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Ragnar made his way down a path he knew well. His family lived in the Barrens, very close to the Grandfather Tree, thanks to the extensive work and farming his parents did. Two Botanics, working hard to raise enough to feed their small but strong family. They did it because of what they knew - that they were inextricably tied to the Grandfather Tree, in ways that most other noulicorns were not. Their family believed - no, they knew - that they were descended from an ancient, powerful line of nouls and that they in particular were protected by the Grandfather Tree because of it. For that reason alone, they lived out in the Barrens, tending to their own small crop of plants, leaving gifts to the tree to thank it for its protection.

Ragnar had walked this way countless times since he was young. He had come with his parents. He had come alone. Always with some form of offering for the great tree and often with a prayer of safety and a note of thanks. His very first trip as a young foal, he had come with his father, who had thanked the tree extensively for blessing their family with a special son. Ragnar's coloring was a sign of power, a good omen for the strength of their family and their line.

Today, the albino buck came alone. It was his turn to approach the tree, as his parents had and his brother had, and to come away with a gift of his own. In his mouth, he carried a herb, freshly picked from his family's plot of land. As he approached the base of the tree, he laid the herb down before him and stared up at the arching branches that towered above his head.

"Grandfather," he said quietly, feeling the power and the ancient magic of the tree all around him. "It's me, Ragnar. I have come for my vision and my quest. May it please you that I am here."

He was in the Barrens. Wasteland stretched as far as heis eyes could see, the land cracked and parched beneath his feet. Ugh. It was still home - Ragnar had always seen it as such - but he had always known there was more. There was something out there beyond just dead land, hollowed out by years of destruction and neglect. They simply had to find it.

As far as he had heard, the nouls of Homewood had done... an okay job. They had made an effort - perhaps were currently making efforts - to discover what lay beyond their reach, outside their knowledge. But Ragnar knew they could do better. He could do better.

Here was his chance. As he glanced around him in this oddly unfamiliar stretch of the Barrens, a thought crystallized in his head - there was water down there, somewhere. Ragnar could see it in his mind's eye: vast, pristine caverns underneath the cracked earth, filled with pools of fresh, tasty water. He could feel the cool of the cavern's shade on his skin, feel the touch of humidity from the water in the pools. It had to be here.

"What are you doing, brother?"

Ragnar turned. His brother had appeared beside him unannounced. The buck's eyes narrowed briefly, almost in a twitch, and a smile cracked his face. "I have seen something, brother," he said. His silver eyes gleamed with the thrill of opportunity. "There is water beneath these lands."

His brother looked at him, skeptical. "Ragnar... How do you know there is water down below? Our kind has lived here for generations. Nobody has ever found water here."

Ragnar grew silent, consumed by his thoughts. That society had grown so accustomed to the nothingness out here in the Barrens irked him. It thought it knew everything, thought that the way things were was good enough. Ragnar knew better. There was much to discover. In many ways, there was much about noul society that could change. The stratification of nouls into classes, the way labor was divided, the casual dismissal of many society nouls when it came to venturing beyond Homewood.

A scowl came to his lips.

"I heard it," he said. "Imagine if it were true, brother. How different life would be out here. How different life could be everywhere, if we had these sources of clean water. We must find it. For our family, for us."

His brother shook his head. "How, Ragnar? The Barrens are vast. We could spend our whole lives searching for it and never find it."

Ragnar slipped into his own thoughts again. He pictured the water, considered in detail how they might harvest it and carry it back to settlements across the Barrens, how that readily available water could lead to new technologies in farming and planting and even healing.

"If we must spend our whole lives looking, then we will spend our whole lives looking," he said finally. "It is worth the wait. Although I do not think it will take so long. The Grandfather Tree protects us, remember? It is on our side. It will help us find the water." Of this, Ragnar was sure.