He glared out over the expansive green forests surrounding the village, fringed with golden fields of wheat ripe for the harvest. The leaves of the beech trees by the river were changing to yellow. Soon they would lose their foliage, and not long after that, winter would be here. Lothair needed to get Katia home long before that day, but staying here in Brodno for a few extra days would make no major difference. His friends needed the rest of being indoors for a few nights after traveling mountain trails for over a month. Still, he thought as he wandered inside, he and Katia had been here for weeks already, and the discomfort of living so close to her but staying so distant was beginning to rot his insides. The two young women stepped into the empty church and Lothair forgot what he was thinking. The pair had let their hair down, with small braids sweeping back from their temples. They had altered their travel garments with small pieces of colorful ribbon and wore fine shawls.
