Hafren sighed a little. Nighttime continued to be her preference for this magical nonsense. Really, it was so much easier to believe in magic then. The night was already fairly magical anyway with the moon shining bright and the stars twinkling above. The day was simply too… mundane. It seemed much harder to hide fascinating little secrets when the sun was shining bright. But in the velvety darkness, Madame Night delighted in secrets and whispers.

And here you are, noodling romantic nonsense, she thought. Instead of getting on to business. Taking herself in hand, she closed her eyes and took five deep, slow breaths. She found that this method worked best to put her mind into a more relaxed and meditative state. Thus primed, she turned inward, finding the little source of warmth that meant Hafren and following it down. Half realized words formed in her heart and she whispered along with them, letting herself examine and relish them. These were the words that led home to some part of her soul. She felt a gentle tug and let herself go with it, never once resisting.

Through closed eyes, she saw a difference in the light and cracked them open, just a peep. Gnarled and shriveled trees and scrubby plants spread out before her. Well. Not much had changed since her first visit. Everything remained dead, though the air didn’t smell quite as stagnant. Why, she could even hear the slow, sludgy sounds of the little creek trying to move along its path. She stood undecided for a moment before focusing on the gargling creek. She knew it fed into a little pool because she’d seen that the last time. But this time… she wanted to see if she could find the source. And she wanted to see more of this wasted forest. It was hers, after all. It was right that she should know what she had, exactly. Especially since her knowledge of Wonders was so scant.

Sighing again, she carefully hiked in the direction of the creek noises. It only took a few moments to find it. And thankfully, not much longer beyond that to find the ribbon she’d attached to some of the dead branches. The ribbon would keep her from becoming too lost. She’d tied it to a branch that pointed towards the pool. Therefore, today she would travel in the opposite direction! Following the winding creekbed, she frowned at how little water actually moved. Yes, it was enough to feed the pool, but it had had hundreds, if not thousands, of years to do that. Maybe it was clogged somewhere further up? She’d seen nature documentaries about such things. Well. She would keep her eyes open and if she did see a clog, she would try to clear it if she could. Simple.

Hours later, Hafren was sweating, grimy and locked in stubborn struggle with a tangled wad of stinking mud, dead plants matter and rock. She’d found the blockage, all right. And she had managed to clear some of it at the cost of getting her hands covered in slimy, stinking muck. But there was a large rock stuck with a mess of clinging dead branches preventing her from fully getting to it. She was sure that if she could move that, the creek would flow freely.

Taking a step back, she thought she saw an odd little shimmer where the branches entwined the most. But then she blinked and it was gone. Still, she checked it out, nearly growling in annoyance and satisfaction combined. Yes, if she could break the branches here, she could get the worst of the snarl removed. Kicking at the branches, she finally heard them snap and break away. Wading in, she grabbed and tossed the bits of dead wood away and crowed aloud when she could finally reach the damned rock. Standing in the muck, she pushed and heaved, finally rewarded with the rock moving. Laughing, she threw her whole body into the struggle, ignoring how positively filthy she was getting. She knelt and shoved at the rock in one last battle of wills and felt it finally, finally roll away. It was a pity then that she’d pushed so hard because she had a half of a breath to see something in the muck shimmering before physics betrayed her and sent her face first into the newly cleared creekbed. Spluttering and gasping, she flailed and fumbled back until she was sitting in the creek. She’d been coated in slimy mud from head to foot.

Well, she thought grimly, trying very hard to see the bright side. At least the water is moving freely now. And it’s mostly clean. It would do to rinse herself off. Kneeling, she scooped water into her hands, splashing it over herself and working away the mud. It felt like it took forever, but eventually, she was drenched but mostly clean. Her hat had proven to be a somewhat useful tool for scooping up large quantities of water, though it was now a soggy, misshapen thing. But she was clean! She would focus on that and be grateful. And she could continue her walk and hope that the sun would help her to dry off.

And she’d done her Wonder a good deed! The creek flowed properly now. She could allow herself to feel some pride about that.

But she was getting very tired now. It was only the thought of returning to Earth soaked and sodden that kept her from returning home right away. And the sun was warm enough and she could feel her hair and skin drying. It was odd though… As she dried, she noticed that she seemed to be coated in a soft shimmer. Hair, skin, clothing. It was as if someone had taken her up and dipped her fully into the shimmer gel that Bath and Body Works had sold back in the 90s. And she only knew about that because her mother had kept a stockpile of the stuff in the bathroom and she’d played with it as a tiny child. But it was odd! Since she was still following the creek, she knelt and wet her finger before rubbing it furiously against the top of her other hand. The shimmer stuck fast, not even fading under her onslaught.

After ten minutes of scrubbing, she gave up. She just shimmered now. It was hardly a trial and it didn’t seem to be harming her. But she was dry now and no closer to the source of the creek than when she’d started. It was time to go home.

Word Count = 1104