This story is part of the Wanderer series.
The cool, winter wind swept over the steppes, spanning down from the rocky mountains snaking through it. The exposed, gray-brown, earthy stone contrasted the swaying tallgrass of the lower valleys, yet they felt like they belonged, its face worn to blend seamlessly with the grassy foothills.
Except there was one portion of the mountains that stood out. A cliff, similar in color, that abruptly jutted out the mountain face. Its face beneath was not as worn, exhibiting jagged qualities that indicated it came to be in the past century. On its flat surface, hidden amongst the grass, were shards of brick, similarly earthy gray in color, that laid scattered like a broken path. With a closer look, these relics could be found everywhere around the cliff, from larger chunks the size of a goat to smaller pieces the size of a throwing stone.
At the cliff’s edge, from thin air, a woman appeared. Beige robed, with shoulder-length, hazy-teal hair. Lifting up her chin, she revealed a pair of deep teal eyes. Pivoting her right arm to the side and anchoring the end of her wooden staff into the grass, she looked out over the mountains, observing with deep contemplation.
Glancing back at the ruins of stone laid out behind her, she then took a step off the cliff. Becoming airborne, the tail of her robes lifted off her body, her hair raising off her shoulders as she gently glided down to the bottom of the cliff. There, she levitated above the ground for a brief few seconds before touching down on the grass. Touching her staff back onto the earth, she turned to the left and started walking, following the path of rubble away from the cliff.
Several steps away, she stopped. Glancing down at the ground, her eyes came to rest at the foot of a particular shard of brick against the mountain, as tall as herself, erected up like an arrow pointing towards the sky. Closing in a few steps away from it, she stood still again and returned her face to a deep state of contemplation, staring at the brick with slit eyes.
After several moments, she drew her hands in front of her, both grasping her wooden staff, and dipped her head, closing her eyes. She held this briefly, then let go, opening her eyes towards the brick shard once more. With a final gaze, she turned and headed back from which she came.