Winter Tale 3. - On the way to the hill

Once upon a time there was a girl called Grace who decided to go up to the hill to get a special healing herb to her sick friend. She prepared her trip and counted with all the little details. She even drew maps.

When she started her trip, it was a beautiful sunny day. But as soon as she reached the deeper forest on the higher ground, it started to rain.

The higher she climbed up, the lower she slipped back. The more she forced it, the more it kicked her back. She had that feeling the forest was watching her and laughing on her trials. The route she drew for herself might be the shortest and safest but also it was impossible to make it in a rainy weather and it did not seem that the rain would stop.

After days of trials she helplessly flopped down to the trunk of a Giant Sequoia tree. If she turned back, it would mean she had given it up. If she tried harder, that kind of ancient force would kick back harder. She knew that her plan was for a good purpose, and she also knew it had to be done. The only think she did not know was the how. The only route she knew was lost, the compass was broken, the map was useless. Everything she planed was failed.

As Grace was sitting by that old trunk, she saw something like a rabbit hole washed out by the rainwater. But as she swept the leaves away, an entrance of a big cave appeared. The cave ranged through the whole root-system under that enormous tree. It could have been a large animal shelter but it was hidden from humans' eyes almost perfectly if the rain would not have exposed it.

She spent the whole night in the cave and after days without sleeping she finally felt asleep and saw a dream. A Great Bear was giving birth to seven little cubs in that cave and when the bruins were safe it gazed straight to Grace's eyes.

'The way for the stars starts with the fall. Forget the plan, let it all go, trust your instinct.' The message was clear, the voice was echoing in her head again and again till the morning.

When she woke up she saw that the route to the hill was complete destroyed by the rain. The water washed away all the path, even the one lead back to the village. There was only one channel out of the cave, and it was also filled with water. It flowed straight to a dark dell. But on the other side of the dell a brand new path was cleared up and showed the way up to the hill.