The inhabitants of Kilshiel had gone to the stream so many times they had worn a small path in the grass. Milly stepped on it carefully, keeping her eyes on where the furrow was leading her. The three hills slowly grew larger as she neared them.
The furrow faded but Milly kept walking, leaving the houses behind her. She heard the stream before she saw it; the clear ribbon of water seemed to dance, tinkling softly like crystal.
A soft rumble of thunder made Milly look up to the sky just as rain began to fall. She closed her eyes and breathed in the air before throwing her arms wide and spinning around on the spot, laughing as the rain danced around her.
After a few wild, glorious moments, she stopped and opened her eyes.
From Wild Rose
The wind suddenly blew a little stronger and leaves detached from the branches, drifting down around Isabel. One landed on top of her head; with a little laugh, she brushed it away.
She wasn’t remotely worried about getting lost. She knew exactly where the path was leading her.
Eventually, the gaps between trees started growing broader and the horizon changed into sweeping hills and fields. Isabel emerged into an open space that spread out before her. All she could see was green decorated with copper.
Isabel’s hair was tied back so it wouldn’t get in the way of her studies. She reached back and untied her ponytail, shaking her black mane loose. As she walked into the sea of grass, the wind caught her hair and sent it billowing behind her.
She loved this place. She loved the way it would change as the seasons passed, the way the leaves left their branches bare only to be replaced by blossom and green in the spring. Isabel climbed to the top of the nearest hill and gazed out across the fields, feeling as if she could run across them and far away into the sky.
This was her home. It was her land, and it was beautiful.
Isabel closed her eyes and breathed in the wind, allowing herself to feel something she hadn’t felt for a long time: freedom.
From Dark Rose