The forest around her was engulfed in flames. The thick smoke was noxious and suffocating. With the tears in  her eyes flowing so quickly she could no longer see the ruined, dying landscape about her, she reached instinctively for the pouch tied around her neck.

Time was forgotten as she pulled the cord and the pouch slid open. She reached inside for the first time. She found nothing but a quaint blue stone which glistened intensely as reflections of the surrounding flames danced on it’s fractured surface.

She felt a glimmer of apprehension as she closed her hand around the stone, a shadow of worry that perhaps it was worthless, and all was lost. But in her desperation, second guesses and doubt held no weight, all there was to do was believe. So she did.

She closed her eyes and focused all of her attention on the little stone in her palm. Thick tendrils of cold wrapped around her fingers, then up her wrist, and her arm. Soon they had spiralled all around her. All was forgotten – the forest, the fire, the ruin, the pain. Absolute silence. Frozen in a welcome embrace. Now she could rest.