Mudminnow River can't hear you now

@Caiaphas

Despite knowing that the coast was where her heart truly belonged, Eilidh feared returning to her fire-ravaged home. The Sentinels might have recovered in the years since her departure, but she was afraid it would harm her more to see her homeland if it remained destroyed and decayed. So she stalled, instead turning south further inland than she wanted, in an effort to spare her heart a little ache. So she found herself near a small river, filled with darting fish in its shallow depths.

The golden ghost paused along the shoreline, dipping her toes in the water. She had forgotten how fresh the wilds water could be, and abandoned all caution as she waded into the shallow part of the river until it reached her belly, and lapped it up as freely as a child. What her family think of her frolicking in this muddy river? Her father would smile, her mother would encourage her to see its healing properties, and her siblings would wash her in its icy grip and probably plunge her beneath the surface.

Heart clenched against the painful memories, Eilidh swam in the murky waters, remembering all the times she waded across creeks and rivers in her travels, and how different it felt to be doing this at home.