Porcupine Ridge Here, There And Everywhere

They needed to move on, but Ibis couldn't, not yet. She still could not find her aunt Sarah and the loss of yet another member of her family weighed heavily upon her. From the ridge she could look down in to the valley which cleaved through the mountains; it was beautiful, and had she been in another frame of mind she would have been enthralled by the majesty of it. Instead she saw the haze of misty wet snow coupled with a moody sky and felt her throat constrict with emotion.

All she could do was wait for Sarah to catch up to them, and beg the others to just wait. She knew that their patience was growing thin, though. It was unfair of her to demand they linger too long; they needed sanctuary, now more than ever. Ibis struggled for sleep when the rest of the travelling group would huddle for the night, and took to roaming for hours across the ridge on the hunt for those she missed so deeply. Never once did she return with company, and so her sadness grew deeper still.

On one such moment - nowhere near twilight this time, but still quite brisk and chilly for the waif of a girl - she patrolled an area of the ridge along its eastern expanse. Here she could see a patch of blue sky overhead, witness the clouds gather and tumble like the depths of a scryer's crystal ball; she sighs, watching as that patch of clear blue is swallowed up by grey, and as her posture droops, she takes notice of a shape approaching from over her shoulder. It is one of the travellers - a large woman, one of the largest she has ever seen, but not the one she's eager to reunite with.

Rather than call out to them she stays quiet, watching for a bit, and then turns to stare down in to the glorious valley once more; but no matter how many days Ibis spends missing those she loves, she cannot summon them by sheer force of will.