This week has been hard. Janner and Tink are still separated, despite all efforts. Artham is in a cage. We don't know how Oskar and the rest of the Igibys fare. This is new territory for everyone, Maraly included. Maker help us, indeed.
When Janner topped the rise, he froze.Before him stretched the magnificent crags of the Stony Mountains. The snowy peaks jutted into the sky like shards of glass. Clouds gathered and poured through the passes like a slow-moving waterfall.Janner had never seen anything so big. He felt small and weak and a little dizzy.To the west, the mountains were smaller, and soft hills rolled at their roots. In the east, where Podo’s note had told him to go, the way looked impassable. He saw nothing between him and those peaks but cracks and fissures and jagged cliffs. At the center of the eastern range rose the Witch’s Nose, Mog-Balgrik. It towered above the other peaks, and truly looked like the hooked nose of a witch from a children’s scarytale.“Once you’re past Mog-Balgrik, the land slopes away into the Ice Prairies. After that, your guess is as good as mine,” read Podo’s note.Janner squinted at the pass to the left of the Witch’s Nose. “Maker help us,” he said. “That’s where we’re going.”“What?” said Maraly from behind him. She had removed the head of the snickbuzzard and was busy plucking its feathers beside a crackling fire.“Look,” Janner said. She stood and looked north for the first time. “Oh,” she whispered.A gust of icy wind blasted the hilltop where they stood.
Discussion: What do you do when you feel small and weak?What are the advantages of being small and alone? What are the disadvantages?How do you know who to trust?Does Tink deserve what he's getting? (Discuss this question in our forum.)Maraly and Janner both know things about bomnubbles, but they learned different things from different sources. What do you know a lot about? How did you learn it? Are you more of a book-learner, or do you prefer learning by doing?What passage most stood out to you this week?