Open Post - Ever Forest

[serotinously]

One would think as one walked into these woods, that they'd been transported back in time. The very air around it breathed ancient without the gloom and dust that often accompanied it, instead the air was just heavier and a bit more solemn. Trees were not placed tightly packed but close enough that it gave the feeling of being enveloped in a warm hug of nature. And the fauna of the forest helped in that matter, the songs of songbirds high above and the soft chittering of squirrels that hid the quiet footsteps of nearby deer. It was if all technology had been washed away... There were no sounds or signs of humanity anywhere in this forest, only deer paths.

As one walks further in, the light remains constant as though time has also frozen in its old age. There's a brook or a small river nearby, you can just barely make it out over the stones in the waterbed. And a soft humming. Perhaps there are humans in the wood after all, or a fae.

But no, should the curious mind follow the source of the sounds they'll find a small clearing. There's what looks to be a fire pit well away from the main structure, indeed quite a few of them. But when looked at more closely one would see that the ground was freshly turned in the middle of said patches and the fire ruptured after the fact. The rows of crops leading up to the house tell a slightly different story, they seem to have survived any sort of burning. Though honestly they look like they're in need of a decent watering, the corn not quite ready for harvest.

The structure itself is rather...well, almost like a homeless person had slapped together a shack and supplied it a thatched roof. (X) And out of it pops a modestly clothed woman though the clothes look like they'd seen better days and better mending but they're serviceable still. With her is a bucket and ladle, she seems intent on not sloshing it on the ground that doesn't need water as she heads towards the field.