She laughed and danced away a little after kissing him. "I would if'n I was you. Nothin' feels better than having your feet in good Soulwood soil."

Nell raised her outstretched arms to the sky and took in a deep breath. "Smells so good here. Come on!"

She all but danced to her favorite tree, pulling her old pink blanket out from her bag and spreading it on the ground. "Come sit with me while I commune with my land."

She was already sitting, feet dug in, one hand on the soil, the other out for him to take if he chose. Her eyes closed and she let her consciousness fall into the land, deeper and deeper.

The trees were happy and growing well, a new small grove poking up by the spring just over the rise. A family of deer stopped at the spring, ears up as a flock of birds settled in above them. Further afield she found bobcats and a lone mountain lion roaming, feeling their steps upon the earth as if they were walking on her.

It was her land and it was beautiful.