Solitude

The morning was bleak. Dawn was breaking over the fresh powder that had dusted the shores of Widow's Lake in the night, the lake itself frozen over for weeks now. In the hazy pre-dawn light, Atrianna could imagine that she was alone, forsaken in a deserted wasteland of ice, walking for miles without a hope of encountering a soul. The thought sent chills down her spine, unrelated to the frigid cold through which she was walking. This sensation of solitude, however, was only an illusion; she was not more than two or three miles from Dorset, the small mountain village where she had gron up. She often spent her winter mornings walking on the frozen lake. It gave her time to think. Something about the blank, barren landscape set her mind free, breaking down the years of sameness that came with living in a secluded village.

The sun had fully risen by the time Atrianna was halfway across the lake. The sunshine reflecting off the blanket of snow was blinding, but brought no warmth to the freezing cold of the winter morning. Each breath Atrianna breathed out formed a foggy cloud in front of her face, and each breath in felt like swallowing knives. Ignoring the cold, Atrianna walked slowly, enjoying the scenery. She had no destination, really; eventually she would have to head home, but she would put that off as long as possible. Sunlight glinted off the ice, making Atrianna squint. She dug about in the leatherskin pouch slung across her chest until she found what she was looking for - an eyeshad of sorts that her friend Ercon had made for her. As she strapped the device on to block the sun's glare, she thought about Ercon. He was forever inventing useful little gadgets - eyeshades, hair clips, boxes with hidden compartments. Once he had fashioned a flute out of a bone the butcher had discarded. Most of his trinkets he gave away as gifts, but that bone flute - that treasure he kept for himself. Atrianna's thoughts wandered. I wonder why Ercon likes that flute so much - he can hardly get a sound out of it. She heard a birdsong in the distance and grinned, thinking of the noises Ercon had produced when he blew in the simple instrument. Any songbird could do much better, she thought laughingly.

A biting wind brought Atrianna's thoughts back to the present. She shivered, wrapping her cloak tighter around her shoulders, and, thinking of home, knew her ramblings had to come to an end, at least for today. She took a last lingering look at her peaceful surroundings, sighed, and turned towards Dorset.