Groaning a little as she maneuvered the ladder and tested its balance again, Bestla began to think that her idea to hang the suncatcher in the grove hadn’t been so clever as she’d originally thought. But, she was committed now and she’d never been able to back down from a challenge. The suncatcher was getting hung one way or ******** me sideways, she thought as she shifted the ladder again, noting where it wobbled. This should not be so hard. Why is this so difficult?

Well, her depth perception continued to be utter s**t. That could certainly be part of the problem. And, if she was being honest, she hadn’t exactly tried to smooth out the ground, hating the idea of removing anything connected to the past until she’d had a chance to really look it over. Which meant… okay. She was going to have to be patient and meticulous. And shore up the ladder where it wobbled.

Fine.

Stomping through the grove to find suitable rocks, the tall super gathered bits of stone and debris before cartign it back and setting it under and around the feet of the ladder. Several tests and adjustments later and she was reasonably confident that she wouldn’t be pitching over and landing on her head. So that was all right. Wiping sweat from her face, Bestla jumped as a soft breeze rippled through the grove, setting the strung bells in the tree branches to tinkling. That… was new. But once over her startlement, she quite liked it. It made things feel more alive. Homier. Still, admiring bells wasn’t going to get the suncatcher hung.

Pulling her hair fully back from her face and tying it off, Bestla grabbed the suncatcher from where it had rested and tucked it under one arm as she climbed the ladder, pausing every rung to make sure things were still steady. Once at the top, she reached for the cluster of branches she’d chosen to hang the catcher from, she paused and stared. Had there always been lichen there? And little leaf buds? Reaching out tentatively, she poked at the tiny cluster of greenish-blue leaves, half expecting them to crumble. Only they didn’t. They were soft and very much alive. And not a dream or vision.

“Oh, holy s**t,” she breathed, nearly toppling from the ladder in complete shock. Clinging to ladder and branch, she felt tears welling out of her eyes. The trees weren’t dead. Now that she was looking closely, she could see evidence of growth. Slow, but growth nonetheless. Silent tears quickly became loud sobbing as she clung to her perch and stared. How she hadn’t noticed this before was beyond her, though she wondered if she had become so used to everything being dead that she simply hadn’t looked beyond that expectation.

After several minutes, she managed to calm herself enough to pull the suncatcher from under her arm and set it within the cluster of branches. Carefully tying off each bit of string to a branch, she made sure not to disturb the new leaves. By the time she’d finished fussing over each tie, her legs and shoulders were screaming. Reluctantly descending the ladder, she hopped off once she was closer to the ground and looked up. As she’d hoped, the suncatcher looked as if it were floating on its own. The glass beads she’d made caught every bit of light and glowed as warmly as she could have wished.

And now that she knew the trees weren’t dead, the dim, golden light was even prettier.

Word Count =598