Hoshor Plains the roots beneath my shaded tree / the moon dancing across my sky

 

couldn’t wait :o)  @Aries

Some unknown force bade Olive to move south — and, after not finding a reason to say no, the tiny woman moved out from her humble sanctuary upon the silvertip mountain and followed the curves of the riverbed until she found a bridge of a felled tree and crossed the body of water to continue her journey across the open plains of the flatlands. She must have been feeling claustrophobic, she reasoned with herself, being so close to the coast and all. Why did she torture herself like that, the lamb began to wonder as she melted inward and became entirely lost in her own thoughts. She drifted across the winter landscape on autopilot. Her feet and her mind moved in tandem. 
 
But, really, why did she torture herself that way? It was a good question, one that she did not want to answer; one that was quite uncomfortable when thought about. The woman didn’t want to say that she actually liked it, being so close to Ravensblood and staring at all those memories in the face… but, to lean into the hurt meant that it had all been real, because what’s more real than the pain of certainties that were no longer certain? Dakarai, her babies, Teaghlaigh — those bleeding timbers, which shielded her small family once upon a time, reminded her that they had all been real.

Sometimes the loneliness was enough to have her believing she made them up entirely.