Basin of stars

"At the bottom of the basin of stars the air was bitterly cold, despite it being early fall. In the distance, packs of roaming royal striders were courting one another, making the one in Phyns company stop and stare at the striders in the distance. Phyn could feel some compassion for the creature and saw that it did long to be free in some way, despite it being seemingly content at being a captive animal. A promise was a promise however and Phyn pet its side and called for it to follow behind him. Its head fell a bit as it shifted its eyes from the packs of wild striders to the ground as it continued following Phyn.

The basin was as massive as its namesake and as deceptive as the stars themselves too, as if you stood at one end of the basin and glanced at the opposite end of it it would seem far smaller than it actually was. Crossing the basin was a days trek at the least and, despite the basins inspiring design and how small it made Phyn feel, he did want to get to solid ground before night fall as at night the basin would become incredibly cold. The basins name stems from it having been created by a falling star that was plucked from the sky by one of the godly gardeners. However the star was incredibly hot and the star fell from the grip of the deity and fell into a mountain, creating the basin.

The shadows cast by the clouds and mountains moved and shifted as they day passed. Phyn did enjoy having a companion on this small trek of his journey and did his best to keep the animal in his company happy as they walked the wetlands, occasionally stopping to pat it or pluck berries from the ground for it. However he knew the animal was not his and he shouldn't get too attached to it, he had promised to just transport it from one person to another, not for profit, but as a small sign of appreciation for someone who helped them earlier. Seeing as Phyn was going the same way as this persons friend lived, he agreed to take the strider to him and see if his friend was still doing okay. He would go there later, but his vegetables and berries needed to be harvested and taken care of before he could depart on the journey himself.

Eventually as the entire basin was clouded in shadow it became apparent Phyn would have to stay the night there. He found a nice dry spot where he sat down and tied his robes around him so he would keep warm through the night. The strider sat down into a pond of water while keeping its head above the surface, around the basin Phyn could indeed see many wild striders doing the same, their large white heads bobbing above the hundreds of ponds around him."