Wind in the Willows

Rania is running, and she’s running hard. Her legs ache, and her stomach keeps twisting, but she doesn’t stop. She has to make it to the willows.

 Long, wavy blonde hair runs behind her, blowing furiously in the wind of her speed. The dirt is cold and hard beneath her feet, twigs sleeping in the dirt occasionally scratching at her legs. She’s surprised that she hasn’t gotten her hair tangled into any of the low hanging trees and branches..

Rania’s a gasping mess, her green eyes sparkled with determination. She just has to find the willow trees. She wasn’t sure she would ever forgive herself if she didn’t.. All the whispers that spread through the trees made it fast to her hometown, Ilyndell. There were new rumors as spring made its way ‘round, given the pixies and elves have nothing better to do than to gossip about what the forest may hold. But Rania never cares for what they all have to share, she never bothers with the lies and fantasy stories that the forest shares. 

So why is she running? 

The willows. She needs to find the willows. There were so many, so large. But they’re hidden deep in the forest, so deep and so secret; it was rare for any to make the travel to find the willow trees. Which is why so many stories are easily made about the lake that rested in their wake. It’s quite easy to make fantasy of what most have never seen.

The willow trees, right in the center of them, rests a huge and gorgeous lake. Rania has never before with her own two eyes seen it; she never before did bother. All the stories were simply little hoaxes that pixy children made out of amusement.. But it was this one story in particular that really caught Rania’s attention.. It was a mere poem, or a riddle one might say, that ever gave her the mind of running so deep through the woods.

When new flowers bloom
And sleep blinks awake,
Find the willow tree
And peak in the lake.

Such a pretty poem, Rania thought when she had first heard it. It wasn’t until recently that she found what it meant, the motives to the writing; Find the lake that rests with the willows, and in that reflection your true love will show. 

True love. Such a silly idea, really.

So.. Why is such a young girl so fixated on this? On love? Well, she wasn’t that young. Why, Rania is turning sixteen in just a few months. She was old enough to crave the solace of a warm embrace, old enough to know that love is a thing she wants. But here in the little hidden place of Ilyndell, love was but impossible to find. 

Which is why Rania is hoping that the stories being told this spring, of the willows and the lake, are anything but false. She craves for them to be true. So, to discover whether this was all just a silly lie or not, Rania quickly left her home and made a run for the trees. With such a pretty poem, the story must be true! Why, it must be! The girl thinks as her running spree continues, the ache in her legs so easily ignorable as the fluttering in her chest increased the closer she got.

Rania could tell she was getting close, the grass beneath her feet slowly getting wet and mushy. She could feel her heart pumping in a wild manner, begging her aching legs to just halt for a while. But she mustn’t. Rania needed to know if the stories, the story, wasn’t just some work of fiction. If her soulmate really did appear in that reflection, then maybe it would go to prove that she wasn’t unloveable. 

The young girl has always struggled with her worth and imaging. She still isn’t quite sure as to why she’s felt the way she’s felt, but being loved is one thing she feels she never is. Hence the reason she has been craving the feeling of love, true love, ever since she was but a mere child. So Rania wouldn’t stop running, not yet. Even when she found it growing difficult for her to keep track of just where she was heading, Rania couldn’t stop. She isn’t bothering to think about her lack of planning, the lack of a map at her side or some pixie magic lent. Rania’s too focused on finding the willows.