Storm Season | Shelha Series 2 | ✔

Chapter Twenty-Four: Scattered With the Wind

We held together through it all,

Through ev'ry rise, through ev'ry fall.

They could not break us, though we stood

Where no other alliance could.

We kept our grip until the end,

But one last blow we could not fend;

Like moulted fur, we come unpinned;

Like dust, we scatter on the wind.

Loki awoke in the second canopy to find Whipper's tree three tail-lengths farther away than it had been when they had bedded down. It took a moment of panic and a seventh sense to locate the Forester, who was still asleep.

Navigating the branches with the knowledge that he was still a tree's height off the ground was not fun. At least he couldn't see the forest floor.

Whipper was not asleep after all. Loki found him lying in a woven nest, just staring into the forest.

The Forester startled when greeted. "Oh... hi. I thought you were on that side."

"My tree moved." Loki threw a glance over his shoulder, surprised Whipper hadn't noticed his absence. The place he had been last evening was perfectly visible. Well... last whatever. Not that this cave-world had evening. "I'm starving."

Whipper nodded and got up.

"Should we mark this place?" said Loki. Safe sleeping spots were rare in this forest.

"Why?"

"Well, just in case. I was thinking if we marked enough spots, we might be able to find one later when we needed it."

The Forester shrugged and walked away. Loki grabbed two twigs and lodged them in the bark in a triangle shape. He would prefer to leave a scratch, but that would give information about himself to anyone passing by.

Travelling with Whipper in the trees wasn't easy. The Forester didn't bounce most branches he touched, and he leaped between them so carelessly it made Loki sick just to watch. At last Whipper signalled him to wait, and vanished down through the leaves. Loki could hear a stream below. He could not remember the last time he had felt this content to let someone else investigate water.

There was a canopy clearing not far away. Whipper had not been gone long when the sound of quick, soft wingbeats infiltrated the air. Loki sank back into shadow.

Across the clearing was a bird. Or rather, it looked like a bird. Loki had seen no birds in this place so far, and he had never seen one like this. It was blue, but appeared to be covered in a fine, fur-like down rather than feathers. Its wings were no wider than his paw, but long and very flat. And it was big. Loki strained his eyes, trying to see beyond those rapid wingbeats.