The Forest

-13-

The sun was pale. It cast a lilac light over the forest, gradually drawing the damp and shadows out of their dark crevasses, grazing the lake's surface with colour. Snow grew glittery and sleek beneath the warmth of the dawn until its melt began to patter down. The few evergreen flowers scattered across the forest opened their petals to the showers and sun.

Dawn. It was a new day, the air warmer and kinder than many nights of late. The horizon looked bright.

Lucius was sat in the opening of the tent, smoking thoughtfully. He watched the forest wake up through a veil of smoke, as he had many times before, hoping that the new day's sun might shine some light on the thoughts that had withheld him from sleep. The world was still dreary and dazed at this hour, everything had that immobile feeling. A dismal ache in your head told you that you should be asleep. Shadows were in the wrong place because the sun hadn't properly risen, the horizon no longer dark but the sky not at all light. Everyday people watch day turn to night, but very few see the reverse. And only those who have sat and lain witness to the transition of total dark to light can understand the strange feelings it rouses.

Lucius exhaled smoke and watched it coagulate outwards, mixing with the cold air. It disappeared to mist a moment later. He had his jumper and shoes in a crumpled heap beside him, wearing nothing but his muddy black trousers and blue socks. It felt good to let the cold prickle his bare skin. With the little guys asleep not a few metres away and Avery's soft breathing in his ear, his head had filled with thoughts of Lyn, Azure and Aspen, Mike, Avery— relentlessly through the night. No matter how he tried to switch his thoughts off, he just hadn't been able to make himself feel tired. When he saw the tent walls lightening, he had decided what the heck and abandoned sleep altogether.

Lucius looked down at the jumper in his lap. His usual one was next to him, brown and frayed. This one was different. For one, it was smooth grey, unmarked. The cotton on the inside was still fluffy, the hood baggy and the aglets shiny. Untouched, unworn, not even a smear of dirt. It's getting cold at night, the scrawled writing echoed. He could almost hear Mike's nagging voice in his head, you better keep yourself warm.

Lucius inhaled more of the cigarette and shut his eyes, twisting the drawstrings around his fingers. Thinking.

"Lucius?"
He choked on the ashy innards of the cigarette and immediately started coughing. Lucius waved the cloud away and turned over his shoulder. A little figure was poking out of the bandage-birdnest he and Ave had made, nothing more than a speck of colour in the dark of the tent. Viridis was too busy rubbing his eyes to notice Lucius smoking.

Lucius smiled from ear to ear, "Hey." He tossed the cigarette away, into the pile of sticks, and crawled back into the tent, "You're awake." Thank god. One of the things that had been keeping Lucius awake was the look of those claw marks on the tiny boy's chest, such major injuries for such a little body.
Viridis opened one eye and looked up at him. In some ways, the sleepiness only made him seem more vulnerable, and Lucius had to stop himself from just reaching down and scooping the tiny boy into his hands.
"I woke up earlier," he murmured groggily "In the middle of the night... almost had a panic attack."
Lucius nodded sympathetically. He could imagine how scary it must be to wake up and find yourself in a dark tent, everything suddenly ten times bigger than you.
"Bree told me a human rescued us. I didn't believe her at first, thought she was delirious or something. But I looked down, and what do I see?" The boy smiled tiredly. "A human alright. None other than our own Lucius."
That made him feel nice. The relief in that smile, the way he said his name: Lucius, our Lucius. Lucius sometimes thought that the little guys thought too highly of him, Azure and her group especially... but then, he also suspected that he might not always be welcome around their tribes. Having a reminder that someone still liked him was nice.