305 River

Back at the camp, midnight drew near. The fire that everyone sat around started to die down, no longer fueled by dry pieces of wood that Li manifested every so often to keep it going.

In the dwindling, warm light of the fire, the dark of night started to draw near, but unlike the darkness from before, choked with fog and heavy with lifelessness, this dark was one that was natural, commanded not by an otherworldly fog, but by the familiar silver moon above.

Li felt his hands rhythmically move through Tia's head, keeping her asleep in his lap.

The ash tree behind him had grown to astronomical heights by now, creating a sort of natural landmark that, hopefully in time, many would come to see when they came to travel through this part of the southern continent for the first time in two centuries.