Late in the morning.
Midlar chatter from the tree tops.
Morning bird chorus
dwindled to the "What now?"
of the celedon.
Odymn retreats from the fire.
Watches the Slain as he sleeps.
Watches We-le-gone as he contemplates
a fluttering leaf
on a grammid tree.
Like watching
her cousin read Tolstoy
with his finger,
mouthing every word.
Odymn jittery.
Longs to run.
Shakes her wrists.
Tries to straighten her broken fingers.
Stretches toes towards her knees.
Stands. Puts hands
flat on the ground.
As she lifts her head,
the Slain wakens.
Odymn sees apology
in his amethyst eyes.
Odymn takes
two running steps
across the clearing.
Leaps to a rock.
To a branch of banyan.
Twist and dismount.
Lazy vault across a fallen tree.
Duck beneath a branch
and a forward roll.
Springy sticks beneath her back,
give of moss under her hands.
Her purple running shoes,
punctuate uneven ground.
Shoes take her on a free run
along the edge of The Churn.
Odymn is an elginard,
no purpose or goal,
a whim of The Churn wind
drifting between rocks and trees.
Back to the forest
and Odymn puts her right foot
to the bark of a tree.
Walks the vertical and flips.
Walks and flips again.
Turns and cartwheels
between close-growing trees.
Comes to a stop
in a quiet grove.
Pauses.
Heart pounds in her ears.
The direct way blocked
by a twist of find-a-way
climbing in a crooked yarnel.
A drift of slag-fern
leans against a jagged rock.
A midlar balances tip-toe
on a broken branch.
Juice drips from the yarnel fruit
he clutches in his paws.
"Sorry to startle you," she laughs.
But freezes.
The midlar not looking her way
but across the clearing
to a still dark void in the green.
A curve of white teeth,
drooling.
The kotildi clacks twice
and snarls.
Long guttural rumble
shatters the calm.
Whites of the kotildi's eyes
swivel from the midlar.
Focus on Odymn.
YOU ARE READING
Meniscus: One Point Five - Forty Missing Days
Science FictionAfter the Slain is shot, Odymn and an Argenop elder work together to try and return him to good health. As they journey towards the Themble, survival is a challenge. Odymn must add to her foraging skills and survive an attack by the vicious kotildi...
