“I agree, the bar is so low we could trip over it and find better accommodations.” But the world around them is stirring like a sleeper shaking snow and dust from its back. “A little snow and cold is just the waiter actually seating us instead of leaving us to find a box to settle on.”

The wind blows through the forest and sends the branches rustling. The evergreen trees seem a little fuller. He pauses in mid step as the sound of cracking ice comes from up ahead. He proceeds a little more carefully. Who knows why that sound has started.

The cracking of ice always reminded him of breaking bones. “I used to be skeptical of October’s claim that the lands are alive. I’m starting to think we should take it more seriously than we ever did.”