Twilight brought a peaceful stillness to the crossroads. The afternoon had been blustery and active, the winds seeming to not be able to choose a consistent direction in which to blow. Harmaelinn disliked the way the winds disturbed her feathers. She fancied herself as someone who didn’t get too worked up about the little things, but she didn’t imagine that anyone liked the feeling of feathers in a tangle.
As the sun set, though, it seemed to take the frenzy out of the sky. The winds seem to calm as the lands around her cooled. As the dying light waned, the world became calm and quiet.
Harm, for one, was thankful for this change in scenery. She had spent most of the day laying comfortably tucked away into the grasses of the crossroads, her mind aimlessly wandering and waiting for the weather to become more amicable. Now, the peryton stood and took a deep breath of the brisk evening air. She stretched out her legs and hummed softly, eyes turning upwards to admire the colors of the evening sky.
The silence didn’t last long. Only moments into Harmaelinn’s trek across the crossroads, the sound of hurried steps through the grasses caught her ear. They were quick paced and sounded as though they were coming directly in her direction and for a brief moment Harm’s body tensed and her wings flared out as she prepared to flee.
The motion was cut short as she turned towards the source of the sound and saw the peculiar wolf that approached her. It was a small thing, smaller than those that she was accustomed to. Certainly squatter in the limbs than the elegant ethereals that walked the lands of Irithyll.
“Wait! Excuse me!” The wolf called as she closed the distance between them. By the time she was in conversing distance, the wolf was panting and short of breath. “I, uh, I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”
Harmaelinn’s curiosity had gotten the best of her. She paused a bit too long to adequately get away had this creature been an actual threat. As the small wolf spoke, though, she decided that she was pointedly not in any danger.
“I’m… uh…” The wolf gave a sheepish expression and looked almost embarrassed for a moment. “You wouldn’t happen to be able to point me in the direction of the crystal forest, would you?”
Harmaelinn squinted at the strange creature. Her wings shifted a moment before settling against her back and she turned gracefully towards the stranger. She gave a small bow of the head in greeting, though her eyes pointedly didn’t leave from their position of scanning the stranger as she did so. “I’d be happy to guide you to the crystal forest, stranger.”
“Really?” The wolf exclaimed, a beaming smile growing on her face. Her bushy tail wagged behind her. “I’d really appreciate it! I… I got separated from my friends and got a little lost.” She looked sheepish once again, her eyes casting a look back over her shoulder. “Oh, I’m Cressida, by the way!”
“Cressida,” Harm repeated, nodding her head. “Don’t fret. It’s easy for newcomers to this region to become lost in the crossroads. The lands seem to have a mind of their own and have a particular fondness of fooling those that underestimate them.” She paused, looking in the direction of the crystal forest, then back to the stranger. “I am Harmaelinn. The pleasure’s mine. ...I… Excuse my assumption, but I do assume that you’re new to these lands. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a wolf that looks… quite like you.” A polite way to ask ‘what are you.’
Cressida smiled towards the starry peryton. “You’d be right, yeah. I come from the world beyond the veil.”
“Ahhh,” Harm responded, having turned and begun to guide them towards the crystal forest. She’d head of the veil, and the world that lay beyond it. She’d head that it had opened recently, for the first time in what might have been lifetimes for those that lived beyond. She heard that time happened differently between their worlds. That for some living there, their lives seemed to rush by like those of flowers that lived for only a season.
When she’d heard that fact, Harm had first found herself sad for the creatures that lived there. In fact, she still felt a little sad for them. She heard that the world there wasn’t quite as bright and brilliant as the world here. Or at least, that’s what she had been told. What did that mean, exactly? Was the world there dull and grey? That seemed… well. Certainly very sad. But if it was that sad, why did some from Irithyll seek out going there? Why did some choose to stay? She supposed she could ask her new companion but… Well. Something about that seemed a little… rude.
“What brings you to this world, then?” That seemed like an appropriately subtle way to ask the question. Maybe if she could find out what drew Cressida to this place, she could figure out what the other world lacked.
“Mmmmm…” Cressida thought on the question for a moment. Harm was surprised at that. You’d think that, what with such a drastic decision, she would know exactly what her motivations had been. “Just looking for something different, I guess. When I found out that there was a whole other world out here, I didn’t even question it. I wanted to learn what this place what. How it was different from home. There were so many questions left to be answered.”
Harm thought on those words for a long moment as they walked. Questions. There were always questions, weren’t there. That’s what Aurbragol said of her, at least. That Harm was a creature of many questions. Sometimes too many.
“And did you find your answers?” She asked finally. The tops of the crystal trees could be seen, now. She glanced at Cressida as she asked, watching for the wolf’s reaction.
“Sortof, I guess? There are always more questions, so I guess you can’t ever really find all the answers. But I’m on my way, let me tell you,” she answered with a laugh. She looked towards the now visible forest, then back to her peryton guide. “Hey, thanks for showing me the way! I can take it from here. If my friends knew that I’d gotten lost and needed help I won’t hear the end of it,” she finished with a laugh before bounding away.
Harm stood there for a long while after the wolfdog had departed, thinking of their short conversation. There were always questions. Something about that struck her deeply. Aurbragol said that she’d been always seeking answers. But to what end? If there were always more questions, would she always be seeking answers? Was it just a futile quest?
The sun had fully set behind her. The stars had come out, resembling Harm’s coat in their twinkling colors. She furrowed her brow, looking toward the forest.
Troubling...
(WC: 1179)