For Claire

[1stwitness]

Being around people isn't a bad thing. But for Ichabod, from time to time, it starts to get wearing, and that's when he takes himself off into the nearest patch of wilderness for a while.

The nearest patch of wilderness today happens to be the Milliways woods.

Comments

[1stwitness]

He doesn't, but one day he will. And he'll be very interested in those standing stones.

"Of course", he says, stepping aside. "Herbs for cooking, or for medicine?"

[an_outlander]

"Medicinal use," she laughs. "I can cook well enough, I suppose, but it's not such an interest of mine that I'd go hunting herbs for it. Natural remedies, though, are an interest of mine, and I like to collect what I can. I've no idea when we'll be back in Scotland," this said as she kneels and removes a small knife from her satchel to cleanly cut the plant in question, "so I thought that I'd take the time to get as many native to the region while my husband and I are here. You're welcome to join me, if you'd like. The stones are quite an attraction."

Scotland, not Milliways.

She does cast him an amused look after wrapping her gains in some paper and standing. "Don't you get rather a large amount of curious looks, dressed so?"

[1stwitness]

"My fair share", he says easily. "But I like these clothes enough to ignore the looks."

It's perfectly true, if he was at home.

"And I'd love to join you to see the stones."

[an_outlander]

"Well, I don't see anything else of use here, so," Claire replies, hefting her satchel a bit more securely over her shoulder, "a-hiking we will go and all that."

It takes a few minutes walk in the direction she indicates, but she finally, finally hears a horn honk again from the road. Can, as the trees clear, and they start to walk upwards, the stones on a hill just beyond the ridge, see the road a fair distance away.

Given how long she walked, she feels like she should have reached here sooner. But perhaps she simply talked to Crane longer than she realized.

[1stwitness]

There are no standing stones in Milliways, nor any ridge or road that he knows, but only the faintest and fleeting alarm shows on his face when she's not looking. If the magic brought him here, he can trust the magic will take him back.

"There's always something very special about places like this."

[an_outlander]

"There is, yes. I don't know if the stones actually have a name, though apparently some of the locals call them Merlin's stones. The hill's called Craigh na Dun, though. I freely admit to having no idea what that translates to, if anything, but I rather like the sound. It feels fitting, almost, don't you think? Very romantic and such."

It's when they've actually neared the stone closest to then that she develops a faint frown, cocking her head as she listens to a sound only she can hear.

"Do you hear a--well, a buzzing? Almost like bees?"

It wouldn't puzzle her at all, except there are no trees nearby. Nowhere, in fact, to build a hive, let alone conceal one. There's no swarm in sight, either.

But she distinctly hears buzzing, and the sound actually seems to be getting louder.

[1stwitness]

Ichabod looks at her quickly.

"Bees? No, I don't hear anything..."

[an_outlander]

Now she just looks surprised. "You don't? But it's getting louder..." Claire trails off as she checks again for a nest as they stand in the center of the circle, then shakes her head in puzzlement.

She tries to ignore the sound while commenting, a bit distracted by the sound still, "They're beautiful, in a way. Not particularly well decorated, of course, but it's..." She pauses before finishing, a bit of embarrassment coloring her words as she glances at Crane, "Well, it's almost as if you can feel how this place must have mattered to someone--likely many someones--a great deal, once. Does that make any sense?"

[1stwitness]

"And they may have been better decorated once", he agrees, "in ways that are lost. Paint, flowers... and yes, one does get that sense."

[an_outlander]

"Even carvings would have worn away over time," she murmurs, her face and voice both distracted.

She's not really doing anything more than studying the stones a bit more when she puts her hand on one, and then the buzzing--

Oh, it's louder, but there's so much more than that. There are sensations she has no words for, except maybe it's the moon moving backwards and the sun going west to east, and everything that means must be happening as well, over and over and all at once.

To look at her, suddenly still, it's nothing that happens instantaneously. There's somehow the impression that she's going somewhere without moving, and then something almost like her fading.

And then Claire Randall isn't there--to be precise, she isn't then--any more.

[1stwitness]

"Claire?!" Ichabod stares at the stones, and looks around with little hope of seeing her there - but she's not, and she doesn't answer his call.

He waits a while, just in case. And then he starts walking back the way they came, and finds himself back in the Milliways woods.