She picks her way across the mountainside with practiced ease; a basket hooked on her elbow and a hand grasping her skirt to keep it from tangling on twigs or bramble she might step over. Her gaze alternates between glancing at the ground and up in the direction she’s heading; an occasional glance made towards the sky or the area around her to take the scenery in. While she seems to have a set destination in mind, she’s clearly not in any hurry, taking the time to stop here and there to gather wild fruits and mushrooms along the way.
It’s been a year since she woke on Mount Lanayru - a full cycle of the four seasons, spring through winter, not knowing who she is or anything of her life prior to the mountain. A somewhat gloomy thought to be had, perhaps, but in truth she doesn’t mind it. Her life is a simple one, and she doesn’t truly want for anything. And with only herself and the wild animals she looks after to whittle away the hours, she has no need for a name - the only time she interacts with other people is when she visits the village at the foot of the mountain, and those visits are few and far between, in truth. She gets lost enough wandering from her hut to the little cave she’s turned into an animal sanctuary; her trips to the town were often more like trying to remember her way out of a maze.
Blessedly, her trip to the cave today goes by with little in the way of a misstep or wrong turn, and as soon as she arrives she sets to tending to the bird she’s housed in a cage within. The poor thing had had a broken wing and been starving, and she hadn’t just been about to leave it there to die - but she couldn’t take it home, for fear that the cat who’d taken up residence with her would see it as an offering of a meal, so here in the cave it would remain until it could fly on its own again. Checking its’ wing and discerning it would need at least another day or two to heal completely, she fed it and stroked its feathers, before promising to return the next morning.
Turning to leave the cave, something catches her eye; a slight gleam to the side, the morning sun shining into the cave and reflecting off of something smooth and a dark, deep black colour - or was it green? Honestly, she couldn’t be sure, it was so dark, but as her curiosity gets the better of her she nears and soon sees that it’s a snake, coiled around itself and sleeping in the sun. A hesitant step forward and closer inspection reveals what looks to be a wound on it’s body, marring the otherwise pristine scales with the red of blood. Her decision upon seeing the injury is immediate; paying little heed to any danger the snake might pose, she scoops it up and sets it in her basket among the foraged fruits and leaves the cavern to make her way home.
The gods must be on her side today, for again her trip is met with little interruption. As soon as she enters the little hut, she sets the basket on the table and lifts the blanket from it’s top - only to be met with the snake now staring right at her.
❝ O-oh. You’re awake now. Well, that’s good... ❞ she trails off, lips pursing slightly as she considers the creature before her. For some reason it almost feels as if it’s asking for an explanation, with how intently it’s staring at her. ❝ I, uh... found you in the cave, and you’re hurt, so I brought you back here to take a look at your wound. Just wait here and I’ll go get something to treat it with.❞
Glancing away, she lets out a quiet sigh and shakes her head before turning to head into the other room. Perhaps it really is a good thing she’s alone on this mountain - no doubt she’d be heralded as crazy for talking to a snake like it could understand her.
