A Changed Wood

[Rook]

[Set shortly after April Game]

Rook shifts uncomfortably on his feet within the woods. The winter snows have mostly melted and the forest is beginning to look like how it did when he first arrived in Holdfast. The young man remembers that feeling of peace that permeated the groves beyond the inn, remembers and mourns, longing for it to return. The woods had changed. Now, instead of tranquility, Rook only feels unease. Every branch snap, every distant footfall sends his head whipping in that direction. The forest had always been dangerous, this was Annwm after all, however since December, that danger had taken on a new meaning, and that scared Rook.

The musician had always careful when he was in the forest, often calm and sometimes relaxed, but always careful. There were signs to listen for, things to watch for. If the birds were singing and you had your back to a tree on the edge of a clearing you were safe. Safe to relax, make music, find joy. When you moved, you were quick through open spaces and cautious when the trees were dense, and if avoiding the dangers didn't work there was always the option of a well timed bit of magic that usually bought him the time to escape to safety. Most importantly, were the lessons taught by every close call. Things like the call of a beast, or the tracks it leaves behind. Now, there was no lesson to be gained. Whatever had killed him those months ago had left no tracks, no signs to look out for. Not even a silhouette to haunt him. Any knowledge Rook could have taken from the event was carried away to The Land of the Dead along with the moments leading up to his demise. The only thing that remained from that moment was the wooden branch, found shoved through his lifeless corpse.

The first few days after it had happened, he had retraced his steps a dozen times. They had left the inn, walked down to the twisting paths near the silk road. Nothing out of the ordinary then, people were out and about in those woods gathering the various plants and minerals that Holdfast seemed to attract. Rook had been looking for a nice clearing to perform the first enchantment of his instrument. Nothing sparked down there. Then they went to the Fire circle, and supposedly in the forest beyond as he had been told. Each time he walked that path Rook searched for something, some clue to explain. Even Marr, who had survived the attack had no memory of the event.

It wasn't long after that when Rook was swept up in the journey to the Mainland. Which, despite its own bundle of troubles, was a welcome distraction. For weeks after their return Rook barely left the Inn, and if he did, he never went further than the edge of the woods. He blamed the cold, or the fact that he was too busy with his new songs, but the truth of the matter was that if he couldn't see the town then he couldn't feel safe. In April, he started venturing out again, albeit never alone. Rook would accompany the various groups as they gathered and hunted through the forest. Each time searching for that confidence, and each time only finding a cold pit of fear.

Now Rook stands among the trees once again, this time alone. He puts one foot in front of the other and forces himself to trudge further into the forest. He is almost to the earth circle when his mind bombards him with reeling thoughts, imagining what could have been in the forest that day. Beneath him, his legs quiver and his sight feels as if its closing in. The young man turns and runs back towards the Inn, realizing the painful truth. The woods had not changed, he had.