The companions were greeted by a pleasantly warm fog rolling off the water's surface, like a cozy blanket of clouds. There was one large pool that stretched across the rocky clearing, the bottom visible through the clear water many feet below. This large pond was ringed by several smaller pools, only about waist deep.<br/><br/>The springs were nestled in a rocky clearing, sheltered on one side by a steep hillside that served as a natural windbreak, and the warmth that permeated the area had melted the snow. It seemed that this was enough for a few brave flowers to sprout in defiance of the brutal cold. Zeldana could see the lavender sprouting at the edge of one of these pools, near a family of elk that had stopped to take advantage of the rare, unfrozen water.<br/><br/>As Roga surveyed the place, he noted an odd lack of any tributary streams or rivers. Surely, this place should have dried up, or the standing water on the surface frozen over long ago. This detail only served to amplify the feeling that this was a place out of a storybook, a sacred little place that nature had spared from winter's cruelty.