The day had dawned bright and cool, the perfect spring day to bask in the sun and enjoy the weather. Aleta, however, was not content to merely sit and look pretty; no, the little lightning princess was bored. What good was it to the the daughter of a Czar if she never got to have any fun? Mother was away more often than not, and Daddy was busy doing whatever it was that he did, leaving the girl to her own devices.

The Falls was not her favorite place, for all that it was her home. The cascading waters pressed on her eardrums, drilling painfully into her very soul. Mother had told her that her sensitivity came from being born in the winter, that it was nothing to be ashamed of. Even so, the girl hated it, for it drove her away from any who might care for her. In truth, she allowed it to separate her from 'everyone else,' all the members of her herd that were 'normal.' She was a freak, or so she imagined, and it was a title that she accepted grudgingly as an important piece of her identity.

The arrival had spring had been gratefully welcomed by the young filly, for whom the snows of winter had been a particular burden. Each snowflake seemed to drive a pin into her flesh, stinging against her legs as she pressed her way through the drifts. Now, though, she only had to avoid the budding greenery, a feat that was proving much more feasible. Her latest exploration away from the crashing waterfalls of home had taken Aleta southward, through the Deep Forest and into an odd green labyrinth that threatened to swallow her, holding her and its other captives in its depths forevermore.

The lightning princess saw the boys pass by from her spot in a particularly dense copse of bamboo, her interest piqued when she noted their youth and their lack of a chaperone. Where were their parents, to have allowed them to wander so far from the nest? As they began to disappear, the older girl (she imagined that she was not as much a child as they; a yearling was surely wiser than a newborn, after all) sighed and followed, staying far enough away that they might not notice her presence, but close enough that she could keep an eye on them. A tiny voice drifted on the wind to her, but she could no make out the words; they were light and fun, filling the girl's heart with longing for the sibling companionship she had never had.

Before long, the duo and their tagalong had come to a small clearing that contained a pool of crystalline waters and a gently bubbling waterfall. The boys were entranced immediately, bringing the smallest hint of a smile to Aleta's lips. How easily amused the babes were, to find such adventure in such an insignificant outcropping of rock! Still she lingered in the shadows, resting one hind leg, her ears cocked half-heartedly to the sides. Perhaps she would sneak a nap while the children played. They might never even know she was here, and she would only follow long enough to be sure that they had a home somewhere...

A plop! of water caught the princess by surprise; her ears swiveled quickly forward, pricking with interest toward the ripples emanating from the pool. A few fish flitted haphazardly about, disturbed from their previous serenity by the sudden appearance of a rock in their midst. Aleta cocked her head to the side quizzically: there were no creatures about save herself and the children (that she could see), so what could have possibly caused a rock to randomly fall into the pond?

"Talk."

OOC | Creeper Aleta is creeping from the trees. xD She'll emerge next round, probably. :P