Elsa

      Elsa was nervous, she had never so flagrantly disobeyed the rules like this before. The schoolmaster didn't put up any fuss when she asked to be excused. She had always been a perfect student and he had no reason to suspect her of lying. No, it wasn't a lie, she repeated the justification to herself; it was true, she had been feeling miserable lately, and when she had seen Tak walking into the forest through the window, she knew that it was absolutely imperative that she leave.

      The path Tak had taken was unfamiliar to Elsa but she knew his tracks well enough to follow him without too much difficulty. The path was strange, unlike any of the others in the forest; the trees seemed to lean in on all sides of her and she had the strange feeling that they were whispering to each other, whispering about her.

      Where did these ridiculous ideas come from? Her parents had been lenient in comparison to the rest of the townsfolk, but they never encouraged such reckless thoughts. It had to be something to do with Tak; all the more reason to continue along the path, perhaps she would finally find some answers.

      She slowed down when she heard voices. A break in the bushes allowed her to see into a clearing. There he was, Tak, sitting in the middle of the clearing, and someone was talking to him. She couldn't fully see the man but something was off about him, and where was the second voice coming from? There was no one else visible. And then it happened; she didn't know why she was so surprised, she had been expecting this for her entire life. But it was still a shock, Tak was speaking! She horizontally fell through the bushes, shouting incomprehensibly the entire time.