Serpent Lake I don't need the world to see

Marching north had proved to be the better choice. Riddle's nose caught the multifaceted scents of life abounding; it wasn't the taste of desiccation, that arid sting which lead only to a dulling of the mind. Here there was more greenery, and he felt assured that meant more water too.

There was a sound drawing gradually to his ears, too. At first Riddle didn't pay much mind to it. As he moseyed along it became more apparent but at the same time, he struggled to pinpoint where exactly it came from, or what it could be... Until he rounded along some trees and dipped in to the shade beneath them, and saw beyond them by some measure something he had longed to witness: the flowing of a river—no, a lake?!

To this he gave a small holler, unable to hold back the gaiety erupting from his spirit at the discovery; but he saw within moments, too, that he was not alone here. The sun was setting at such an angle that the stranger's shape had been lost among the shadows, but now they loomed apparent.