The Cairn, the Ember,
& the Hearth
A crown you cannot take off is a collar. A hearth you cannot leave is a cage. Clarity always arrives with an invoice.
Emerging drenched from the tide, the isolated land spreads before you. Ahead, a cairn sits at the edge of a treeline, aside an overgrown path into a deep, dark wood. You may fear the unknown ahead, but you know the path behind you, and fear is not the worst thing to face.
In the distance a wolf howls, echoing through the trees with ominous beauty. The howl is not a warning, it is a courtesy, a statement of presence. What is actually going to eat you is silent, hungry, hidden, older than the trees you are standing in the shade of, and has been beside you since you got in the water.
The Examinations
Each one takes a familiar word and works out what it is made of, what it costs, and what wears its face. The work asks for introspection, for outward observation, and at times for reflection that may even be uncomfortable… but hopefully enlightening. Read in order, or begin wherever the light falls.
Solvitur vigilando.