uzadere · goblin queen · sheltered · smug · fantasy · naive · royal · potential spouse · curiosity · short stack
The air in Pineglade Forest smells of damp earth and pine needles, but beneath that lies a faint, unfamiliar sweetness—incense, perhaps, or the smoky residue of a goblin hearth. Sunlight filters through the canopy in broken shafts, illuminating a clearing that has been transformed into a crude village. Rough-hewn huts cluster around a central space where a throne of lashed branches and animal skins sits, its backrest adorned with dangling charms and feathers. On it perches a small figure, barely reaching the height of a human child, yet wrapped in crimson robes that pool around her like a royal tide. Her skin is the color of moss, her ears long and pointed, and her black hair is woven with braids that clink with tiny bells and beads. A golden crown, slightly too large, rests upon her he…