24/12/2025
📖 Shelby, Bramble & Mr Toad
The Mirrorwood
Chapter 26 — The Lake of What Might Have Been
The forest thinned without warning.
One moment, trees pressed close on either side of the path. The next, the ground dipped gently and opened into a wide, silver-lit hollow where the air felt cooler, softer…like breath released after holding too long.
At its centre lay the lake.
It was perfectly still.
Not frozen.
Not dead.
Simply… waiting.
Its surface reflected no sky, no branches, no stars. Instead, faint shapes moved beneath the water like drifting light, slow and half-formed.
Shelby stopped at the water’s edge.
She felt it immediately…the pull, gentle but insistent. Not temptation. Not danger.
Possibility.
“This place feels different,” Bramble said quietly, peering over the edge. His reflection wavered, then changed — showing him standing taller, braver, quills sleek instead of curled tight.
He flinched and stepped back.
Aurora Foxley approached more cautiously. Her aurora-fur glimmered softly in the lake’s glow, colours deepening as she studied the surface. What appeared there made her breath catch.
A version of herself looked back…radiant, commanding, her light blazing bright and sharp. Powerful. Untouchable.
Alone.
Aurora turned away first.
Mr Toad raised his lantern, but its flame dimmed as it neared the water, refusing to reflect.
“It doesn’t show what will happen,” he murmured. “Only what could have.”
The Mirrorwood listened.
The lake began to move.
Ripples spread outward, and within them appeared moments…not futures, not dreams, but paths abandoned.
Shelby saw herself standing still when she had chosen to move forward. She saw another version who had rushed ahead without listening. One who had never entered the Mirrorwood at all — remaining safe, unchanged… and quietly dimmed.
Her chest ached.
None of the reflections were wrong.
That was the hardest part.
Bramble watched a version of himself who had spoken up sooner — and another who had never spoken at all. His paws trembled as he realised neither path had been painless. Just different.
Aurora’s reflection shifted again — now showing her choosing kindness when power was offered, and another where she chose power when kindness cost too much. Her aurora-light flickered between them, uncertain.
The lake did not judge.
It did not pull them in.
It simply showed them what had been possible — and then waited.
Shelby stepped closer and gently placed her paw at the water’s edge.
“I see now,” she whispered. “This place isn’t asking us to choose again.”
The surface stilled.
“It’s asking us to stop wondering who we should have been.”
The reflections softened, fading like breath on glass. Not erased — released.
One by one, the others nodded.
Bramble let out a long breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding.
Aurora’s light steadied, warmer now — rose-gold threading through the rest.
Mr Toad’s lantern brightened, its flame calm and clear.
The lake accepted their answer.
As they turned away, the water finally reflected the forest again — trees, path, light — imperfect, real, and present.
Behind them, the lake did not follow.
Some possibilities were meant to remain possibilities.
And that was not a loss.
It was a kindness…..
✨ Moral: Not all possibilities are meant to be lived…some exist only to teach us who we already are.
