Book 1 - Chapter 2.1
Sol did not sleep. The light from the trio of moons haunted her the whole night.
After her first wave of confusion upon seeing them, Sol stood up and began pacing around the boundary of the campsite, in hopes that a change of position would layer the illusion back over itself into normalcy. She took her pulse and did some deep breathing to make sure it wasn't her own mind making trouble for her out of the stress of the day, but the moons remained the same.
Her mind then took hold of the possibility that is was a Fae illusion. She figured is was most likely, as she considered the events of her day.
But she considered a counter argument. The Fae held great reverence for the moon and would not disrespect her image. At least, that's what the elder witches said.
After her first embarrassing encounter with the Fae Sol had done as much research as possible into them. The rare times her mother had taken her to a witches' gathering, Sol had looked through the archived grimoires of elders for accounts of past interactions. The only mention of a change in the moon was from one elder who had to unravel an illusion that had been woven over a small village. He noted that the moon was brighter than usual when he had walked through the veil, but not much else.
Sol cast her eyes back up at the sky and determined that three moons certainly made things brighter. Along with the number of moons being more than usual, they also had distinct markings, and each face was a stranger from the one Sol knew, including the largest central satellite.
She looked down at the ground again and continued to stalk her circle around the standing stone. Frogs and crickets were chirping softly in the cold damp air as if all was normal and well.
And there as Night, who was still asleep, similarly undisturbed.
Sol considered waking her up to ask about the moons, but decided against it. She didn't want to deal with Night treating her confusion as strange when it was all so fresh.
Sol turned her attention to the shifting wall on the horizon that could be the border of the Fae illusion. Whatever terrifying things roamed inside of it could have been conjured illusions to keep the people living inside of the boundary from leaving.
Sol took in a self assuring breath and clung to that theory. She stopped her pacing and returned her gaze at the three moons that still hung in the sky.
They could be one moon again, but she needed to figure out how she was to go about dispelling this illusion.
She figured she could try leaving it. She could walk directly into the mist and once she made it to the other end, find a coven branch and get someone to come back with her to help shred it and free these people.
She also considered pulling it apart herself. She knew that was arrogance speaking. She was self aware enough to tell when she was making up grand designs for herself, but she had a history of heroism. She was the renowned ranger who took down an ibex the size of a house with just her hunting knife, killed dire bear with just her horn bow, and slain a serpent that had swallowed seven men whole.
She would first have to test if the mist actually lead outside of the illusion. If she could not dispel it at the very least she could lead the people stuck inside, through it. She would need help for that, and she figured her new companion could at least oblige her that.
Sol returned to the stone circle, sat down in font of the smouldering peat brick, and took out her field notes to record the events of the day, with the light of the moons illuminating the pages of her journal.
She refined her theories about the land and her plans on how to overcome its perils. She wrote out schemes requiring plenty of rope, iron, and hopefully people willing to help her.
She wrote and brainstormed until the sun, still obscured by the foggy horizon, set the sky aglow. Sol was so engrossed in her writing that she didn't even notice that the wall of mist had crept closer.
