Nova Peak None of this is real enough, to take me from you.

set a bit in the future, if that is ok? @Phaedra <3

They'd been here several days now, and Stag had been scarce.

He had gone and scoured the tree line at the bottom of the foothills. He had gone and scoured the scree. A few times he had gone up and down a babbling brook, coming to rest finally at a place that had that indescribable aura to it;

A place of rest and peace.

Dwarfing almost all its cousins as it rose up along a pallisade of firs was an ancient column of supalpine larch, whose long arms reached out and offered a lengthy sprawl of sundappled shade. At the base of this tree was a broad swatch of flatness, limned in a rich carpet of pine needles.

Stag knew what had to be done, and so, set to work.

He brought out the stone he had carried all the way from home. The stone -- a little pebble collected by Phaedra that first day they had built their garden -- had been tucked in his cheek the entire trip. He placed it down on the dirt, frowned, and nosed it several feet. Frowned again, and pushed it another several feet.

Then he was gone, returning, gone again -- until at last a perimeter was built around the base of this enormous tree. Crude and patchwork this little wall may be, it set the foundation for the future plot of Phaedra's garden, and Stag remained hard at work from sun up until sun down, perfecting every little minutia.

By the second day the wall had been completed. By the third, much of the dirt inexpertly sown. In small rows were goldenrod and sunkissed black-eyed susans; at one point Stag had paused over a mountain lily, admiring its bells -- but finding them rather ugly, he carried on.

At last, the wall and the first few additions to the garden were complete. Stag thumbed at the little rockshard he had carried from home to here, and after deliberation placed its bright surface leaning against the entry way.

Smiling, Stag threw back his head and howled for Phaedra.