The forest was more bleak than she had ever remembered it, the barren trees stretching upwards into pitch shafts that mimicked the inkiness of the sky, despite the enchanted lights that were strung along the paths that trailed into it's heart. Her heart was racing slightly despite herself, the corporal finding herself rather uneasy and watchful, the darkness in combination with the foreboding fears of beasts that lurked in the night, an idea placed within her mind by the Lady Psyche the last they spoke, drawing to mind anxieties that she had not felt since she was still a child. It left her feeling weak and useless, which had left her stalking the perimeters of the Basin in agitation with herself until finally she had decided to venture forth and face the black beasties, whatever they might be, if they were even there at all.

Despite her resolve, the mare was still nervous, her ears twitching about at the slightest rustle or creak that came from within the trees. She had been this way all the while here, her progression slower than her usual fearless prance about the terrain of Helovia, the golden horned unicorn taking time to ensure her hooves were placed for optimum silence and her paths planned so that she could escape, if the situation called for it. Ever since her return to her homeland, Illynx had been forced more and more regularly to deal with things that she would much rather not; it made her question her decision to return home, the femme trying as hard as she could to not ponder it too deeply, knowing within her heart that regardless of the difficulties that life placed on her in Helovia, there were those that needed her.

Her body was thin and showing the signs of wear that a harsh, sunless winter within the Basin had inflicted, the corporal stubbornly refusing to eat much when she found it, preferring the stoic, albeit foolish, act of letting others eat before herself. Today had eased the rumble of her belly somewhat, as she had lucked upon some dried grasses she uncovered along the path here, but still her senses were heightened to the odor of forage, her stomach craving more than what she had managed to uncover for it in the past week. She halted in her progression into the wood as one of these alluring smells came to her, the unicorn turning her head towards the scent and taking a few tentative steps forward, her golden eyes searching for what her nose had uncovered in the murky darkness of the forest floor. And then, she saw it; a patch of grass, some ten foot off of the path, standing a foot tall, it's long stalks dry and golden as they waited eerily still and erect. Quickly, she swept forward, her orbs accompanying her ears on a search for danger in the surrounding area; she sensed none but kept her alerts up, her mouth coating itself in a thick veneer of saliva as she lowered her head and inhaled the sweet scent of the golden blades, her teeth clipping away hungrily.