Jeane has a minion!

Ticker the Flufferkins

She walked through the forest; her forest. Ever so softly, her hooves making barely any noise through the brittle leaves on the ground. She was a ghost, hidden amongst the trees.

The trees in her forest would often tell her stories; sharing the memories of their long lives. She would listen to every one of them, and while they often repeated stories, each had their own perspective on events.

She nuzzled one tree with her velvety nose, this one was perhaps her favourite out of the whole forest. It wasn’t the oldest, it wasn’t the tallest or the straightest. But it had a unique perspective of the world that she appreciated.

She felt the tree reach out to her mind, and accepted it into her own. The forest immediately turned dark, it was the middle of a storm. The worst the forest had seen in years. Winds buffetted the trees about, while rain pounded their trunks and branches. The small creatures of the forests had sought shelter, but one poor lain hadn’t made it back quickly enough. It tried helplessly to fly towards its nest, but eventually was thrown back into the trunk of her tree. Luckily, her tree had a small knot that was big enough for a hiding place for the bird.

She retreated from her tree, thanking it for the story. She moved on, aimlessly wandering from tree to tree, each reaching out to her mind trying to speak to her. Some she allowed, some she did not. She saw a small wyllop, running from an noktoa before being snatched up into the air. She saw humans, hiking through the forest. Another human, climbing up one of the trees, breaking its branches carelessly.

Finally, she found herself at the oldest tree in the forest. It was gnarled with age, but it was beautiful in it’s own way. She had tried to listen to its stories so many times, but many of them were so painful she hadn’t been able to listen to the end. Stories of other trees being chopped down around it. The lightning strike that had split it’s trunk so many years ago. And the forest fire. That was the hardest. She had felt the heat, the smoke. Seen the forest creatures running from the flames, some swallowed up if they weren’t quick enough. The aftermath, when the tree had seen its fellows burned to cinders, dead. She couldn’t bear the anguish. But this time, she would try. Perhaps this time, she would finish the story.

overlay: creek profile: beer story: Trithie
Tree vector created by Freepik