i'll save you an echo from the hall

She really would not expect how he spoke to her next, the way he answered her description with questions that spoke directly to how she lived in the world. By scent, by hearing, and by feel. No one had ever saught those questions from her, a look into what the world looked like through her eyes. Who was this man? Even Natalya had not spoken in such non-visual terms and she was the wolf Gaia had learned everything from. Why was it she felt so comfortable around this complete stranger, Voltage. The once princess could relax here, and she really found herself letting her loss slip from her mind. At least for now. She knew deep in her heart that she could never forget Natalya and Solo, both would hold a special place in her shattered heart. Still the young she wolf was amazed, she never thought smiling would be easy again.

Her dark ears would twist curiously at the tone of his soft voice, the image of him that formed in her mind was sweeter than the form that Solo had once held. The red knight had been her bodyguard and her protector, but he'd never been as quiet or as gentle as this stranger. She felt odd being handled so delicately, but she knew that she really was so fragile right now. Like she could break at any moment. He'd encourage her though, and ask genuinely what it was she was able to see in the home around her. He made her feel ashamed of not being tru to who she was, because in truth she had been catering to what he might recognize. This wasn't a bad thing, and that he even asked astonished her. How could a stranger make her feel like this so easily?

Still the softest of smiles would play on her features, she didn't want him to feel bad for showing her errors. She'd take in a soft breath, her powerful emotions still obvious in a shaky voice. She felt confidence though, for the first time since she realized Solo was gone. "The lake smells of fresh fish and decomposing plant matter, but it's a natural scent that doesn't assault the senses. The fluffy cattails shed their seeds and the fluff sometimes gets in my nose." She almost giggled at the thought. "The ground is moist and fertile, the songbirds are always in chorus. Sometimes you can smell the ocean, but only when the wind hits just right. It's comfortable, and reminds me of family." A concept that had been redefined many times over in her short life. Her birth mother had disowned her along with the aunt and uncle that had raised her. Her brother, from a man and woman not even distantly related to her, was the one she answered to. More than anything Gaia believed that blood didn't matter when it came to family.
"speech"