Hiking In the Rain

Steven and I love to go hiking on this little fragment of the Ice Age Trail called Table Bluff.

It’s easy to get to, about as secluded as anything is these days, and is pretty forgiving to the idle hiker (while still having a steep bit to get back to your car, so you always feel sweaty and accomplished).

We’ll go up there in the afternoons sometime, when we want to get away from it all. Every once in a while, we’ll both be up early on a weekend and snag a cup of coffee as we head out that way.

The other day, we hiked in the rain.

Not a downpour, mind you. The kind of rain that makes flowers smile and plasters your shirt to your back and keeps the bugs away.

It. Was. Glorious.

Meant to be, as they say.

We often do worldbuilding on a story or make plans for gardens and future goals. On this particular trip, we worked out most of the elements of Mage Chess for Zonduth, which is based on the game Khet.

Everything fell into place, and the complex rules governing gameplay unsnarled before our muddy feet.

We stopped to kiss, breathless and laughing around my wet hair. I turned aside and froze.

There, not a dozen feet away, lay the spotted form of a fawn, one oversized ear swiveled in our direction, black eye wide and wet nose twitching.

We might have stopped anywhere along that trail, and there might have been a flower or a butterfly or a mushroom-ringed log to catch our attention.

On that day, it was a soft, dew-dotted deer. Quiet with awe, we continued on our journey, but for those of you who will still be following me when Zonduth Book 1 is available for public consumption, I hope you think of this post not only when you read about the game of Mage Chess between Osa and Headmaster Ronsk, but also when I introduce you to a quivering and wide-eyed dak fawn.

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