Into the Light

It seemed that Trei was right. Slowly but surely the brightness of the outdoors was becoming more tolerable and her vibrant purple eyes stronger in what they could tolerate. The sky was still a little hard to look at, but the ground and grass underfoot was easier. Experimentally Minerva wiggled her toes and felt the grasses shift beneath her feet, felt the cool earth touch her pads. It was really different from the warmth of the den, and not at all what she had been expecting. A quick nuzzle against her cheek from Integra had the little Armada girl bracing herself, as if she might be knocked over, but Inty was careful to let her keep her footing as she welcomed her to the wide world of the outside.

As her sister howled, Minnie lowered her head and sniffed curiously at the ground, catching so many scents that she could not place them all at once. It was an intense combination of many different faces that she had yet to meet, critters that she had yet to run across, and a world that was entirely foreign to her. Feeling overwhelmed by it already, she jerked her head away and glanced instead back at her siblings as they did their best to make the outside as welcoming and tolerant to her as they could. Inty's suggestion of wandering and searching for her precious plants sounded fun, but she was concerned about weakening along the way. Atreides was quick to accommodate that even suggested they could spend a night outside. The thought was surprisingly very tempting - she had seen the night sky from the inside of the den, but surely it must have looked better out in the open. The choice was hers.

It was a lot of pressure to be placed on her all at once, getting to choose where they would go, where they would spend their night, but because she was a prideful girl and wanted to seem strong to her siblings in other ways, even if she was physically weak, she drew in a quick breath and tried to pick herself up a little straighter where she stood. "Alright," she answered decisively, "let's look for plants." But, being still very unfamiliar with plants and what exactly grew here, she deferred to Integra with a quiet question, "What are we looking for exactly?"