Gaia awoke in a strange place. Her Master and Big Sister were not with her but she felt no danger. Instead, she felt like something familiar was all around her!
She began to take it in and saw towering trees letting in sunlight through their interlocked branches seem to sway even without wind. The soil was covered in brush, moss, and other small plants that did not need much sunlight to survive.
Her body reacted to all of it as the forest seemed to call to her blood! She felt a vague memory surface of a man and a woman smiling down at her but it was too ephemeral to bring into focus.
She saw her robes were damaged so she replaced them with no regard if someone was watching. She had felt shame as a slave but as her Master helped her grow and she became aligned with her dryad bloodline, such feelings seemed to shrink away.
Her father's aether child ability had shifted her closer to humanity but only just. Still, she froze as she saw her body clearly as she changed.
