There is a tension that she feels on the back of her neck, two great eyes digging into her very flesh and yet, she choosees to ignore it. She knows better than to pay heed to the dark shadows that play in the corner of one's eyes and so, she turns away from the treeline ever so slightly, focusing elsewhere on the others while her skin prickles and twitches beneath the gaze of some mysterious creature.
I know this tension, she thinks without a word, only a slight tug at her lips daring to break the illusion of peace within herself. She does not know who the tension is directed at and so, she does her best to shrink away from it. She allows Liquid Amber and their companion, Dragonfly, to bask in the full glory of the sun. Elara is, as usual, content to wait in her own shadow, content to settle into the tall, dry grass of summer while the others mingle cheerfully.
"You are so ambitious, Amber," she finally grinned, pleased and pleasantly surprised by the woman's tenacity in having planned ahead. Perhaps, Elara considered, she had braved harsh enough winters to have learned her lesson. Still, she resonated briefly with a quiet fear that such a place would be Diveen. I'm not ready for them, she shook her head ever so slightly to dismiss the images of her mother and father, her siblings and cousins. They hadn't the time for her anyway. Who would even remember a name barely spoken, a face rarely seen? Perhaps she could get away with it. She'd just need to be strong.
The thought itself had almost entirely distracted her; the sound of paws in the distance made her suddenly come back to their plane, her eyes darting back towards the treeline where a shadow of a wolf had taken up residence closer to them. She recognized the tension immediately, her eyes narrowing at him momentarily as she stepped aside slightly, giving herself a chance to keep him in her peripherals. By all means, perhaps he was but a curious bystander, a hopeful joinee without the confidence to approach and yet, she did not trust it entirely. His arrival seemed too peculiar for such a simple explanation.
Dragonfly seemed to hesitate. It brought Elara's attention back to her, a sweetened smile meeting her expression as Elara sought to pacify whatever situation had bothered the girl. She seemed nervous and Elara cleared her through quietly, hoping it would re-focus her. After all, she and Liquid Amber seemed to have the most direction when it came to their situation. However, her attention had been caught by yet another stranger; this time, Elara's eyes hardened on the hazel of his own, her brows furrowing deeply. "There are many ears without names around us," her voice had a harder tone now, her Latin accent stronger beneath its sharpness as her ears pushed back against her crown. Dragonfly seemed content to finish and yet, Elara's eyes unwaveringly searched between the pair of strangers.
Date. The word brings her back immediately to a better place; her ears swivel up, eyes widening slightly in surprise. "You want to... take them on dates?" She ponders it, a strange series of words on her tongue. "My...my father spoke of a date once, I think. He said it was...customary in my family to run beneath the stars in a great game of chase. If they made your spirit soar into the stars and night above, they were the one." But my father also told many other stories. Still, she tried to grin despite the hesitancy she felt bringing her family up. Perhaps it would help Dragonfly. After all, Elara figured helping another was worth feeling a pang of discomfort.