Blackwater Val
The mural Michelle and he had painted.
They parked and got out, Richard leading his daughter by the hand. In truth, he had forgotten all about this painting until a few seconds ago. Now his gaze swept over it with fondness, taking in every detail again, every little nuance. There was a lush pine forest, its needled spires reaching for the heavens, and a castle sitting on a mirror-glass lake while the dark Mountain of Power loomed gargantuan in the background. An empty skiff floated ominously alone, moored, abandoned among some water-draped rocks. And his favorite: a large ruffled owl in a greatly gnarled black maple (part of its beak and one big unblinking eye chipped away and missing), and
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