Seasonal Migration //free\\

“Do we have to go back north in the spring?” Mira asked quietly.

No one questioned him. For three hundred years, the people of the Alder Valley had listened to the sentinel oak. They were not farmers, not city-dwellers. They were followers of the green wave—a seasonal migration that traced the arc of the continent from the southern wetlands to the northern evergreen forests and back again. seasonal migration

Migration helps species avoid lethal cold or dehydrating heat. “Do we have to go back north in the spring

Mira began to notice things she had missed on previous migrations. The way the geese flew in perfect, patient V’s overhead, never seeming to tire. The way the last of the wild plums tasted sweeter after the first cold night. The way her grandmother’s voice, when she sang the old traveling songs, made the miles feel shorter. They were not farmers, not city-dwellers

Animals use an internal "GPS" that scientists are still working to fully understand.

The sun had not yet cleared the eastern ridge when old Kaelen placed his hand on the weathered trunk of the sentinel oak. For a long moment, he stood motionless, feeling the faint, familiar thrum beneath the bark. Then he turned to the gathered families, their wagons already packed with woven baskets, salted fish, and rolled tents of oiled hide.

Mira looked up at the stars, sharp and bright above the valley. Somewhere to the south, the sentinel oak was dropping its leaves, standing bare against the first frost. And somewhere to the north, the spring grounds were sleeping under a blanket of snow, dreaming of the day when the people would return.