January 26th; Mid-afternoon; Light Snow; 5 ° F, -15 ° C.
If Sawyer could have stayed in the northern reaches of Relic Lore, he might have. But, his sister Vanadis' trail was much too precious and valuable to lose and the light snowfall made it all too easy to wander off-track. As selfish and self-serving as he was, he had to stay true to his initial intension: to take but also share in his sibling's findings and stakes. The wonderment for his parents' distant memories surrounding the grandeur of Willow Ridge at its peak still ran rampant in his mind. Perhaps this was what Vanadis had been after. He couldn't know for sure until he heard it from her own lips.
A sigh fell from his cold-nipped nostrils as he came to the frozen edges of a marsh. The afternoon sky above still remained an ashy gray in the background from the dying winter fire that had been burning since his arrival to Relic Lore. Maybe this mild storm would make its way over and snuff it out for good. Regardless, the dull gray made for a very sad and dreary backdrop for the lone cedar tree that arched over the frozen-over fen.
Pitiful. Judging yellow eyes fell upon a small mound of snow tucked underneath the tree's gnarled roots before following the trunk upwards and over to where the sweeping branches' springtime growth had frozen into the marsh. Sawyer shivered. It was unsettling here and, almost immediately, he started his slow path around the patches of dead reeds and ice. The sooner he crossed this part of Relic Lore, the better...
you musn't be afraid
to dream a little bigger, darling
⟡ ⟡ ⟡
to dream a little bigger, darling
⟡ ⟡ ⟡