Be the moon

There had been hot springs up on the mountain where she had grown up, so when the sulphurous scent came to her nose Sedna altered her course to follow it. Maybe where the air was warmer, she would still be able to find some plants of use, and as much as she was certain the Hallows had taken everything with them when they had moved, there was always the chance she might find something worth looking into, even if it was just some strange critter that had moved into the huts they had left behind.

The cursed landscaped was still changing, intensifying even. The sun didn’t even come out anymore, the moon still hanging fat and full in the sky, stars frozen to streaks above. If this was the end of days, well, they could have come about quicker in her mind.

To top it all off, despite her previous attempts to dislodge the fireflies in the willows, they had returned again, settling in amongst her fur, leaving the woman a speckled beacon in the ever present night, and ruining her night sign beyond the pool of their glow. It left her with a permanent scowl, to the point she was starting to get a headache. If nothing else, maybe jumping in the waters might free her of the bugs once and for all (although she kind of already knew they would just take to the air until she was dry again. If salt-water didn’t work, why would the hot springs?)

The most unusual recent development however, was the crystals. They pulsed faintly along the path, popping up in the most unusual places. Was that a heartbeat? or were they breathing? Of course rocks weren’t sentient, she knew that, but they way that they moved had her questioning everything she thought she knew. Were those bones under all that sickeningly pulsing light? She drew closer, eyes almost crossed trying to make out what was underneath it all.

"speech".