The days were longer here, more or less because nothing was familiar to her. Not a single place jogged her memory - it was as if she had never lived in this valley at all. Not a single territory was a reminder of what she had once had. Of the lives that she had known - Shade, Ace, Spectre... all of them she feared were gone or spread wide. While Lachesis had found her and given her a reason to move forward, the itch to run would always be present. Anastasia was a gullible and innocent fool, wishing for the best but not knowing how to handle anything besides goodness. Change was not easy but she really wanted to try, even if it wasn't going to end in her favor.

So the woman traversed the land near to where she had found her friend, eager to figure out what she wanted to do in this land. If anyone would even care to see to her so that she might begin anew. The pale china doll wanted the life she had before but was willing to see new faces within her social circle. It was the first step to prospering here and regardless of the changes that would be hard to wrap around, the Starklen woman was prepared to face what challenges lay ahead.

For now she simply had to forego the differences to wander this Ridge. The trees tall and gangly ( much like her dear friend was ) but she could see that the pines were changing their color soon and eagerly hoped that she might be here to see that in the very least. With nose held to the trees and her tail slack behind her, she moved gracefully but at a glacial pace so as to experience all of what this "new" valley had to offer her.

With her ocean eyes trained so heavily upon the pine needles above her it was easy to disengage from what walked upon the earth. Anastasia had never been a very observant lady and thus did not even see the girl come closer and closer. In fact didn't even notice anything or anyone until words were spoken. A slight shake of her shoulders and her head snapping down to gaze thoughtfully and surprised at the woman that apologized profusely for transgressions that had not come to pass. "It's okay," she answered thoughtfully as her eyes traveled the length of her sudden company's face, "no harm done. It's not like I was watching where I was going, either." After all, she had a hard time even realizing she was walking so far and would have ended up halfway across the valley by now without realizing it. She was too easily distracted and she would guess that this particular string of company was, too. "I'm Anastasia, and you are?" It was as good a step as any, to introduce herself and hope that her company might be willing to divulge information, too. Of course she was quite unaware of the looking tension between any of the packs located with the Wildwood.

Anastasia had had quite a troublesome past before she had run into Lachesis and had started new in the Wildwood. The first love interest of hers had been given orders to dominate her and he had refused and as chivalrous as that was to refuse... it had led to worse. His refusal to obey had led down a more horrific path and she had long ago forgotten the hard memories in an effort to move forward. It was perhaps why she had taken to Lachesis because he hadn't been large and massive like the men from her home. He hadn't pushed her around as they had. "Nice to meet you, Everly." Hers, too, a pretty moniker and she would even be so bold as to say that it really suit her as she could see Everly very clearly on her face.

"Oh, a princess?" The idea made her nervously chuckle, as she had never been much of a fairy-tale-led woman but she supposed that in another reality she could have been a princess. "You're too kind, Everly..." though before she could thank the woman for her kind words she seemed to apologize for being so bold and straight forward. A sign that she wasn't as sure of herself as she wanted to be and lacked the proper confidence to say her words without doubt falling behind. "At what? Conversing with a stranger? I admit, I haven't talked to too many strangers lately and I think you're doing just fine." Unaware of any of the dangers that might lurk in these lands, she hoped that this was simply an off day for her. Because she didn't want to believe that there was anything she should be fearful of nor did she want Everly to think that she had anything to worry about from a small and pale woman.

Anastasia would have loved to hear of a story of a princess whose fur was as white as snow - it made have made her upbringing seem a little more fabulous than it had been. Truth be told, Anastasia hadn't been two cents to the life she had had before meeting Lachesis. It had begun when they had met and to believe anything different almost seemed uncomfortable. "I suppose it's probably a story mothers tell to their children when they are young," and while she had never had doting parents that swaddled her and told her stories to keep her light alive, she hoped that one day she might get the chance to reconcile with her own mothering side. A tale she had hoped to weave with the only one that had ever truly shown his love.

"Of course" came her answer as the girl thanked her for ( what she could only assume ) her honest opinion. "Don't believe that all men are scary, there are some that are wondrous..." and by this she means mostly XIX himself but also to Shade and Maksim. Two men that she had grown to care for deeply and had been well-respected friends of hers when she had been a busy soul here. Anastasia wished that she could tell the girl not to let the unknown scare her and to look at the best in things but how could she truthfully tell anyone that when her mind constantly ran from the fear of change and adversity?

"Whitestone Monadnock," she repeated idly and her lips twitched as she collected information that she desperately needed. More packs, more territories -- she needed to know more about the land if she wanted to stay otherwise the weight of change would consume her and drive her out. "She sounds like quite a friend. I actually lived here years ago... in many of the packs that resided here. It was so long ago." With the sudden information she feels herself drawing to a close mentally - wanting nothing more than to escape into the past rather than push forward into the future. There was no Maksim and certainly no Shade ... where had they gone? Did the devil push them out, too?

At this point in the game, Anastasia understood that one could never be too careful about really anyone. Gender was no matter, honestly -- the only thing that made males scarier was that they usually had more size and weight on them than a female did. Anastasia certainly was not renowned for her strength at a mere hundred pounds, thanks to her small stature. In the beginning of her young adult life she had been tortured extensively but Anastasia, thanks to Lachesis, had seen hope thrive.

Everly was right that it wasn't fair that they were so much bigger but the "life isn't fair" motto was very strong and very useful in this situation. There was very little in life that was fair and she could easily point to Lachesis and Lilya and say that that wasn't fair either. Yet, she knew that he had enough reason to want to be happy without worrying about her coming in and out of his life.

Of course, she didn't anticipate being asked any questions pertaining to the why's and took a moment to find words that would properly explain her ongoing absences. "No, I loved it actually." That was no lie but her feelings often got the best of her - something she was sure Everly understood, "I had been in the mountains with my friend and I got separated. Returned months later but everything was so different. He was a little different... I couldn't cope so I left." In the back of her mind she tried to excuse herself by saying that Lachesis was better off without her anyways but she really hoped that that really wasn't the case.

It was pleasant to hear how much the woman cared for her leader as it certainly reminded her of how she felt when it came to XIX. He had always been a friend to her and always would be but sometimes she could always feel this uncomfortable jab at her heart as though reminding her that she was the one who screwed everything up. "Keep your friends close, Everly. She sounds like a keeper."