The southern path descends through wet grass toward a shallow stream, its packed earth remaining firm beneath Mara’s boots. Dark trunks crowd close on either side.
Eren follows at a careful distance, his green cloak brushing the drenched grass. Behind them, the settlement and its buried bell remain silent, while the beast stays at the spring.
Eren Vale
There. That stone was not on my map.
Half-submerged beside the stream, a flat marker stone breaks the water’s surface. Its old face bears fresh, pale scratches cut across weathered carvings.
The scratches form a crude direction pointing away from the ravine, toward a narrow opening between alder roots. Mud around the stone is disturbed, though no footprints remain clear.
Eren Vale
The old markers pointed toward the ravine, never away from it. Something changed this one recently.
The stream murmurs over stones ahead. The southern path continues across the water, while the scratched marker offers a separate direction into shadow beneath the trees.
Determine whether the southern route’s marker has begun shifting