Blackfoot Forest Step by Step

Ten siblings! She'd always thought her family was big, but that someone should rival her in that! Things had been hectic enough with six. Andalusia turned to Sebastian with words on her tongue, but she paused and stopped herself short. The Ostrega knew a closed door, and by the way he talked about his siblings now, she'd walked straight into one. If this wasn't a conversation he was willing to dwell on, she wouldn't make him. "Sounds complicated." She let a finality carry with her voice, offering no suggestion he should say more. Her siblings were full-blooded or not at all, and neither of her parents had lived to give them ones that were half.

They scaled the mountain with surprising swiftness and reached the peak by mid-afternoon. Though they'd both overslept, she felt more energized than ever, her emotional outburst long blown away by the summer breeze. The land sprawled beneath them, a patchwork of mountains, lakes, and forests, and Andalusia allowed her mind to commit the landscape to memory, a mental map for future use. Still, she had to double back to search for the cluster of trees Sebastian spoke of. From their vantage, every forest looked dark to her, so she gestured toward the nearest group for confirmation. "That one?" He was a native to these parts, and she was still just a traveller through. She'd trust him on this. "Alright. How about we cut south through the meadow? Heading around the mesa will put distance and an obstacle between us and the woods."