“Kyra, if you are real quiet, we might see a family of pufferbills come down the valley,” said Papa. “Have you ever seen a pufferbill before?”
“No Papa,” said Kyra, her deep blue eyes wide with anticipation and wonder.
Papa smiled. Was he teaching her, he wondered, or was she mentoring him in the ways of joy. With each advancing year he valued more the raw curiosity and innocence of youth.
“Kyra, look to your right. Here comes a family now. Mom is out front, dad is watching the rear and baby is tucked safely in between. Pufferbills live for more than a hundred years and are considered some of the most intelligent life forms on Hyneria.”
“What makes them so special Papa?”
“Well, Fossil Valley can be a very dangerous place and on more than one occasion a wayward Hynerian has gotten lost in the valley without food or water. Pufferbills have always come to their rescue. The mother stays with the stranded traveler, bringing food and water while the father floats back to base camp at the entrance to the valley. The only time the males come to base camp is to lead a search party back to the stranded traveler.”
“And Kyra.”
“Yes Papa?”
“There is one other thing that makes them very special creatures.”
Kyra’s coal black eyebrows rose ever so slightly.
“If the search party is delayed . . .”
“Yes Papa.”
“If the search party is delayed, pufferbills will sacrifice their own wellbeing, even their life, to protect the stranded party. There is not another creature as selfless as pufferbills.”
“Can you hear me Kyra? Kyra?
“What loving creatures Papa.”
“Kyra, wakeup sweetie. Kyra, I have an important message for you. Come drink your snizzle before it gets cold.”
“Goldie, what are you doing here?”
“Waking you up sweetie,” said Goldie. “Sounds like you had a wonderful dream. We do miss Papa don’t we?”
“Yes Goldie, I do miss Papa. I miss him very much,” said Kyra, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “How did I end up in my quarters?”
“I’ll let Trev fill you in. I’m afraid he needs to talk to you about Kieran.”
“Oh My Janus, Goldie.” What has happened?”
“I’d better let Trev tell you sweetie. He said to send you down to his lab as soon as you were awake. Should I . . .”
Before Goldie could finish, Kyra was out the door.
43 comments:
Frac*tastic!!!
Surreal. It's like seeing invading microbes in a strange blood stream, or, something! lol!
what an absolutely cool image!
hope you are having a great wednesday darlin :0)
Thanks Sunshine. Are you feeling any better sweetie?
Lot of different ways I could go with this one Alexandra. Mmmm, where does this take the story. If anyone knows please let me know. :-D
Trace, that is exactly what I said after I created this one. I love the fossilized ground and mountains. Speaking of mountains, how are you doing under all that paperwork? Milk and cookies to be delivered soon, with stetson of course. :-)
I love the way you've captured the motion in the sky yet it's a frozen image in time. I'm probably not making much sense...
how u been Tre hunkz?
Keshi.
Chicky, your words are as beautiful as your photos and both always make my heart flutter with the anticipation of a hint of flirtation. Morning darlin'. :-)
Oh, and thanks for the kind words.
Keshi, I've been missing my angel from down under. So good to see you stopping by again my dear sweet dark-haired friend. :-)
hey darlin, hope you are having a fab evening :0D
Just a quiet evening. Trying to decide if I'm in the mood to write and if I am how the heck this image fits into the story at this point. Scratches head and walks back to the kitchen for more ice cream. :-)
How is your mountain coming along?
just a lil 'ole mole hill now, and life is good :0)
what kinda ice cream we havin on this beautiful night :0D
Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia. At least I think that's what it's called. I've been wrong before. :-D
sounds good :0) prefer B&J Phish Food myself LOL but in a pinch Cherry Garcia would work :0) Enjoy your ice cream, I'm gonna go get a bit of work done before Thursday in blogland rolls around ;0)
Evening :-)
No rush on the story from our side - as you know by now, we are a patient lot.
Also, you could break your own rules and use another image first.
Then again, it may just come to you during Cherry Garcia.
Whenever, wherever, however - its gonna be great!
I have the vague outline in my head and it has a wonderful little cliffhanger at the end. This image involves Kyra, perhaps past and present, perhaps not. Regardless, we are heading back to B-4-0. I need to see my baby again. I miss those deep blue eyes and that cat-like strut in black leather. The heaving like the morning dawn bosoms aren't bad either. :-D
By the way, if you want to see what the front of these creatures look like, head over to Trebuchet for a slightly different tail-less version. :-)
You sound excited :-D Great chapter in the making, for sure!
This next chapter will be average, nothing special, but it does get us back to my baby. :-)
There is no such thing as an "average" chapter. Just like there is no such thing as "average" art :) This piece is way way beyond "average"!
Not every sentence can be exciting, but each is so very well written. Looking forward to seeing Kyra again - she's a great gal.
Dream sweet, x
Hello Tree,
Great work as always. Looks like another world alright.
good morning sweetie, hope you have a great thursday (hugs)
Jenni, I need to reflect on your comment. I think I like what I think you mean and I think that is a good thing for me to nudge my perspective in the right direction. :-)
Thanks for your kind words.
Sunshine, you are so very sweet to me and I do appreciate every bit of it. I think I've been reading too many writer's blogs with advice on how or how not to write and now I'm confused. Maybe I should ask Zeke what to do. :-)
Hope you are feeling better tonight. I have more chicken soup if you need it.
Mark, always good to see you stopping by. I wonder sometimes why I'm so attracted to my imagination. I think in part it's escapism, plain and simple--like going to the movies. I think in part it's control--an environment that is shaped by me and me alone, when and where and how. It's a place only with characters I want, and they say and do what I want them to. Maybe the story gives me a sense of control that eludes me in real life. See, this is what you get before my second cup of coffee. I have no idea why your comment brought forth all this goobly goop. Hope you're doing well my friend. :-)
Morning my little nurse. You know, from this point forward you will always be associated in my mind with that pic. You might as well stop now, cause I just don't see how you are going to top that, although I do have a few thoughts. :-D
Just listen to you (if that makes sense), it brought the story this far and beautifully.
Morning, x
ooh ooh ooh, very exciting!!!
Average, smaverage, was good! "Pufferbills", think I just may remember that word always :-)
EW!
Thank you sweetie. Next up, we learn the fate of Kieran. I wonder what Trev knows and how Kyra got from bloody fists to asleep in her quarters. :-)
I wonder too :-)
Good thing I am not a nail biter, Kieran would have left me with nothing - very much looking forward to the next chapter.
Have a lovely afternoon and evening, x
Sunshine, the fractal that moves the story forward from here, unless I change my mind, you've already seen. I'll leave the teaser at that. :-)
the fractal that moves the story forward from here, unless I change my mind, you've already seen.
ya big tease LOL
excellent, wow, fab, mag and all that good stuff :0)
hope you are having a great day (hugs)
:-) Such a tease, but at least we know you deliver the goods.
"ya big tease"
And this coming from Hellllooooo Nurse. ROTFLMAO!!!
:0D
LOL yeah I know, hello pot this is the kettle ROFLMAO
Are you ready for your big date tomorrow? Dinner, movie? Can you text message us in the midst to give us some indication of how it's going? :-D
:0D LOL I think you'll just have to settle for a post when I get home :0)
Oooh, now is that home the same night or the next day? :-D
Just want to know if I should stay up. :-)
LOL it will be home the same nite LOL gotta behave....at least on the first date LOL
Wow Tree - I particularly loved the passage about him wondering if he is teaching her or if it is actually the other way around - so beautiful and poetic!!
I grew up thinking older people were wise. As I get older I think more and more that the youngest amoung us have the most wisdom--they just don't know it.
Thanks for the kind word J.
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