Now that the soft patter of her footsteps had stopped, for the first time in eternity, Fir became aware of something else. A sound, behind her, indistinct and soft as if from a great distance, and at the same time urgent and ushering in her ears. It was… a voice. Fir smiled, even as her mind took a step back, and for a moment the path was no longer central in her vision. No, her vision was swinging around, hills changing and darkness shifting.

‘Oh, and one last thing.’ Pine looked back at her tenderly, suddenly from a great distance away. Yet simultaneously Fir felt her hand on her cheek. ‘DON’T LOOK BACK!’

Pine screamed, a mournful, despairing cry, distant but also accompanied by hot breath heavy on Fir’s face.

Fir became aware that she was looking at the path again, but her eyes were drawn instead to the horizon. Those were not the same hills, nor that the same bleakness. Far away inside her head, a voice was screaming, You have to keep walking! You can’t look back if you’re not walking away! Then there’s nothing to stop-

‘Elena.’ The voice reached her ears again, again feeling distant yet close. ‘Elena.’ It was a familiar voice. It belonged to almond eyes and rough but gentle hair which Fir remembered from a time long gone.

But the path behind her wasn’t empty! Fir could have laughed, though part of her was recoiling in mindless terror. There was light back there! How could she have missed that, even entranced as she was?

Fir began to walk again. Back.