The old man had a sense of direction that some would call uncanny. It was a gift to know where to go in a moment’s notice. Trouble was, it always came up in the moment. Not days or years ahead. No. It was was precisely in a moment. Sometimes they were questions that took years to figure out.

The question looming in his mind was how to bring the girl back to the village. He’d turned it over in his head for years. It weighed deeply on his conscience from the last time he’d seen her and sent her off deeper into the forest.

He had flashes of dreams where he saw what she saw. A great beast that followed her every move. Rains that threatened to wash the ground she stood on away. He could hear the silent cries echoing into the distance. 

But none of that mattered. Something dawned on him all at once one day. The realization, the answer came on him all at once. It was the reason past plans had failed. They didn’t go far enough. This was so much simpler. The only way it would work however was if he found her first. And she could have been anywhere at that point. 

Still, he had to try. And with that he packed what was left of his things. And he went running into the green.