The Winding Northward Road

by Rambling Writer

Day 32

Curses. Neighagara is now south of us. Was hoping, given a few days, I could get Skydale to agree to go there, but she was quite resolute in not changing course. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Finally getting into the north; we’re near the tail end of the Crystal Mountains. Can’t yet see the Empire, but I know we’re getting close. Weather’s colder, too; I packed for the daytime cold, but just realized I didn’t pack any blankets or anything for the nights. Why did I forget that? Hope my sleeping bag’s warm enough (it has been so far). It might just be me, but I feel like I’ve been forgetting a lot of important things this trip.

Skydale’s still talking about Hollow Shades; I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get her to shut up. She says the town predates Luna’s banishing, and the large trees are the result of the Princesses doing something to them to help found the town. She doesn’t know what they did or why, and when I asked her if that might be hearsay, she said she’s seen the records of the event. She admits they might be forged, but doesn’t know why they WOULD be, although she’s thought on it.

We started speculating why the Princesses were personally involved in the town’s beginnings, but didn’t get very far. We just didn’t know enough about the place. Skydale wondered if the LOCATION of the town mattered at all, since Hollow Shades was kind of in the middle of nowhere, after all. I wondered if the size of the trees mattered at all, since why else would they use magic to make big trees instead of just cutting down trees to make room for a town? We went at it for a while, but couldn’t come up with anything satisfying to us. I said that we were missing something simple and innocuous (was it on a trade route and isn’t any more?), while Skydale said there was -- or maybe still is -- something secret going on that Hollow Shades was founded to cover up.

I’ll admit that while my idea’s more likely, hers is more interesting. I kind of like the idea of a town existing to hide something. Pretty sure Lareindo’s not such a town. Of course, depending on what the “something” is, it could mean terrible things for the inhabitants if it ever gets out. But if Hollow Shades really has been around for over a thousand years, then I doubt there’s much risk of A) something still being around in there that B) could still break out after all this time. Plus, I’m doubting Celestia would deliberately have a bunch of citizens so cluelessly sitting on something dangerous. Maybe the town was founded to cover up something that no longer matters.

No, wait. Stop. Don’t keep speculating. You’ll get nowhere.

Secret beginnings

Of a hidden town in the f

Of a town in the forest,

Hidden from all sight.

Should be getting into the lower reaches of the Crystal Mountains tomorrow.