Without conscious thought, her feet carried her south towards the smoldering islands. Her head was a mess, thoughts and feelings jumbled up and pulled into tight knots that made her shoulders stiff and sore from tension. Over and over again the exchange with her father replayed across her minds eye, and though she tried it was so hard to let go of all the pent up anger and loneliness she had carried these past seasons.

Erthë didn't want to go home. She might bump into him if she did, and the last thing she needed right now was another emotional roller-coaster like the one she'd had in the Grove. Nor did she want to talk about it with Alune or Tembu, not just yet - her heart was rubbed raw and had yet to scab over. Still sore, still tender.
What she sought was peace, and calm, and distractions. Some place where she could find comfort and reassurance without having to justify her own actions - at least not yet - and hopefully, maybe, be of some use for once.

Perhaps the Goddess wouldn't agree with Erthë's line of thought, but there was something very calming about the solitary landscape out here, and the silhouette of the shrines as they came steadily closer. They seemed to her as something eternal, like the stars and the ocean and the changing seasons. A fixture around which the world could spin, a firm rock on the turbulent waters of time and life. When she halted before the shrine dedicated to the Goddess Erthë reached out and brushed a soft nose over the dark rock, trailing her gaze over the shadowed runes. Not for the first time she wondered what they said, what kind of message they had once conveyed to those who found their way here.

"Would you tell me if I asked?" she wondered aloud, her voice quiet and meant for the nightly winds alone. "I wish you would. There is so much I would like to know, my Lady, so many things I would like to do. But I'm too young, they say, and they look at my legs and my small body and they see only what I can't do. Maybe they're right, maybe I am weak... but I wish they would give me a chance to at least figure out what I'm capable of!"

Perhaps they would too, once she got older. But Erthë didn't want to wait for time to run past her, she had no interest in sitting around and let others hand her tasks. It was just... she didn't know what she could do, what she should do, to be of use to everyone. To the herd, to her father, to herself. And most of all, to the Goddess. Her admiration towards the ruler of night and wind had taken root in the girls heart from the moment Erthë first laid eyes on her, and it was deepening in intensity with each time their paths crossed.

Pressing her forehead tightly towards the rough surface she closed her eyes tightly, focusing on the warmth that still radiated from the shrine after basking in the heat of the sun. The night was still around her, the rush of waves against jagged rock and the sizzling groan of churning lava weaving a quiet melody that slowly, gradually eased her racing heart into something that resembled calm.