#flashfictionmagic – SPICED TEA & CURIOSITY
Ingrid clutched the mug tighter, willing its heat to soak through her red plaid mittens.
The three mountains that rimmed her world wore downy muffs of snow, their distant jagged peaks now rounded.
“Ingrid?” Her granfer’s voice swirled through the snowflakes. He shuffled across the yard to stand by her shoulder, his wool scarf tucked up to his mouth. “What holds you out here so long, my girl? My spiced tea has nearly lost its steam.”
Ingrid studied the dark, still surface of her tea. “What’s on the other side of the mountains, Granfer?”
He chuckled slowly, the smile in his voice making him sound younger. “I wondered when you’d ask that.”
“I’ve asked Mor and Far more times than I can count.”
“And what did they say?”
She took a long sip. The lukewarm tea tasted as flat as the words that filled her mind. “Stay in your place, Ingrid. It’s best to let unknowns be.”
He grunted. “I’m guessing that didn’t satisfy you.”
“They’re gone now, Granfer.” She lifted her gaze to his warm brown eyes. “They stayed in their place, I guess.” Her eyes shifted past his shoulder to the snow smothered hemlock tree at the field’s edge. Half the village had died in the weeping sickness two month’s past.
“They never learned that from me.” He lifted his chin. “What do you think is across the mountains, my girl?”
“Life,” she whispered without hesitating.
He slipped his gnarled hand around her elbow. “Then let’s go and find it.”
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#flashfictionmagic – SPICED TEA & CURIOSITY
