Once again set for my next destination under the Lord's guidance, I ignore the ache creeping up my decrepit leg and push on with purpose in mind. The sky was perfect blue with gossamer clouds floating west, a good sign for my travels. Lord Kean and his subjects of Austenburg had welcomed me graciously, but in my heart of hearts, I knew their devotion had been condition and not an in-born love. Even so, I preached with that in mind.

Crossing the small bridge drew me toward the crossroads I had come a month earlier. I had to decide whether to head back and direct myself to Horne or westward through a small stretch of rural villages; the simpler the life, the more receptive the heart I had found. As I came to the opening of the forest path, the shade of it's evergreen limbs welcome me into its indigenous bosom.

It was then I came to a sudden stop, my luggage of scripture, a change of clothes, writing utensils and a swaddle of baked bread from Lady Keane's kitchen nearly doubled me forward, putting strain on my left leg. But it was what was before that startled me, cradled into themselves by the roadside in the shade of a burke. Small in form I immediately surmised them to be tender in age, resting or perhaps deep in slumber.

They had not taken notice of my presence as I stood as a voyeur, unsure whether to disturb them or ask if they were in need of some assistance. Austenburg was only three miles back if they were in need of escort. Deciding it best err on the side of compassion, it was not even a full step in that the cloaked stranger shot me a sudden and piercing gaze; I immediately froze in place, not in peril of the fierce fiery red eyes that held me, but in the desperate and circumspect nature they possessed.

Her pale skin seemed to glow in the light that streamed over my shoulder, streams of blonde hair hanging down into her face. This was a Penumbra girl, most certainly stranded if the hunts had taken her this far.

"E-Excuse me..." I sheepishly stammered, unsure of whether any tone could be taken in peace.

It would seem not as she suddenly sprung to her feet, but then hobbled to the side. In what I thought was weariness from her flight, in which it may still have been, I then beheld in the most acute bewilderment and horror at what protruded from beneath her shroud. In all my life I have never witnessed such a thing nor wish to ever again, but it took me back in a baffled daze.

Off into the wood she disappeared with the grace and speed of a ferline, leaving me in but a moment in the symphony of the forest. Both my hands trembled and so i sat down my bag and gave myself a moment to collect myself against the closest tree. That young girl, that child was heavy with child...