Contrasts

The Merman's Children, Book Four, V.

We are still focusing more on the descriptions of nature than on what the characters are doing.

When Tauno and Niels ride on a common outside Copenhagen on "a sweet spring day" (p. 215):

new grass is "vivid" (ibid.);

leaves are "a green mist" (pp. 215-216);

the sky is "overarching blue" (p. 216);

storks return;

the breeze addresses three senses simultaneously because it is described as fresh, as loud and as "...full of damp odors." (ibid.);

hoofs thud.

The storks are not only part of the scenery but also symbols:

"...harbingers of summer, bearers of luck." (ibid.)

That is in the eyes of the beholders.

Contrast:

rain sluicing and brawling;

streets become rivers;

lightning flaring;

thunder sounding like "...huge wheels..." (p. 217);

wind whooping;

a tile stove heating a room;

candles lighting wainscot, hangings and carved furniture;

privacy behind closed doors;

the storm battering shutters during a conversational silence.

Then again:

"Spring rang wild with blossoms and birdsong, a season of love, a season of forgetfulness and farewells." (p. 219)

That is partly the season and partly what is happening to the characters.