Crystal Children

The call of someone down the beach draws Maude’s eyes with a gentle start, her attention having naively been drawn out to the motion of the water, rather than those about her. Feeling her body ease as she realizes it’s just a little girl, her ears perk forward from their wary, sidelong position, looking out at what appears to be a hybrid, colored like soil, and flecked with lighter patches, as if she were dappled sunlight. With her is an owl, which draws Maude’s attention as all companions do; though she knew more about plants, she also really liked animals, too. The girl seems nice, her call cheerful enough that the copper kissed filly moves towards her, especially after being told she was from Helovia. Not the sort to distrust anyone, and homesick herself, it felt good to see someone who knew what she was going through, at least a little bit. She’d barely seen anyone since she got here, which, Maude supposed, made sense. The whole forest was just about the worst place she had ever been in her life, besides that stinky, black marsh that Kaos had holed up in, ,and it had not stopped raining for even a moment’s time in days. No wonder people didn’t want to live here – it was terrible. "Me too!" answers the girl, pausing with a smile, its usually limitless bounds held down by the sadness which hangs in her heart; nodding hello, she does try to be friendly as she might, eager to have any sort of friend in this frightening, awful new place, "I’m Maude, a gardener from the World’s Edge." MaudeHow should we like it if the stars were to burn With a passion for us we could not return? If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me.

Image Credits | Table