Walk in the Footsteps of Giants: A Short Drabble from the Stormy Inn Series

I moved over the weekend and have numerous creative projects and challenges on the go. I’m living next to the ocean now and all I can think about is imagery and stories with water involved. Nonetheless, here’s another excerpt from my tales from the Inn of Stormy Nights.

Walk in The Footsteps

The wind blew in through the doors of the inn. A traveler, caught in the gust, stumbled through. Aunt Nancy, proprietor of the inn, looked up with a raised brow as she poured a pint, sliding it to the waiting customer.

She has come. At last she has returned. 

“I have news!” The traveler gasped, lurching toward a table and upsetting the elderly who were in the middle of a game. The die, just tossed by one knarled hand; flew, fell, skittered across the table and landed at the feet of the harried newcomer.

Three dots, face up.

“That’s three stories then,” Aunt Nancy said with a gold tooth flashing in her smile as she leaned against her counter. “Odessa.”

The traveler pushed back their hood and stood with a swagger of crossed arms. “Auntie.”

“You owe me three stories this time girl.” Aunt Nancy said as she strode around the counter and placed a pint in front of the elderly patrons.

Odessa sighed in the exaggerated manner of one who has all the intentions of doing as requested but enjoys putting on a show and settled in on a stool by the central fire place which rose up to the high-rafted ceiling in a tower of neat, red stones.

“I went north, where you can walk inside the footsteps left by giants. All the way to the top of the world where the sky hugs the land as if it is a crescent moon. I met the silver bears in the grey stone circle which marks the top.”

“They asked me for my heart, in exchange for knowledge. They chased me up the bones of the mountains and back when I refused. They set mist vultures upon me when I hid and tundra walkers sniffing the snows when I hid still.”

“At last, they retreated into their walls of black stone which shines like stars caught in obsidian. There, at last, I found it.”

Odessa pulled a linen bag from an inner pocket, upended it and let a red stone thunk into her open palm. She held it up for the inn patrons to see. It flashed geometric shapes and fractals off the brick of the inn walls. A round of awws and ohs rippled through the commons room. Even the elderly stopped their game with the die and their fortune cards.

“You found it. Well done, my girl,” Aunt Nancy said, stepping around tables toward Odessa’s seat. She pulled up a three-legged stool which scratched across the dirt of the floor and patted Odessa’s knee.

“Now, continue the story. You’ve got three to go. Finding an immortal’s heart is not the main attraction around here,” she nodded at the red stone which Odessa put away to a chorus of disappointment from the patrons.

“Right as always Auntie. That was only the beginning of my adventure.”

Walk In the Now

Have you ever desired something so much that it has gotten in the way of the other things in your life?

I keep looking at my muses, my mentors, my inspirations and I want to be where they are, or were, right now. I want to be just like them. Right now. Unfortunately, it takes time and even if I aspire to be like someone, I cannot be them. I am me, with my own perspective and experiences. I am me with my own problems and pace. I am my own story.

Finding balance is a challenge, especially when you have much you dream of doing or finding.

What I am working on this week is doing one thing per day. If you can do that, eventually you’ll reach all your goals. (I finally unpacked all my things).

ARR ~ Moony.