Interlude - Listen
The winds parted before Fynn as he raced ahead across an open field, splitting and rallying behind him as he pushed forward, step by step. Every leap flowed fluidly into the next, continuous now for several hours.
Fynn shifted his head to the side when something entered his senses and he stopped immediately, reining in the trailing winds as they ruffled his hair and clothes.
He fought back the urge to keep going. To continue and be one with the gale. To heed the words of his ancestors, whispering to him from the ring on his right hand. Shaking his head violently, the impulse slowly faded.
The elders had always warned him not to fall to inexperience.
He peered into the forest that was to his left. There was a presence there. It felt exactly like what Miss Scarlett had described. Warm. Pungent. Sharp in his nose.
She seemed to know the strangest things.
He started moving again. Without relying on the winds this time. Soon he reached the forest, moving deeper amongst the trees. The smell grew stronger as the trees grew thicker, less of the sun's light reaching the forest floor here through the treetops. Although Fynn didn't mind the lack of light.
As the smell reached its height, the forest opened up into a clearing. Old stone buildings lay strewn about the area, having mostly been overtaken by nature. They reminded him of some of the structures he'd seen in Elystead.
Turning his head, he looked around. The wind carried traces of humans, but it wasn't from his immediate surroundings. Miss Scarlett had said the road wasn't far from here. He didn't like using it, though.
He started moving towards the center of the ruins, where there was a crumbling statue with only the lower half remaining. That's where the smell was at its strongest.
He didn't quite understand the reason behind this mission, but Miss Scarlett had explained that it was important. And that he was the only one that could do it. So he hadn't complained. She had given him the relic of his ancestors. Even though he still wasn't used to it, the ring had already shown him more than he could have imagined.
Miss Scarlett was also paying him. She had already given him 100 solars, which he had sent back to the others in Dimfrost as fast as he could. Then she had promised to pay him 300 more if he succeeded with this task, in addition to the 500 he would get monthly. With that, he wouldn't have to worry any longer.