected they might move on again in time – if only he would say goodbye this time.

But Aly did not make it a habit of troubling herself with concerns about the future.

There were far too many possibilities to worry herself over – she would deal with them when they came. The present was far more interesting. Her stay in Helovia was already longer than expected – perhaps she would leave one day. It was hard to think of trading this beautiful place for somewhere crawling with demons.

Her mind was still unmade about the decision and was unlikely to reach a conclusion anytime soon. So in the mean time she would work on exploring Helovia, learning all she could. She rather hoped that she would not discover any sinister secrets lurking underneath. Could anything be worse than demons?

Oh, but how could she think of such a thing in such beautiful areas as the ones she was discovering were.

She had come north, as mentioned, because she wondered if maybe she would see him. Travelling further north this time, she found herself in a breathtaking land at what seemed to be the northern most reaches. Despite the fact that it was mid-afternoon, the wind was chilly and the sun did little to help. But summer was here nonetheless – snow receding and little patches of hardy grasses and stunted trees. Even here, in one of the harshest environments, there was plant life. Now tell me that’s not pretty cool.

Without a winter coat, staying here too long would be uncomfortable but if she kept moving, it might not be so bad. At least that was the plan – do a little walk about and then make her way further south. It may be lingering just above freezing but after the heat of the summer in the other regions, this was a bit of a shock.

The plan changed as her attention became fixated on one of the features growing out of the hard soil. Her wings provided a little insulation for her core as she went closer to the shrubby tree – a little spruce that barely reached her knee. In a completely (not) out-of-character way, she forgot about her surroundings and instead examined the fantastic little tree through smiling green eyes. “Well aren’t you a magnificent little thing?”