[Silverwood] A Night At Nature

[Tiki]

48-9 Spring 511 A.V. Silverwood in the late afternoon The mid-spring air had been welcoming with its soft sea breeze. The ocean waves had been delicately washing up and down the coast the whole day long. The serenity of the landscape was breath taking. The pale sands were only matched by the purity of Avalis and her every daughter. Further inland, in the wilderness unique to the island, nature was teeming back to life. Morwen’s frosted grip over the world had let loose, and for the first time since he had left Avanthal, Tiki witnessed the effects of the changing seasons in the northern part of the world. The trees were mix-matched shades of green. Being about mid-season, only remove traces of the white wash that winter brought remained. Very few pines still had a teal tint to them. Still, their shadows casted over each other, and Tiki blended into the undergrowth of the Silverwood. He had decided to get lost. Whichever way he went, he could find a coastline within the hour and double back around to the docks. He had time to wander, and wonder. He was sure to have eaten his fill before he left. The Konti cuisine was something different, but he liked fish. It settled well in his stomach as he hiked through the forest. He took nothing with him but his furs. His body was warm under black fur and the induced heat of his movements. Even if it began to cool, it wouldn’t be his first cold night alone in the dark woods. Tiki, in his curiosity, wasn’t sure what he’d find out here. There was that sense of the unknown that always intrigued him. After a while of wondering away from Mura, an hour away or so from the docks, he started to lose himself to the wilds. The maddening conversation and business of the civilized world began to disappear, and he was himself again. Behind his feline visage he was smiling, but his eyes remained cool and focused on the world in front of him. Intriguing or boring, it was still uncharted territory to Tiki and he exercised caution. Even in his prowl, others took swift notice to his presence. Hard stares, stillness, and darting figures, it all became apparent at one point or another. As far he knew, he was the largest predator on the island, or not. He didn’t think of it too much. That was a matter of the moment, and he didn’t foresee such a thing coming to him soon. Syna would dip behind Laviku’s watery veil within the hours. Before then, Tiki had time to marvel in the sunlight still. He was content with the world here. He peered forward and saw it all. Many feet above him, reaching high in the air like the canopy of Spires in darker shades, the trees covered over him. The ground was still littered with pine needles, as per Caiyha’s design and the flow of life. He saw the darting of a rabbit into its hole far off in the otherwise silent forest. Some little flutter flies or fire flies were gathering up from the moist ground to spring to life in the evening’s grace. He saw the first blinking of some phosphorescent bug, and soon they multiplied. There were pebbles and rocks the further away from the city he wandered. The flowers, caught somewhere between buds and full bloom, were lighting up in the withering sunlight. The soft glowing of the sun lit up everything as it pierced through the tree line. Tiki’s eyes merely adjusted and he kept looking forward. The whole while his mind raced over the wonders he was experiencing, or would soon experience. There was so much to see in the city, but he wondered how much was overlooked out here. A rock jutting up from the earth seemed displaced against the horizon further ahead. Beyond it there seemed to be a slope that leads to a clearing and at the center was a pond. Because there were no great trees to bear his weight, he though it a brilliant place to perhaps settle for a while. By nightfall, he would have turned back and returned to Hadrian, Aurrealis, and Kendall. They would like to see this, and of course Ethan probably has seen it. Ethan could see from the sky, a totally different perspective. Ethan would have seen the drop off ahead. Tiki came to a stop at the rock and climbed up on it. It was only wide enough for his front half, but he managed to perch there a moment and look over to the micro-world the pond held. There were flowers, lilies, growing all around. Their white pedals were caught in the same time freeze. The early bloomers were joined by other shrubbery that reflected in the pool. The water was blue, green, and black from this angle. The reflection was lit up by the fading sunglow clashing against the dark silhouette of the surrounding tree line. Tiki found his way around the drop off and settled closer. It smelled wonderful: the pond, the flowers, everything about the area. Little frogs danced in and out of the water shattering the surface in elliptical ripples. Little insects skated across the surface as they were chased by some fish below. There was a buzzing, some clicking. Beetles hovered past his ears and settled around him or on the plants. He brought new warmth to the environment. The chirping of a cricket provided the beat to an entirely new orchestra of lights and sounds. Night was coming, and the show was about to begin. The sun settled early this season. It might have been nearing the nineteenth bell of the day. Tiki found himself looking over into the pond. The earth below him was soft. The moss and grass kept the mud from coating his bottom side. He looked back into the pond now. Tiki saw himself in the far end near the water’s edge. The closer to his paws he looked, he more he saw of the clear blue sky that was starting to darken and trees that loomed over his being here. He flexed his claws into the grass and began to relax a bit more. He was on his side, lying down, and looking at the wonders nature offered.