Stretches of Silence

It was nothing more than curiosity that drove Aerndis to see how close she could get to the volcano that had erupted. The skies to the east had cleared, the tremors had stopped and as far as she could tell the mountain seemed still. Though as she approached she thought she saw the faintest coil of ash and smoke rising up from its gaping mouth. Griff and Kitta accompanied her on her trip but they traveled in silence. There was something foreboding and somber about the event and as they arrived at the base of the mountain, they arrived to a field of charcoaled black landscape.

It had taken some time to make the journey and by the time they'had arrived the sun was already starting its downward path, casting a golden glow over the mountain that made the shadows even darker and deeper. "What a mess," she said softly. There was no sign of any living plant life, just the skeletons of trees covering the mountainside.

Kitta pulled up beside her, lightly nudging the wolf with her feline shoulder. "It will come back, though I do not know if it will do so in our life time or not."

Aerndis nodded. She'd heard of other lands that had plant life that had once been volcanos. One thing was for sure, it would be a long time before they saw the trees again. Those would take years to grow back though at the moment Aerndis had a hard time believing anything could grow through the thick coating of ash and cooled lava that had frozen in place on the mountain. Aerndis began to climb. She did not plan to go too high. There might be some that would wish to look into the mouth of the volcano but she had no such desire. She assumed the mountain was dormant but it was difficult to tell. She had not been through a volcanic eruption before. She had no definitive way to know that it was officially all over. Plus she was wary of earthquakes. She did not need to be walking around the mouth of the volcano and falling in because the earth started shaking.

"Aerndis." Her ears perked up as she padded over to where Kitta was staring at a deer skeleton. There was nothing left but the bones and even those seemed to have been burned and dissolved in some places. She shuddered. If there were deer skeleton's here there was the possibility that she would find a wolf skeleton. She didn't know how to feel about that. She hoped the deer had not suffered to much. She was glad she hadn't been so close to the volcano when it had erupted. She wasn't sure what would be worse, getting struck by the lava or suffocating from the burning ash. Aerndis hoped she'd never have to find out.

Rudy landed nearby, his feathers fluffing up for a moment as he gazed out at the destruction. "Well, hopefully now that its erupted it will be a long time before it erupts again." Aerndis nodded but bit her lip. She hoped he was right but she did not know enough about volcanos to know if it was really true. It had certainly scarred the land there was no doubt about that. As far as she could tell there were no other living things in sight. No plants, no animals, no birds, no insects. It was terribly depressing. She reached out a paw, claws extended as she pressed at a piece of dried lava that looked almost like a bubble. It was ashy and strange and crumbled beneath her paws. Aerndis let out a sigh. "How can anything grow in this."

Kitta reached out and nuzzled her shoulder. "Plant life has grown in such places before. It will grow here again. It will just take some time. What say we go explore some where else? This place is depressing and there is little it can offer us now."

Aerndis nodded. Kitta turned to leave, the mountain lion padding silently down the mountain as Rudy took to the air. He glided gracefully on the up current then eased his way down to where Kitta was. Aerndis hesitated. She turned again to look up at the mountain. The sun was setting lower now and dark clouds were gathering in the sky. She prayed that such a terrible event would never happen again. Then carefully, placing one paw after the other, she worked her way down to where her companions were waiting. The tree stood at the base of the volcano. It was truly a magnificent mountain, magnificent and terrible. What angry fire lurked beneath the earth. It made Aerndis shudder to think and with that she was ready to go and leave this place. Turning she put the volcano behind her and trotted back toward Fireside.