A Little Stream

They strolled further into the woods, hoping to come back to the path that Essieca knew, but they never saw anything that would have reminded the girl of anything she had ever known. They turned back, but by that time it was too late; so completely had they been covered by the forest that even the way back did not seem like how it had been.

"All right, we need to be reasonable." Essieca had a sudden burst of confidence, but even with her newfound courage, everything she did was tarnished by the odd flatness. If the unemotional expressions would have started appearing on her face in the forest, the healer would have suspected the fae as the main culprit.

Witchcraft was costly. Serenica felt bad about not being able to protect her brave friend.

The guilt was not apparently miserable enough in itself. Serenica was hit by a terrible headache.