The blue jay circled the enormous geyser in a wide, wide, wide circle. Aster had heard tales of the Devil’s Spout. Seeing its eruption was the whole point to her northern trek during the dead of winter! She had even crossed a mountain during snowfall! Which had been fun and quite beautiful, but, seriously, she shouldn’t be this far north as a lone blue jay.

But Aster wasn’t thinking about the journey here. She thought of the cold wind racing through her flight feathers. She focused on the strange sounds of churning and gurgling water.

She chirped out an excited triplet.

Aster tilted her head, looked at the geyser while she continued her wide, wide, wide circle.

And then! A column of water shot into the air!

“Wow!” Aster chirped. The geyser was taller than some adult trees she’d seen! Taller than many adult trees she’d seen! The world was full of strange beauties.

Then the geyser’s column of water appeared to collapse into itself and disappear into the ground.

Continuing her flying in circles, the blue jay laughed loudly to herself. That had been worth the wintertime trek here! What a glorious slice of weirdness in the world!

Wylan trekked North of the Armada as he searched for rare or interesting herbs to collect. His and Ollie’s collection always needed adding to. He’d never gone this way before, and he noted how oddly barren this land looked as he stepped out of the safety of the Col. There was an odd, warm scent in the air. It reminded him a little of the smell that came out of the packs hot springs every now and then. What was it? Oblivious, he stepped closer to the geyser, head up as he sampled the air, searching for the source of the smell. It was hard, when the scent seemed thick in the air over the whole terrain. "Speech"