While Doc had gotten dressed and ready, Elena had gone for a short stroll around the Estate, after all he had allowed her to. Since it seemed to be a rather large area, there would surely be a few things for her to discover, she deliberated as she put her jacket and shoes on to go outside. And if she was lucky this time, mayhaps discovering the one or other in the gardens would also quieten her scattered, someway wooly thoughts. Elena had never been a child of snow, since snow was rather scarce on her home planet Stuttgart in general, but on the other hand, she liked gardens and especially larger parks. After she had bundled up would she leave the warm, cozy main house of the Estate and begin her walk around the rest of the place.
It didn’t take long for her to get reminded again why she hated snow. Even with the padded hood of her jacket which covered up most of her head, the slight breeze still felt as though it pierced myriad little needles through her skin. Nonetheless, Elena did not go back to the warmth of the building and instead gnashed her teeth and just went on, leaving behind her footprints in the snow. The way she walked around the Estate did not follow any discernible pattern. In fact, when she was on the way back into the house and had a brief look at her own footprints, they were far more akin to a miniature odyssey. The view elicited an equally miniature smile from her, together with a head shake that virtually emitted resignation.
As she had reached the gardens, she had to find with frustration that naturally most of the garden’s plants and flowers were still covered under a thick layer of snow yesterday’s blizzard had brought with it. Here and there some faint colors peeked out, though, in the flower’s dire attempt to reach daylight. At one point Elena, who anew had gotten into thinking and thinking and digressing from the actual point of her little walk, sunken in thoughts, kneeled down before one of the flowerbeds. With her gloved hand she removed the upper layers of the snow, to get a glimpse of what it looked like beneath the white masses. There were flowers, as expected, a plethora of them. For a brief moment Elena pondered whether to pick one or two up, since she happened to be fond of their color – not standing out, but definitely nice to look at. In the end, she took one. A blue one, self-evidently. Momentarily she sniffed it, realized there was barely any scent coming from it, and walked on.
In the end, her little trip by foot had not gone as she would have wanted it to. Instead of appeasing her thoughts, it had just provoked them even more, even though in mere silence this time. Not outbursts of fury, no tears. But in some way, she felt worse than before when she opened the door leading into the house again. More by accident than planned did she return only shortly after Doc had readied himself and packed his medical bag. If those trips out in the snow were to go on for the next days as well, she would inevitably catch a chill, she thought to herself and sighed as she treaded into the house, walking down the entry hall into the kitchen, where Doc already waited for her.
“Alright, there I am again,” she said as she entered, putting down the hood. In contrast, inside the building it was considerably warmer, it felt almost like a sauna. She gave him a brief smile afterwards. “I think your gardens would be a lot nicer if there wasn’t all this pesky snow overcasting the flowers.” She kept both hands in her jacket pockets, imperceptibly fiddling about with the one flower she had ripped out. “So, are we ready?” Her voice didn’t exactly scream sheer enthusiasm, but instead was more or less neutral.
