I didn't know what to expect pacing the dark of the upstairs hallways. I should be out of these fancy garments by now, streaking across the kitchen hoping that pungent smell wasn't me scorching the sausages.
The other end of the second floor always felt like an entirely separate locale to me with its own unique atmosphere, its own distinct fragrance - an entirely new world… despite being like fifteen or fourteen paces from my bedroom door.
Sharing the same roof with an Elf would do that, I suppose. It's as if Ash's very presence invited a more ethereal ambiance wherever she goes, and out of everyone I know, from literal beings of flame to silent channelers of the dead, I felt this feeling the strongest only with her.
After a hop and a skip, I crossed the fifteen-step boundary, and there's that feeling, that aroma, surging stronger and stronger with every step closer to her bedroom door.