It was not a particularly long journey, not really - at least, not as long as it wasn't too hot, or raining. It was lovely out today, though, one of those rare, early-summer days that still flies the flag of springtime. And though the path was infrequently used, it was a familiar one to the booted feet that trod upon it. How many times had Maire followed this same road to Ketra to sell furs with her father? How many hours had she spent along such a river of dirt and dust?
Now she reversed that trip, leaving behind the outskirts of the city for the wild, open tangles of first hillside, then clutching forest. The transition from civilization to wilderness was a gradual one, but one that she was fond of, and she had come prepared for: a pack with two days' worth of provisions was slung over one shoulder, bumping against her hip in time with each step. The dark linen of her tunic and the buff color of her leggings made her look rather like a tree nymph, one more flickering shadow lost against the forest floor.
Those same shadows had begun to lengthen, the gloom growing thicker under the trees as the sun slid towards dusk in the west. She was still making good time, though; there was surely another hour left before true sundown, more than enough time to get everything ready. The closer she got to her old home, anyways, the more energy she felt trickling back to her - though the shadow of the past still hovered behind her shoulder, and the frigid cold of fear still whispered across her neck.
Maire broke through the screen of trees into a small clearing - or rather, what had been a clearing at one time. There was still some empty space, mostly the area around the ragged edge of a neglected cabin, but the forest had begun to fill the void once more, creepers and tall grasses pushing into the meadow. It had smoothed over the touch of humanity - including the ugly scar of earth that had once stood under an old, lonely aspen on the edge of the clearing. She could just barely see the large lump of stone that had been placed at the head of the grave, but made for it all the same, the diffuse light before twilight softening everything around her. She unslung the pack from her shoulder, dropping it to the ground and sliding with her back against the stone. Closing her eyes, she tipped her head back against the stone, still slightly warm from the sunlight.
"Hey, Daddy."