The Whispering Willow of Evermore

Previously

…But since the Willow’s magic had returned, a strange quiet had settled over the surrounding forests. The trolls, it seemed, had lost their appetite for mischief, their bluster deflated by the sheer, overwhelming power of Evermore’s renewed spirit. Elara had seen a few stragglers near the forest edge, their lumpy forms looking more bewildered than menacing, their usual scowls replaced by a look of mild confusion. They seemed to shrink from the Willow’s radiant aura, their coarse magic unable to withstand its pure, benevolent light. Children, who had once been kept close to home, now tumbled and played in the sun-drenched square, their laughter ringing