Moonsday, Winterwary 24
Continuing to follow the path that the children had left in the woods, I eventually reached a clearing in which there stood an old log cabin and well. It seemed to me that playful children would potentially want to entertain themselves with such a place. The odds seemed good of finding them here.
I walked around the cabin, observing its outside, but finding no clues to where the children were. As I'd looked underneath the porch, however, I did find a golden coin. I approached the well, hoping that they had not fallen in here. As I saw the children's footprints were more dense here, and I did not see them lead away. I felt anxious about this. A tumble down the well would potentially kill a child. Despite my anxiety, I could not feel a heavy heartbeat within my chest, a detail that I found unlikely, but not one that was the important focus at the moment.
I called out for the children but received no response aside from my own voice echoing back at me. I reached down and grabbed a rock to throw down into the well. Underneath it was, of all things, a golden coin. I hurriedly placed the coin within my pouch before tossing the stone down the well. It landed with a thud. There was no water down below, meaning that if the children had fallen in there would be nothing to have broken their fall.
Not wanting to consideration of them having gone down the well, I turned my attention back to the cabin. The windows were boarded up, and trying the door revealed that it was locked. I did not think there was a way the children could have gotten into the cabin. As I began to turn away from the shelter, I felt as though I had missed something. With a yellow glow, I found myself a few moments before. I peered between gaps in the boards of the windows into the inside of the house, but found that it was completely empty.
Why had I felt there was something else here? Why had I manipulated probability for this? I hovered my hands over the lock into the house, and heard it click open based on my application of arcane energy. As it appeared from the outside, there wasn't anything worthwhile inside, and no signs of the children or anyone else. I did find one coin lying on the ground, but that was hardly a meaningful contribution to the search.
I was becoming disheartened in my search. With the footprints ending at the well, I had no other lead moving forward to pursue to find the kids. But such a way would be treacherous for them, and I became more concerned for their safety. But if they had already fallen down the well...was I too late? Would I be able to adjust probability to help in this situation? I did not know. Only time would tell.
Fruitsday, Winterwary 28
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