The dark of the forest

At Monday's Finish the Story, we have been given a photograph and an opening sentence on which to base our flash fiction.

Not knowing what to expect, he made his way into the dark of the forest. Something drew him. 

He came upon a wizened little woman slumped on a wooden stump beneath a leaning tree. Time had not been kind to her. Her troubled soul had draped a sorrowful shroud of loneliness over her sagging shoulders.

As he ambled towards her, the old woman looked him in the eye as though seeking solace and succour. He felt her pain and knew that his charge was to soothe her sadness.

He reached into his pocket and flung  a shower of shimmering silver stars into the air. As they floated around her, she smiled as did he. The sun cast off its cloak of cloud and all around, golden shards of light frolicked and danced to the merry tunes of songbirds. 

The old woman stood. He kissed her hand. Then she wandered off. He will never know what troubled her, he didn't need to. His task was done. He loved being a wizard.

.