[Silver]

Flickers of light escaped through the dense leaves, dancing across her wings for just a moment before blinking away again. The sun stood no chance of seeing the ground here. The trees, ancient and stubborn, refused to give way. Each rare beam of light existed only briefly before being swallowed up by the eternal fog.

Curiosity was a cruel master, which Nimbus knew all too well. There was no way he could stay away from a place like this for long. Everything about it was mysterious and beautiful. It was almost as if the soul of the forest was calling out to him, beckoning him ever closer. For better or worse, Nimbus was not one to be cautious about this sort of thing. All he had to protect him was a delicate little butterfly creature perched between his ears.

[Silver]

With a flicker of wings she lifted off and floated up into the trees. Leaves drifted gently down around her as she rose ever higher. The bright colors of her wings stood out like a beacon of happiness against the cold dark trees. Lei landed delicately on a thin branch that swayed minutely with her weight. From there, she was able to survey the forest around them.

Nimbus slowly tilted his head up to follow her as she gracefully fluttered to her perch. The beauty of her movements brought a smile to his face. Florana sure were pretty little things. This one in particular, he thought. Though, he had to admit that he was biased.

[Silver]

By the time she had chosen a branch to land on, he could barely see her among the tree tops. It made him worry a bit, but he knew he could trust her. Lei was too smart and fast to get herself into too much trouble. Though in a place like this, he felt much less confident. There were too many unknowns.

"Find anything interesting?" Nimbus said quietly toward the sky. Lei couldn't understand him anyway, so he would rather not draw attention to himself by being loud. All that mattered was her hearing him speak at all. The actual words were just for his own sake. Strange as it sounded, talking to a creatures that never respond was a way of keeping himself sane.

[Silver]

Her long tail swayed along with the branches in the soft breeze, making it look like a star dancing among the tree tops. Though it was just a tiny speck from the ground, Nimbus found the sight of it comforting. A guiding star to show him the way on his journey. As long as he could still see her star, he knew she was okay.

Now that she had spent some time surveying the forest, Lei floated down alongside the falling leaves. She touched down on the crown of the boy's head. Nimbus watched her come toward him until his eyes were forced to cross. Her tail wrapped around the back of his head to rest on his shoulder near his neck. They both found the little bit of skin contact comforting.

[Silver]

"Where to?" Nimbus asked, tilting his head in vain to look up at her. In response, Lei tapped on the left side of his head a couple of times. Figuring that was good enough, he headed off to the left.

His pace was slower than usual as he navigated the thick forest. The fog that obscured the ground combined with thick roots and branches put a damper on his ability to travel. Nimbus wondered if it was often this foggy or he had just picked a bad day to explore. With his luck, it was the latter. Though he wondered if the dense tree cover had anything to with it. Truthfully, he had no idea, so he decided to just accept it and trudge through.

[Silver]

The sharp loud call of a bird made Nimbus jump. The fur on his neck and tails puffed up as his body went into defense mode. His first reaction was to shield Lei with his hand. No doubt she looked like a tasty snack for a big enough bird. She did not appreciate her newly limited field of vision, so she quickly squirmed her way past his hand.

"Come here," Nimbus cooed softly. He carefully wrapped his hand around her and plucked her off his head. Her tiny hands clutched at his hair, pulling some of it with her as she went. He winced but did not blame her for being afraid. If he were that small, he would certainly be uncomfortable if someone grabbed him.

"It's okay," he reassured. "I want you here where I can protect you."

[Silver]

Despite not hearing from the bird again, Nimbus cradled the Florana close to his chest. Now that she knew what was happening, she finally settled down. "There we go," he whispered, gently stroking her back to comfort her.

Nimbus squinted into the fog, looking for any sign of the noisy intruder. As far as he could tell, there wasn't anything there. That could be a very good or very bad thing. He couldn't be sure. Either something was there and it got away before he could locate it, or he had imagined the whole thing. The first option seemed more likely, but that left the possibility that it wasn't too far away. They would have to be more careful moving forward.

"I think we're safe for now," he concluded. Though he did continue to keep his voice down. Just in case.

[Silver]

They continued their adventure in silence for a while. Normally Nimbus was quite talkative, but this place was making him uncomfortable. It wasn't just the sudden squawking, either. Something didn't feel right, but he had trouble grasping what was wrong. Paranoia crept in and he was visibly startled by every small sound and movement. His ears were flat pressed against the side of his head and his tails clung to his legs.

Lei was happy with the quietness, but she was nonetheless restless. It was difficult for her to see what was going on which wouldn't be such a problem were it not for his jumpiness. She felt like she had to so something to help the situation. First she tried pulling on his shirt, but he didn't seem to notice. Looks like she would have to try something bigger to get his attention.

[Silver]

Lei escaped his grasp and spread her wings. At that point he was far too distracted to notice her moving around. The way she floated away seemed effortless, though it was anything but. From there, she hovered up near his face where she was sure he would see her. There's no way he was going to ignore her now!

Nimbus let out a miserable sounding squeak and stumbled backwards. By the time he realized what the thing that suddenly appeared in his face was, he was already starting to fall. He reached out to steady himself, but he was already too far gone. His butt hit the ground with a solid thud followed promptly by a whimpering groan.

[Silver]

Lei flitted about in a panic. This was not how it was supposed to go at all! There was nothing she could do but watch as he fell. If only she weren't so tiny! She felt more helpless than ever. This was all her fault. If only she could tell him how sorry she was.

"Calm down, sweetie. I'm okay, really," he insisted. He reached up to touch her, but doing so jabbed something sharp into his side. He flinched away from the pain and dropped his arm back down. Standing up would probably fix that problem, but he wasn't ready for that yet. For now he just going to sit there and wait for his butt to stop hurting.

[Silver]

She did not at all think it was okay. The Florana flew in a couple of tight little loops as she tried to figure out what to do. There was little chance of her physically being able to help him, so she settled on being as comforting as she could. Lei very gingerly landed on his shoulder and leaned against him, gently nuzzling his cheek.

"Thanks," Nimbus said, awkwardly bending his arm to gently stroke her back. "I feel much better now," he insisted. The statement was at least mostly true, as the pain was fading away quickly. It would certainly be sore later, but it was no longer the sharp sting he felt at first.

[Silver]

"Want to help me up?" Nimbus asked, stretching his paw out and extending a single finger. Lei stopped her rubbing to look between his face and his finger, not really understanding what he was getting at. "You can do it," he cheered her on, waggling her finger to draw attention to it.

She seemed to get the hint, because she floated over to his paw to inspect it. Did he hurt it? She floated around for a moment to inspect the outstretched finger. As far as she could see, it was fine. Nonetheless, she wrapped the very tip of her tail around it thinking it might help.

"Perfect," he said, pulling himself to his feet as though he was being lifted by his finger. Nimbus held back another wince. It still hurt a bit, but he didn't want to worry his little friend more than he already did.

[Silver]

Now they could get back to exploring! Nimbus looked around at the forest and his expression slowly faded from excitement to concern. Which way were they going, again? Everything looked exactly the same, and it was still very dark and foggy in every direction. No wonder he tripped.

Lei was pretty happy with how everything turned out until she saw his face melt into a confused frown. They were right back where they started! At least this time, she had an idea of what not to do. Maybe if they continued where they left off, he would perk up again. She knew how much he loved exploring new places, after all.

[Silver]

Though he was totally lost, she knew exactly where she was going. Lei flew over to a low hanging branch she noticed earlier and perched on it. She flicked her wings and swayed her tail, trying to get Nimbus' attention.

A flash of bright blue at the edge of his vision caught his attention. His eyes snapped over to it, and he was relieved to find that it was only Lei. Watching where he was going this time, he made his way over to her.

"What is it, sweetie?" In response, Lei dropped off the branch and flew ahead. Nimbus shrugged and followed after her. He had no idea where he was going anyway, so he might as well follow her. She seemed pretty confident about her choice which was more than he could say about himself.

[Silver]

Lei kept checking back to make sure he was following. So far so good! She moved slowly through the branches to make sure they wouldn't get separated. She dreaded to think of what would happen to him without her there to guide him.

The branches became more abundant and tangled as they continued. Did that mean they were on the right track? Nimbus couldn't really tell. Luckily he was small, and it was easy enough to duck and weave through them. As the trees got thicker, so too did the fog. That made him even more uneasy, if such a thing were possible. He just couldn't shake the feeling that this path led to... something.