Well that was a question she had never been asked before. Darin’s brow furrowed as she ran her hands over the hunting cat’s soft ears. Mitaja was seemingly content with her ministrations and it wasn’t like it was that much of a chore. Darin slowly slipped down off the chair and on to the floor as she thought about Ridahne’s question. Her attention was seemingly on Mitaja as she ran her hands over the cat’s ears and chest. The deep rumbling was certainly one of the best sounds Darin had heard of. However, she wasn’t sure about a favorite scent. There were so many good ones.

After a lengthy silence she spoke, “Apple pie baking.” She paused for a moment, “Wheat growing.” She started smiling, “Sunshine. Snow. Rain.” She sighed slowly, “There are so many good ones. Fresh heather. Pine.” She found herself repeating, “Sunshine. Or rain. I’ve said this already but snow.” She used her wrist to rub at her eyes, “I’m tired.” She continued as she started rambling, “I really like sunshine. A lot of people say it doesn’t smell like anything, but I think it smells like warmth. Especially right after I got out of the water. There’s a swimming pond back home. I would go swimming and then when I got out I would sit on the bank and let the sunshine dry my skin. It would smell like … peace.

“Or snow. Snow is another one. I don’t know if you’ve seen snow, but if you miss heat, you’ll dislike snow. It happens in the winter when it gets cold enough to freeze. It’s rain that has frozen into a white powder. It comes down and sticks to the ground. Eventually it covers everything like a blanket. You have to wrap up in so many layers just to get anywhere. The whole village comes together to clear the roads. Snow smells clean though when it melts it smells wet. It means that spring is coming. Winter is when the world rests and then it wakes back up and snow just smells like quiet and clean.”

Darin paused for a moment as she considered that. She had just described two smells that came from the sky. She wondered if that meant anything. Ridahne had described citrus which was an earth smell; a stone smell. Darin guessed that meant just because a person was a Child of one of the elements didn’t mean they were perfect matches for that element. Maybe a person could, and did, have attributes of all three elements in them. She herself loved the smell of the sky, the feel of dirt, and swimming. She liked catching raindrops and snowflakes on her tongue and that was water that came from the sky so that seemed like both Sky and Sea. Maybe that was just her.

She continued speaking with her eyes on Mitaja, “Kids will stand outside and try to catch snowflakes, the little frozen raindrops, on their tongues. You’re supposed to grow out of it, but I never did. I never wanted to. I think that was proof to the elders that I wasn’t mature enough to know what was best. I think they kept hoping I would grow up, but I didn’t have the time to grow up. I was too busy being a nuisance and taking care of things. Ah well.” She cast a glance over at Ridahne, “Let’s see. Favorite thing to eat? Is that a safe question? I like sweet porridge. It’s usually a treat since sugar or brown sugar is expensive. You cook the oats with milk and serve it warm. I haven’t had it in a long time. A long, long time. So, it’s more like fond memory. What’s yours?”