Harmony 2

We woke to a late sun. There was a smell. I tried to remember how the night ended, if it ever did. I could recollect perfectly how it began, how much longer it seemed we would be walking. I couldn't regurgitate how we arrived. Zax asked. Iplith asked. It felt as though I swallowed a frog.

I wished desperately to know the scent of my surroundings.

The elders were already ambling about, performing duties. Performing. I watched too closely, my mind convinced that I wasn't there. My head was up in the trees where nobody could see my bemuse. I felt my face scrunch and twist. It was trying to decode the activities in front of it. I had forgotten that I should force into this day, the events of the night before. Life had lost continuity.

Soon I was possessed, too. The others as well. We followed some of the new elders about, the ones we were comfortable with. They didn't speak much. Not that they did much before, either. Today was an unsettling mix of non-descript chores and dichotomous breaks at seemingly regular intervals where... we could talk then? Who made this place? I knew I couldn't ask those kinds of questions. We all knew, even Zax. I tugged at Xertain's frock, "when do we eat?" I touched a pinch fist to my lips, gathering charm between my eyebrows.

Xertain's laugh was calming, "you know as much as me, wise one."

"So, let's go find some," my confidence grew.

"You, are in charge." Xertain brushed his knees and stood.

The group joined the flock instinctively, exiting camp on a well tread trail. Iplith showed increasing excitement as we progressed deeper into the forest. The trees were the same as home, they were not the same trees. The rocks were the same as home, they were not the same rocks. The moss grew on the moss side. The twigs crunched how twigs crunch. It, this place, however, did not feel like home.

"You were right! I didn't wan't-oo turn back." Iplith beamed. "It's all so... new!"

My eye's drifted to my flank, into a question. Iplith was credulous. I guess we all were. I didn't want to trample on the boy's excitement. It was a relief not to need to constantly convince another to carry forward when you didn't have a promised end. The trail widened, a meadow of sorts. I hadn't seen one like this. It was a horseshoe forest, a wildflower parcel inside. At the end, the sky. The world ended beyond the flowers.