Sunflower - Chapter 23 (Patreon)

Fire is a most curious thing.

Burch sits in the darkness, her face engulfed by the haunting glow of the dancing flame.

A week has passed, since the hatching of the spider babies, who I have left to fend for themselves on meadows and plains now far gone.

- I am a harsh mother.

Or father.

I am unsure.

I am a sunflower. We have both types of reproductive features.

I am a harsh mother-father.

But this is the way of nature.

Of the thousand and then some young, only a handful will survive predation, hunger and the elements.

But those who do survive will grow strong and fat and they will get to have thick, sturdy legs, like their mother before them.

Burch does not have thick, sturdy legs.

However, despite her weak, stringy features, she has managed to walk far on very little sustenance.

- And now, we have found a new curiosity.

We have wandered over the meadows and through the forests and across the hills and rivers of the world, west of the great-water and we have come unto a savannah.

Grass, tall, yellow and wispy, covers the world in all directions.

Sparsely dotted trees with odd forms adorn the landscape, together with an unusual rock, found here or there as well.

Here, upon the savannah, we have found a ruin.

It is tall and cylindrical in a way that is most unnatural.

I assume it is the work of her ilk, once more.

But this ruin, this ‘tower’ is destroyed and broken, not by the ravages of fire or through  the huntings of the hobgoblins, but rather, simply by time itself.

Burch lifts her gaze, staring through the missing roof of the tower, out towards the night-sky, watching as the smoke of her fire rises up through it, carrying away to join the clouds above our heads.

- I wonder if that’s what clouds are?

Smoke.

Perhaps all clouds are simply just… tufts of smoke, having drifted from the ground towards the sky, like a bird that can never land?

Wow.

I gaze up towards it, together with my friend, watching the mischievous clouds, who hide the stars from our sight every now and then.

Her ilk, together with the ravages of nature, must have made a lot of smoke, for this to be the case.

- There are so many clouds.

__________________________________________________________

We hide.

(Burch) has toggled: [The thing in the woods]

Most intriguingly, I watch as my friend blends into the backdrop like a lizard, pressing her back and myself against some large, brown rocks, which are spread throughout the savannah plains.

- I like lizards.

They eat many bugs, who would try to consume my leaves and roots.

They also have funny tongues and faces.

Lizards are cute.

Grazing animals eat their fill of the grasses nearby and drink their share of the waters of the pond, which my friend has found, using a stick and a most curious technique.

However, we do not hide in order to aid our successful hunt for nourishment.

We hide because the hobgoblins are here.

A group of them, taller than usual, with very long legs and arms, far longer than those of their familiar compatriots, stride over the plains with crude spears in hand.

Scouts of some kind, perhaps?

I assume that these sort are a bit like wandering bees, searching out around the world for sights of beautiful flowers, to bring back to their hive.

That way, the others might know which way to fly too.

They sniff around, having picked up some scent and the group disperses into a loose formation, spreading out to search out the area.

The grazing animals, akin to smaller, sharply horned deer, move away, but do not flee, as they do not seem to appreciate the lanky hobgoblins as threats.

One of them climbs onto our rocks and I can hear it, sniffing and grunting like a hog, greedily searching the forest floor for mushrooms to eat.

- Please do not eat my friend. I have already identified that she is not a mushroom.

Burch’s heart beats and she presses herself back tighter against the rock, her bag compressing, the dirt stuffed inside of it squishing together, along with my roots.

I find it unpleasant.

But I bear it for her sake.

A loud snarl comes from the side.

An animal screams.

The hobgoblin sniffing up on our rock scampers away and we watch as the group comes back together, hacking apart a deer that they have hunted.

The animal kicks and squirms, but its hind tendons have been pierced by jagged spears, pressed through its lower quarters.

As it lays on the ground and struggles, they descend upon it to eat it.

Despite the animal’s protests, they continue to dig into its belly and chest cavity.

It does not die. They gorge themselves on its meat.

Burch takes her chance and slips around the rock, running the other way, while they are distracted.

[Sunflower]

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP

EXP: 09/450

EXP (Burch): 85/240

__________________________________________________________

There is a thing in the water.

Burch sits on the embankment, gazing out into the water of the lake.

The body of the lake captures the crimson sunset, pulling its glorious, red light into itself, as if greedily trying to keep it all.

- I understand.

But I would not do the same.

The sun is for us all.

However, here, where the rays of evening sunlight converge, here, where the waters of the lake come to a central force, here sits a thing.

- A very big fish.

Burch stares at the very big fish, which idly floats, halfway atop the surface of the lake, basking in the light of the sun.

The very big fish stares back at us.

Wow.

I never knew that fish could get this big.

Yet, there it is.

The fish is easily the size of Burch and then some.

I feel as if the fish were the size of ten or maybe even eleven Burches.

- A curious thing.

Imagine if there was more than one Burch?

How would I ever decide which one to travel with?

Hmm.

No matter.

This theoretical exercise is a distraction.

There is only one Burch and there is only one me, as there is only one, very big fish.

But why?

Why is the fish this big?

For what purpose?

- I can not say.

As a fish, it does not look particularly threatening, but also not particularly friendly.

It looks like a fish.

Just bigger.

“Why is it so big…?” mutters Burch under her breath, repeating my question for herself.

I do wish that I had an answer for you, Burch.

But I do not.

A question to which there is no answer.

This is what makes life so amazing, no?

What fun would it be, if we knew why the fish was big?

Burch and I stare at the very big fish and the very big fish stares at us.

The three of us enjoy the sunset.

__________________________________________________________

A new day has come.

[Sunflower]

You bask in the light of the sun

+ 1 EXP

EXP: 14/450

EXP (Burch): 90/240

We have opted to walk around the lake.

For this, I am grateful.

It is not that I fear the very big fish.

- I do not.

However, I am simply not partial to swimming.

I am a sunflower.

Not a swimflower.

Haha.

Burch wanders down the shore of the lake. It will take us some time to walk around.

The very big fish sits in the center of it as before and it turns along with us, always watching us, but never leaving its position.

I suppose that, as a very big fish, there is just not much to see?

It makes sense to me.

Imagine being stuck in a small lake, as a very big fish?

- It must be very bothersome.

I turn towards the very big fish and spread out my petals and my blossoms wide, doing a little dance for it, so that it might have something unusual to see today.

After all, it is not every day that a very big fish in a very small lake sees a very unusual sunflower, doing a most curious dance.

Goodbye, very big fish.

We eventually walk around the lake and head further towards the west.

After a minute more, a great splashing comes from behind us and Burch and I turn to look, as off in the distance, five lanky hobgoblins are ripped into the sun-washed water by a very big mouth.

- What a world.