World of Tardy
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The route

Eight places, in the order water travels

A spring is where water begins and the sea is where it ends, so the order can never drift. It is a sequence, not a story — nothing goes wrong on the way, nobody gets lost, and no question is ever raised.

It doubles as the scale. How far you got is how long it took. She got to the lake tonight. You made it all the way to the sea?

Stop 0: Moss Land

the way in · The Stepping Stones

Goes to sleep when its stepping stones stop rocking

Home. Everyone in it is quietly getting sleepy

Stop 1: The Sleepy Forest

the trees have faces · Old Oak · Lonny · Silver · Alpine · Timber

Goes to sleep when every secret eye closes, one after another

Where the trees close their eyes one branch at a time

Stop 2: The Sleepy Springs

water out of the ground · resident owed

Goes to sleep when the water stops rising and only shines

Where the water begins, coming out of the ground

Stop 3: The Snoozy Stream

the willow and the crossing · The Whispering Willow

Goes to sleep when it stops babbling — sound first, then surface

The willow and the crossing. Never “Sleepy Stream”

Stop 4: The Sleepy Waterfall

it falls · Shut Eye Sam

Goes to sleep when it thins to a shine

Where the water slows to a murmur and stays there

Stop 5: The Sleepy Lake

you cannot see the other side · resident owed, and not a willow

Goes to sleep when its reflection becomes a perfect mirror

You cannot see the other side

Stop 6: The Starlit Shore

stars in the water · the threshold

Goes to sleep when the stars in the water go out before the stars above

Stars in the water. The threshold between the lake and the sea

Stop 7: The Sleepy Sea

heard, never arrived at · whales · dolphins

Goes to sleep when it goes flat and mirrors the Sleepy Lights

It breathes. Heard, never arrived at