Her uncles quickly left Eugenia to her own devices. Although she was surrounded by the forest, Eugenia did not relish hiking through it at all. However, after several afternoons spent listlessly in the solitude of the tower, while her uncles schemed away behind closed doors, there was nothing else to do but venture outside and explore the uninviting forest. She did not notify her uncles, whom, she told herself, she would not have been able to locate anyway.