"Now, it's mature," Silas said, pointing across the wide expanse of water. "Look at it. Because it slowed down, it has room for the tributaries to join it, making it bigger and stronger than it ever was in the hills. It carries the soil that makes the farmers' fields so green. It has deep, calm places where the big fish can sleep and where we can sit and talk."
Silas smiled, his eyes reflecting the calm, glassy surface of the water. "That's because the river is grown up here, Leo. When it was up in the mountains, it was young and impatient. It wanted to get to the sea as fast as it could, so it fought everything in its way. It didn't have time to carry anything or help anyone." "And now?" Leo asked. matures rivers
The river was no longer the wild, crashing youth it had once been high in the jagged peaks. Back then, it was all fury and foam, cutting a sharp, angry V-shaped valley into the cold stone. It had rushed headlong without looking back, tossing boulders aside like pebbles. "Now, it's mature," Silas said, pointing across the