Afternoon brought changing terrain. The well maintained trade road gave way to a narrower path that wound through increasingly hilly country. The forest thickened, the light filtering through the canopy in long golden shafts. Aria's senses, which had been relaxed and receptive all morning, began picking up the particular quality of unfamiliar wilderness.
Different plants than she was used to. Different birdsong. The occasional distant crash of some large animal moving through undergrowth. The smell of water running somewhere below the path, carrying mineral notes she could not identify.
She found herself cataloguing everything. The healer's habit of observation running constantly in the background. The plants especially. What grew here that did not grow at home? What might be medicinally useful that she did not yet know?
