Gilded Bay all this pain and devastation, how it tortures me inside

Set for late evening, the day the locusts arrived. I'd appreciate it if DL wolves did not find her right away, since I'd like to use this as an opportunity for some character development. :)

Emaleth had never before crossed the borders of Donnelaith; she knew nothing of the world beyond, or what she might find there. Her shame, however, was more powerful than her fear and the dark child ran from her home without looking back. She did not want to see the devastation her enchantment, her curse had caused. She did not want to see the barren skeletons of the redwoods she had loved so dearly; she did not want to see the destroyed remains of her home, a terrible consequence of her mistake.

She had been running for hours, ignoring the impassioned calls of her family— mistaking their worry for anger, for mourning over the loss of their home. Emaleth could not bear to face them, and the chaos of the swarm had lent her the ability to escape the fierce protectors that made up Donnelaith's ranks; in a normal situation, she never would have been able to outrun them.

Now, her small body weary from the long distance she had come, the small child crouched behind a tall spire erupting from the beach. She made herself smaller, instinctively attempting to protect herself, and huddled against the sands. Her blue-and-green eyes surveyed her surroundings, but she had not paid mind to where she had been running— if she had wanted to look upon Donnelaith now, she would not have known where to look!

At least the curse had not come this far; the bugs had no interest in the barrenness of the coast, but in Emaleth's mind it only confirmed that the plague was confined to her home. It was now, and only now, that the child allowed her head to drop to her feet and sobs to wrack her small form; a child's voice keening over the sound of the tide coming in.