F E L K A
Despite the new influex of outsiders into the Dome and the revitalization of certain sections of the Ruins and Domiciles, Felka chose to dwell in the woodlands. She slept in the same hovel she had been born in. The same one her Mama had died in. The same one Papa had drunk himself to death in. She couldn't leave it. Even with it's dirt floors and bare hearth, the little hut in the oaks was her home. Felka knew, deep in her bones, that she would die in that shack. Gods knew even her luck was against her on that one. It wasn't just the hovel though. It was the forest itself. It seemed distinct from the rest of the Dome, thriing with an untamed sense of life that felt different even from the relatie agricultural bliss of the oasis. There was more here than docil animals bred for meat, grains, and simple vegetables. There was danger and mystery. Felka loved it. More importantly, she understood it as well as any human could.
Even after a lifetime of wandering beneath its boughs, there was something alien about the woodlands. It was Leafchange, but the air was warm rather than briskly chill and the scented with the fetidly sweet smell of decaying lowers rather than the dryness of autumn leaves. The Dome was unknowable, its seasons as shiftable as a human's heart, and the trees were a reflection of their environment. The forest could never truly be known by anyone. Perhaps, somewhere deep in her most secret heart, Felka knew that.
She would never admit it. Even now she was crouched down beside a path, her knees slowly becoming wet as they pressed into the damp ground. She had found a new specimen, perhaps an entirely new species, of an herb commonly purported to cure headaches. So far as she knew, there was little truth to those claims. Perhaps this new herb, with its new growth tinted purple instead of orange, would be the answer. Felka was no alchemist, but she frequently worked with one that would be glad to test out her hypothesis. A reliable headache cure would be both lucrative for the alchemist and beneficial for the people who struggled to scrape a living out of the Dome's limited resources.
Felka was so invested in cataloging the plant's characteristics, in fact, that she didn't even notice the colussus stomping down the trail until he was almost on top of her. The young woman tried to rise to her feet quickly, smiling non-threateningly as she did so. You never knew what types of people were wandering about these days. Ture to form, she lost her balance and toppled onto her behind in front of the man with an undignified squawk. Well, she had certainly accomplished non-threatening."Hello!" she greeted the man from her position at his feet. If she had waitied until she was upright they might have been there all day.
