Otatso Wetlands 40 nights to sit and listen to that midnight train to memphis

the losses they had sustained were almost too much to bear. shale was gone, and the plains, too. what was once miles of rolling, golden hills had been reduced to a charred landscape, the fire fading with the blessed rain. aditya was working hard to pull his family back together, to try to carve out a new existence in the maplewood, but it was all heavy on his shoulders.

so he slipped away--at least for a little while.

he had intended to visit the herbalists' cache, which somehow remained unscathed, just like phoenix maplewood. but the faint, far-off cries of someone in the wetlands caught his attention, and, more alert to danger than usual, he raced to the sound, breath caught in his throat. he pushed his way through the mire, the yells growing louder and louder until he finally came upon a dark shape in the mud.

it was the moonspear girl, the one he'd encountered a couple times by that great mountain. she had never given him a name, which was sly of her, so he had no real way to address her. all he could do was forge ahead, stepping gingerly through the sucking mud. it looked as if she'd gotten a rear leg completely caught; she was utterly stuck.

"don't panic," he said quietly, examining the best way to remedy this predicament. "flailing around will only get you stuck more."