“Go on, climb it!” Kellin gives Sparrow a shove as the other children join in with a chorus of “Climb it, climb it! Bring us back the sky treasure, Sparrow!” She stares up the thorny stalk of the Gygantroot, impossibly tall, stretching up and up and up, piercing the sky and disappearing into the clouds above. Kate fumbles for her purse, but the flower seller shakes her head, solemnly pressing the bloom into Kate’s hand and waving her on. Its bright petals curl inward, like paper caught in a flame. In her gnarled fist, she clutches an honest-to-goddess Burning Jak. “This one.” Kate jumps, finding the old woman suddenly and inexplicably standing right next to her, the wisps of her frost-white hair barely reaching Kate’s shoulder. Should I go? Kate wonders, beginning to wish she hasn’t stopped to look at the bright blooms on her way to the festival. “Not daisies, not lilies, not poppies, sunflowers, or mums-” Her musing cuts off abruptly as she disappears into the back of her wagon. “Not roses, no,” the old woman mutters to herself as she rummages through her stock. The intensity of the stare is a little unnerving. “For you, my dear…” the old flower seller squints at Kate, considering. Keep and sell, she decides, and sets about harvesting the mushrooms before they disappear again. Even as her traitorously practical mind begins to calculate the market price for such a delicacy, her mouth waters at the thought of the mushrooms fried in butter with sage and wild onions. It’s light as a feather, with a rich, buttery cap like the petals of a flower.
![gygan safe gygan safe](https://www.filepanda.cc/Image/File-Sharing/Resilio-Sync/Screenshots/resilio-sync-3.jpg)
In the Brightwood? With trembling hands, Kelly bends down and plucks one of the fairy mushrooms. Lady Mushrooms? She wonders, hardly daring to believe it. The clearing is lush and green, as vibrant as the surrounding forest is dull and gray, dotted all over with pale pink mushrooms. S urely this can’t be the same forest I was in a moment ago. The grassy clearing is awash with sunlight, so bright she has to squint as her eyes adjust. She pushes through the dense undergrowth and gasps, clutching her basket closer. Not nearly enough, she thinks, mentally dividing the contents of her foraging basket into ‘eat’ and ‘sell’ piles. A tidy pile of shriveled berries, a few late-autumn rosehips, a scant handful of withered roots and dandelion greens. The trees have already half-shed their leaves in anticipation of winter, and she knows she’s not likely to find much more than she’s managed to scrounge so far.
![gygan safe gygan safe](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/73/1b/21/731b215e32d0aff515d39b301e5f2092.jpg)
Slim pickings today, Kelly grumbles to herself.