Carrie thought the land looked familiar, despite each step marking the farthest foot she’s taken away from her home. There were trees. There were lots of trees. Each standing taller and fuller than the next. Each seemed like it’d take an entire team to fell. Some sat so wide that a man laying beside it would still lay shorter than its width. She desperately wished that she could watch one fall, if only out of curiosity, she wondered if the entire forest would shake. She wondered if all the leaves of the forest would be thrashed and shaken skyward. How beautiful those leaves would be, points and blobs of green speckled with orange and yellow, edges shining off the sun above like sharpened metal. 

Myer kept his feet moving. He niggled and wiggled with every step; his sole-weathered boots kept knotting on every rogue root and vexing vine. Rich ground crumbled underfoot, throwing his heels in directions most frustrating, sparing no ankles. Moss slick stones gave his heart a skip as he slid. Sleeping logs once kicked blasted his eyes and nose with ancient sawdust. Some damn buzz circled around the brim of his hat. The others jumped about or walked too slow or went too fast and he could never find a steady pace or route… And the leaves kept on… Or mud still… And he supposed that despite it all, there was a certain beauty to it. The trees would surely turn ominous by nightfall, but scattered sun still caught on their bark and gave them a great glow.

Jorgen crashed across the overgrown lands. He vaulted over lone boulders. He slid down mounds of earth. Leapt from heavy earth gnawing roots and wove his route under and between them. He tapped low hanging branches and slapped their leaves- Leaves breaking like ablaze paper, glittering orange twittering up into yellowing skies.

Tracker picked at scents in the air. He could smell change. A soft breeze from the North, winter winds. He could smell a trail running across the forest floor, dry leaves crumbling to dust and dirt. The dust he and the others kicked up, it wasn’t fine, well walked on, it was uprooting settled earth. The world still stood fresh, though each full canopy and bush and grass felt a growing shear, turning thin and brown. 

Ruach felt the world blow around him. Soft trails of gentle air coursing through tufts of hair. He saw Tracker sniffing the wind, he couldn’t smell. He saw Jorgen shiver, he could tell the cold was in the air. He heard Myer mumbling about past roads he had walked, he only had the small sliver he stood on. He felt Carrie walking with purpose, he supposed he was just walking with her.