[twwm] where the trail ends: glorious leap - menri

The sound of the creek behind him fell away, replaced by the deepening roar of fast, large amounts of water. The forest let him go, and he stumbled into the new area of this strange world, overlooking a clearing in the woods, where cold and golden sunshine fell through the bare branches of the trees, and highlighted the stones lying at the edge of a pool. The pool was filled with the same cool and clear water from the creek before, but instead its source was the rushing, tumbling spray of a cascade, falling from the mouth of the creek into a playful arc down into the pool below.

Menri was mesmerized by the power shown here, in this simple act of water dripping down into a new area, caught by the earth that had been carved out over years to cradle the stream as it fell. A cloudless sky arched over the forest ahead, illuminating everything in painterly strokes of gold.

The sound built up, deafening everything else in the woods, seeming to frighten away the trees, as they crept further out, ringing the sunlit clearing with its clear water and rough rocks. Something beneath the tumultuous, boisterous waterfall called to him, pulling at him and his own sound with a clear chirp, sounding like birdsong from the mouth of a bell.

He paced at the edge of the cliff, looking down anxiously. The ground seemed so far below. Couldn’t he float down? He’d seen friends in the Conservatory floating where they wished, without a care in the world as leaves on a strong breeze. Menri bent further over the edge, trying to judge the distance between himself and a safe landing. What if he couldn’t float here? His birds, his flowers, even the jade sitting comfortably on his chest were gone. Who’s to say his strange ability wasn’t too?

But he couldn’t be hurt here, out of his element, but certainly not unfamiliar with what and who he was. Menri took a deciding breath, and stepped into the creek, enjoying the smooth feel of pebbles under his paws, slipping by as fast as the water swept. Menri walked on, further into the water, and stood where it rushed down into the crystal pool below. The wind brushed his fur back, ruffling the little mane on the back of his neck, filling him with determination.

The wind and the hum were calling, and they were at the bottom of this waterfall. And then he dove, a swan dive to the deep below, falling slowly to the water as his ability kicked in, letting him descend like a leaf being lowered to the ground, descending, and dogpaddling once he hit the water itself. The clearness of the water below him was enchanting, and it sparkled in the late day sunlight as dapples glimmered across its surface. Through the water, Menri could see growing things beginning to blossom once again, growth sparked by the winter’s thaw, and the lazy swimming of awakening fishes, hopeful to find their way to the top of the waterfall once again.

Menri swam to the edge of the pool and dragged himself out, happy and calm. With a long stretch of his back, he set about exploring after his dive down from the top of the falls. The rocks here at the edges of the still pool were covered in lichens and mosses, and the ground was swept together in bunches at their bases, covering them in cooling earth that had not been warmed by the winter sun.

The forest still seemed to push back, away from this ring of peace and serenity, almost like they were calling Menri in deeper, beckoning him with branches that blew in a gentle brushing breeze, one that made the surface of the pond ripple, echoing its force across the still glass surface.

Could he possibly leave this place, that had seemed like the end of his journey? The pull, the resonance of his hum had called him to the bottom of the deep pool, beckoned him into its cool depths, and he had followed blindly. Now that the signals were gone, the broadcasting vibration that tolled underneath him was gone, where was he to travel to?

Menri faced the forest again, watching as the wind rippled the very tops of the trees, bending and swaying with every exhale of the breeze. Then he turned his head back to the cascading water and its pool, to the sound of something other than whispering boughs and hidden birds.

Setting his shoulders, standing his ground, Menri felt ready to finish this quest, this calling in his chest, the singing of the woods that had drawn him in originally. He began walking yet again, striding confidently between the brambles and underbrush, a shadow fleeing into the embrace of the trees.