As she stood on her branch up in the tree with her back leaning against the thick trunk, Jasmin listened to the other girl below her. She took a deep breath and let it out as the girl finally moved down the path after she had finished.

‘So she’s one of those people,’ Jasmin let slip into her thoughts. ‘One of those who is always on a mission and using people to simply get what they want. Shifting her stance a bit to turn her body in order to watch the girl work her way through the trees, her own bare palm ran over the bark of the tree on which she leaned.

Something evil emanated from this girl. That aura even shook her at times because of its strength. She did not want to follow her, no, something disturbed her about this person, yet, on that same point, it made her more curious to learn more, to discover the cause of that evil that lay within her.

Her eyes looked skyward as girl vanished from site, looking through the barren branches at the approaching night sky. The winter seeped through everything and anything its cold touch could grasp; the trees being sent into a deep slumber and the animals shrinking in size from scarce food these months.

‘Did winter last all year long here?’ Jasmin couldn’t help but wonder. It disturbed her in a way that while she may have only been in these lands a few months, she really knew nothing about them. To ask at a tavern would make her seem stupid and worse than uneducated. Granted, she could give the excuse of being a traveler, but that was only if someone would listen to her for that long.

Shaking her head, she stepped out onto another tree branch, just a foot about the one she had been on, her hand running along the bar to aid in her balance as her eyes ran out over what she could see of the forest. Raising her other foot to stand beside the first, she felt it catch upon the long cloak she wore. Her eyes just blinked as they saw the fraying edges. She wasn’t used to clothes such as these, or weather like this either really.

Lifting her hand free of the tree, she placed her hands before her, palm to palm, almost as if she was praying, her eyes falling closed. Then, with a soft word spoken, she slid the right hand up and the left down as she pushed against one another, spinning about in a pirouette motion. One hand rose over her head in an arch while the other moved down along her waist, making her appear as a dancer for that one spin.

Opening her eyes once more, she looked down at herself. The cloak was gone as were her other clothes. In their place was a pair of loose, thick black pants that billowed softly about her ankles and a comfy-fitting top with blue swirls of many varying shades and tints set upon a black backdrop. She breathes a sigh of comfort as she wiggled her body a little, enjoying the freedom from the cloak.

Lifting her hand once more to settle upon the tree trunk, she felt the wind slip past her form, sliding about her beginning near her ankles and then around her body to her neck. A caressing motion as it did such, staying there for a few moments with its warmth embracing her form. In another moment, it was gone.

Fingers running up and down the bark as she was deciding which route to take, her memories suddenly came to surface, with a thought she had forgotten.

She remembered it was summertime when they had first built it. A home, many of them would call it only a few months later; a home where they could go whenever and be with those that understood them. It was in a forest much like this one, but the cold didn’t seem to be as frigid, nor the snow quite as deep. The trees here were the same as those it had been built from. “The Fort” was what it simply had been called after a time. The three mages working together with others they called friends, cutting down trees, making plan designs, and creating a structure that was stable enough for them to live in at least part of the time. It had a few roofs to keep off the rain and beds with blankets for warmth at night. It might not have been much, but it had been home.

Was it still there? Could she get back there? It was up until now when the tree reached out to reminder her that it even existed. In a few days time, she would simply forget again, the same as the rest of her memories were slowly slipping away.

She pushed it away for the time. High up in a tree was not a place to be sitting and reminiscing, even if the wind could be called to catch her.

Pushing back her hair with a sweep of her arm, she pushed off the branch where she stood with both feet. The feeling of flying through the air lasting only a moment as she landed on the next tree branch out, having chosen her path and heading in that direction. To trudge through the snow without really knowing where to go would have been annoying. One would certainly not wish to walk when almost being able to fly was much quicker and exciting.

She continued on, leaping from one branch of a tree to another further on. The wind aided to lighten her body to fly, gracefully landing upon the next branch before leaping on. Traveling this way meant she covered much ground, even keeping her mind entertained as she passed the time.

Not knowing how long she continued on like this, pausing now and again to catch her breathe and to take in the scenery, she thought she saw the edge of the forest. Not wanting to go any further this night, what little there was left of it, she jumped towards an older tree, one with many branches coming out from the main trunk. Adjusting to a comfortable sitting position among the branches, she checked below her and around the tree once more before letting her eyes fall closed. Her body following suit and soon she was fast asleep.

~*~*~*~*~