North’s muzzle twitched with a barely-concealed grimace as she reviewed her letter one last time. She wasn’t an academic and it showed. Her penmanship was scratchy and inconsistent, and the paper was battle-scarred from where she’d clearly erased and re-written certain words several times. The whole thing was wrinkled as if it’d been stored in a pocket before finding its way to the library. It wasn’t elegant. It wasn’t… professional.
But the letter had obviously been fussed over, and the brevity of North’s recount wasn’t from a lack of care. When Silas spoke about the importance of helping the researchers, it’d struck a tender chord with the dark molly. She’d known a little researcher once– one who’d fill pages and pages with notes in exactly the kind of detail and cadence these librarians would’ve loved. And his curiosity would’ve burned bright at the chance to hear stories of the Stone Forest. He would’ve asked North all about it. And she would’ve told him. But he wasn’t here to ask. So North would tell…. these people. And she’d tell herself it was better than nothing.
She wrote very little. It was hard to decide what was worth committing to paper, and when North tried to limit herself to only the parts of the expedition she understood, she was left with almost nothing. It was impossible to describe any of the events without sounding mad, and some moments, like the Laurelstone’s shattering, were impossible to describe at all.
I’m only going to write about the forest. Somebody else probably already told you about the monsters.
It was dangerous. Don’t go unarmed. Don’t go.
Nature was weird in there. Most of it looked normal, but we couldn’t trust it. There was a lake that made us dizzy when we looked at it. The trees sounded like they were breathing.
The stones were just as bad. They moved when you stopped watching them. They trapped us once. In a small clearing. The stones looked like they’d been there for years, but our path was there five minutes ago.
Some of it was beautiful. Lots of flowers. Green grass. The season still felt right. Mostly.
We found a dead bush. I helped some of my teammates water it, and it flowered and grew berries right in front of us. I asked them not to eat any. I think one of them did anyway. He’s still alive.
It wasn’t all forest and rock walls. There was a cave, too.
Whatever North attempted to describe here, it’s been crossed out beyond recognition.
Somebody else probably already told you about that.
Kit
North’s muzzle twitched with a barely-concealed grimace as she reviewed her letter one last time. She wasn’t an academic and it showed. Her penmanship was scratchy and inconsistent, and the paper was battle-scarred from where she’d clearly erased and re-written certain words several times. The whole thing was wrinkled as if it’d been stored in a pocket before finding its way to the library. It wasn’t elegant. It wasn’t… professional.
But the letter had obviously been fussed over, and the brevity of North’s recount wasn’t from a lack of care. When Silas spoke about the importance of helping the researchers, it’d struck a tender chord with the dark molly. She’d known a little researcher once– one who’d fill pages and pages with notes in exactly the kind of detail and cadence these librarians would’ve loved. And his curiosity would’ve burned bright at the chance to hear stories of the Stone Forest. He would’ve asked North all about it. And she would’ve told him. But he wasn’t here to ask. So North would tell…. these people. And she’d tell herself it was better than nothing.
She wrote very little. It was hard to decide what was worth committing to paper, and when North tried to limit herself to only the parts of the expedition she understood, she was left with almost nothing. It was impossible to describe any of the events without sounding mad, and some moments, like the Laurelstone’s shattering, were impossible to describe at all.
I’m only going to write about the forest. Somebody else probably already told you about the monsters.
It was dangerous.
Don’t go unarmed.Don’t go.Nature was weird in there. Most of it looked normal, but we couldn’t trust it. There was a lake that made us dizzy when we looked at it. The trees sounded like they were breathing.
The stones were just as bad. They moved when you stopped watching them. They trapped us once. In a small clearing. The stones looked like they’d been there for years, but our path was there five minutes ago.
Some of it was beautiful. Lots of flowers. Green grass. The season still felt right. Mostly.
We found a dead bush. I helped some of my teammates water it, and it flowered and grew berries right in front of us. I asked them not to eat any. I think one of them did anyway. He’s still alive.
It wasn’t all forest and rock walls. There was a cave, too.
Whatever North attempted to describe here, it’s been crossed out beyond recognition.
Somebody else probably already told you about that.
2023-02-11 23:42:54 (Edited 2023-02-11 23:44:41)
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