Chapter V, Reading 6

She was relieved when they finally reached the crest and emerged from the pass. The blast of the north wind peppered her face with blowing ice, but she could see the landscape around her location and felt more comfortable. The topography was vastly different on the north side of the mountain range. Here there were no steep slopes or rocky cliffs. Instead, there was a gradual decline in elevation until the slope intercepted the vast plain of the Northern Reaches. No enemy could remain hidden in this barren landscape.
This was the domain of the wind. The snow from the storm had blown away - had blown up the slope and had been deposited in tremendous snow cornices on the south side of the ridge. Lonely trees dotted the landscape on the northern slope. They did not grow straight but rather bent toward the ground seeking shelter from the wind. Branches only grew on the south half of the trees to minimize the effect of the prevailing north wind. Their roots clung fiercely to the ground to keep from being uprooted.
Flindra took out the crystal orb once more and checked the direction she needed to continue. The crystal glowed when pointed in a northeast direction, roughly perpendicular to the axis of the Greyfell Mountains. She mounted and continued onward.
The descent from the mountains was easy and Flindra soon found herself looking across the barren landscape of the Northern Reaches. This was a desolate land and there was very little vegetation. There were patchy grasses growing low to the ground with an occasional bent and tortured pine punctuating the horizon.
The crystal orb still prompted her to continue in a northeasterly direction through this bleak landscape. The wind still howled from the north so she had to keep her face turned down and to the side to escape the worst of the icy blast. Deru also carried his head to the side and she had to use the pressure of her legs to keep him going in the proper direction.