Time moved slowly when Enya was alone in the wilderness. There were the standard guests that one would expect when a wolf roamed solo: hunger and danger for example, but it wasn't enough to help pass time as fast as the viper would have liked as she roamed the lands. This was worse than exile, she had promptly decided after being away for only a few days. With exile, she had the opportunity of knowing that she would never be going back. With exile, her responsibilities were left at the territory borders. With this, she knew that she would be returning to her home. She knew that she would have to face her responsibilities eventually, and this was only delaying, making matters worse for her. To hell with this 'personal journey' she had voluntarily gone on. Fuck all those shamans who'd told her that this was the best choice for her.
After many days later of kicking rocks for entertainment, Enya had decided that she would contribute to the kingdom in her own way while satisfying this stupid journey bullshit. She had already made a point of never straying too far from her home's borders and for reason. She lingered in the territories surrounding, searching for vagrants who lived close by or for Verdantis who might be looking for an opening. Her searching had introduced her to several faces, some new, some old, and some shocking. There was one face, however, that Enya had hoped to encounter while she traversed and had yet to come across.
A thin layer of snow crunched beneath her paws. An early winter storm had dusted the lands overnight giving way to an enchanting scene as morning came. The plant life, still dressed with its leaves, had been frozen overnight. As the sun breached the horizon between the mountain peaks, crystals sparkled on the foliage and across the ground. Bright blue water ran in a river through the valley of the mountains. Steam rose from pockets of water scattered off to the sides, while in other sections the warm water flowed and cooled downstream, only to be mixed with fresh hot water further beyond. Enya had heard of the steam geysers to the east of her kingdom. She hadn't expected them to be quite so gorgeous, though.
She was drawn to the water and without caution, stepped forward and into it's soothing embrace. The air temperature was bitter cold, but Enya did not shy away from the cold or the water. This was her element and just for a moment, she let herself enjoy the tranquility of what she had found as the water rushed past her four limbs, occasionally splashing up onto her scaled underbelly. Maybe the stupid shamans had been right a little bit.