Shadows

One might have thought that the change from the body of a human to that of a steingeweser would have driven Astra mad. She could hear, but not speak. Astra did not think of it as much of a problem. She was starting to think like a steingeweser. She did not fear for the future. She somehow knew that when the sun set, she would go to sleep, but she could stand up anywhere and continue when the sun came up again. The animals that she feared as a woman - bears, wolves, and panthers - could not harm her. And what did she have to fear from men? She took a sharp-edge rock from the ground, and pressed it against her palm. There was no pain. What appeared to be skin yielded a bit, but she could not break it. She looked she was a rock - and may have been as heavy as a rock - but the comparision was not completely right.

She trampled up the mountain trail. There would be water as she got higher. She knew that she needed that. She would need a little bit of sand of satisfy a craving that she would also find up there. She would know it when she saw it.

The trail went into the shadow of the high walls of a ravine, and she noticed a glassy sheen on a rock. Ice. The wind would pose no problem, but the ice would be tricky. It would not be impossible though. With her strength, she could chip out footholds as needed, or in an emergency slide down sections of mountain over icy patches. As a human it would be reckless, but somehow she did not feel afraid to do so. The main thing that she was concerned about were sharp drops, but she felt those could easily be avoided. The temperature had dropped, but she did not feel cold. She stooped down and put her fingers on the patch of ice. It was cool, but it was the delightful coolness of a summer breeze, and not the bone-chilling coldness of a winter snow storm. Astra thought that her body might have a greater tolerance for cold than that of a human.

Astra started to feel drowsy and had trouble concentrating. The she looked up, she remembered that she was in a deep shadow. Fortunately, she could see the sun, and had not fallen asleep. She stood up, walked out of the shadow, and easily shook off the drowsiness. That was odd. There were shadows in the forests earlier in the trail, and she had not even noticed.

Astra continued to climb. Dark gray clouds started to gather. She instinctively thought, "Lightning might not be good for me."

1. Find cover of some sort, keeping in mind the effect of shadows.
2. Stay out in the open. If she could make it over the rim, then she would not be in the shadow of the rim and the journey down would be easier.

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