The Reason

 

{This post is in response to a prompt from What Pegman Saw. The image is by Google Streetview of Nordragota, Faroe Islands. 

I have grey-scaled it to reduce its weight on my site.  Thank you again for the weekly inspiration!}

 

Magnetic North had pulled her here.

Jane’s new, furry boots tramped the empty road.  The lake looked calm and cold, its banks dotted with sheep.  Beyond, green hills passed for mountains.  Like her own, further south, this archipelago was volcanic.

Ice water rivulets trickled from the lake’s shoulders, a gift from the melting glaciers.  Harsh, soggy, and unpredictable, this bleak overlook held the house of Professor Ingvar Kornik.

Pad in hand, she followed his gesture toward the wool-draped sofa.

Grey and bespectacled, Kornik possessed a name recognized worldwide. He emceed at the recent solar eclipse.  His were the red weather balloons docked below, launched and monitored to provide fodder for climate scientists.

Jane did not fear water, alone.  A more imminent, more ferocious power chilled her.

She readied her pencil.

“Tell me, Professor, how did you survive the Great Christmas Hurricane of 1988? And how can anyone hope to survive another?”