Darin poured over the map that Ridahne had given her. She knew that Astra was sea-locked. She hadn’t realized just how close to the Endless Waves her home had been compared to how far it was from the center. She was half tempted to just race back home and then on to the ocean. She knew that you couldn’t go far from Astra’s land. The Barrier prevented it. Darin gave her head a shake. She couldn’t leave Astra even if she wanted to. She didn’t want to. Even before this journey she wasn’t “wandertouched” like the elders said others in the village were.

She traced her finger over her map, “I wasn’t going anywhere in particular.” She shrugged, “I don’t have a goal, or at least not a place as a goal.” Her finger landed on a spot, “Though that wouldn’t be a bad place to start.”

It was The Tree. Darin had never seen it. She never had plans to see it. Even though she had The Seed strapped to her thigh she still had no plans to go see it until just now. However, the farmgirl was suddenly struck with a desire to know what was causing The Tree’s decay and withering. It might give her clues as to where she should be going in order to plant The Seed. The Tree was close to human lands though it was technically in Elf lands. 

Darin took a moment to see if The Seed had any objection to that plan. Now that she was thinking about it Darin realized she didn’t know how close she would have to get in order to know that a place she was at was the place she needed to plant The Seed. For all she knew She would have to actually walk over the spot. If that was the case this was going to take forever. Darin hadn’t realized how big Astra was. Three months suddenly seemed like no time at all.

She held out the map towards Ridahne, “Can we head towards The Tree? I would like to see it before.” She paused, almost unwilling to say it, “Before it’s gone.”

The Seed didn’t seem to object to that plan, and it was a better plan than wandering about Astra without one. It would give her a chance to see the mountains and they would cross a few rivers. Darin heard rumors that Sirens lived in rivers as well as the oceans. She had met and Elf. She sort of wanted to meet a Siren as well. She was planting The Seed for all of Astra. She wanted to know the people she was all but fighting for. Maybe she was fighting for them. She had come supper close to letting Talbot crush that one lady’s head in after all.