Firestone Hot Springs I think I could, if only I knew how to begin

early evening, 36 F

She needed a distraction from her busy mind; it seemed to linger often on the prince, and she wasn't sure what to do about it. She could simply express her feelings to him, and she considered it enough times that she had played out scenarios in her head. But she always talked herself out of it, telling herself that she was imaging the spark between them, or she was just overthinking everything. So when she could no longer stand sitting with her thoughts, Arielle had wandered from the Ursus borders.

The warmth had drawn her to the area; she had been able to feel it from a short distance away. Her paws were wet and cold from her hours of scouring the lands outside the mountain for plants or signs of Nyra. So she had been unable to resist wandering a little farther than normal. Plus, she thought maybe she would have better luck in the plant department in a place that seemed untouched by winter.

She was not disappointed when she finally arrived and found many pools of warm, bubbling water. She couldn't even be upset that the only plant life was the occasional patch of stringy grass. She trotted over to a particularly large pool. She might consider swimming if the water didn't smell so terrible and if she wouldn't have to travel home completely soaked. She did find that if she placed her paws on the rocks surrounding the hot spring that it would comfortably heat her paws. She closed her eyes and released a soft sigh, letting the warmth sink into her paw pads.