Sierra moved swiftly across the outskirts of the territory. The large, ancient trees loomed like slumbering giants before them. So vast, they blotted out the sky. To Sierra they were almost incomprehensible. As they finally hit the tree line, the first one she found was a broken trunk lying haphazardly on its side. Its inners hollow, and cavernous. She stepped inside, squinting at the darkness. “Hello!” she called out, and hello, hello, hello bounded out around her.

She giggled softly, and looked back to her overgrown beast of a brother. Malik was there, right behind her. It was hard to beat him anywhere, when she had to take ten steps to his every one. You’d think she’d learn.

“Race you to the other side” she shrieked, and took off like a bullet. Dashing across the uneven surface. Grass, broken up decaying foliage and half hidden roots and sticks.


"Sierra of the Sea"

Malik walked by some of the absolutely massive trees that made up the forrest of oaks with his little sister and he couldn't help but look up at them in awe—almost tripping himself on a half buried tree root and falling flat on his face in the process. They were just so big and majestic! They had done a bunch of traveling around Auster already and he had seen everything from huge waterfalls to big fossils that poked out of the ground, but this was the first time he had seen trees that were this huge and over grown. It made him wonder if there was anywhere out there that had trees even bigger than this or if this was as big as a tree could physically get.

He blinked with surprise as they reached one of the trees that had fallen and peeked inside with Sierra, standing behind her and easily looking over the top of her head down the length of the hollow tree. It was more than big enough for even him to fit inside so when Sierra stepped in so did he, staying just behind her as he looked around curiously. Her voice echoed around them and he grinned, his tail wagging gently. When she looked back at him his attention was pulled away from the natural wonder, looking at her curiously as he tried to figure out what she had up her sleeve with the mischievous look she was wearing. To no surprise, she quickly challenged him to a race and bolted, making Malik laugh and start loping after her with long legged strides.

He tried to at the very least to not over take her right away, letting her get some distance on him so she could maybe start thinking that she was going to win. After a few moments though, he picked up the pace from his easy lope to a full on run, jumping over roots and clumps of things in their path as they went. He knew he had a pretty big advantage when it came to races, but Sierra always challenged him anyway and he certainly couldn't turn her down!

"Malik of the Sea"

The tiny headstrong-girl ran like her life depended on it. Head down, shoulders up, tail flared behind her. It was a great effort to keep up the dash and not trip or break a limb on the rough path beneath her. She almost lost her balance once, breathing hard as she rightened herself, barely slowing her dash. She was in the lead, she was winning.

And then Malik was there, catching up and running alongside her. She skidded to a halt, kicking up debris at him as she laughed. Knowing he would stop too. She turned, and walked into his shoulder, leaning against him for a moment. He was big, and giant. And maybe he could beat her in a dash, but that was okay. She loved him anyway. “Wanna see who can find the biggest tree?” she said as an alternative option. The exit to the giant trunk just before them. Sunlight pooling against the bark. Offering wonders of an unexplored world bahead

"Sierra of the Sea"

To Sierra's credit, she did give him a run for his money and the only reason he really won consistently was cause he had much longer legs and could make much longer strides—and jump over obstacles more easily. When she skidded to a halt and kicked up bits of things from the ground onto him he sputtered a bit and shook them out of his face with some laughter, slowing his steps as he loped to a stop as well. "Done already?" he teased, panting lightly as he glanced up at her with a toothy grin. He loved all the time he spent with his sisters exploring and roaming around the world. They had visited The Hallows a couple of times so he knew not everyone lived like this, but he was glad that they did.

He chuckled as she came to his side and leaned into his shoulder, leaning his head down to playfully tap her head with his nose. At her offer of seeing who could hunt down the biggest tree, he gave her another easy grin and nodded his head. "Yeah! Okay!" It seemed like they were always looking for some kind of contest or race or something of that sort to pass time, but he wasn't complaining. He wasn't so competitive that he got all bent out of shape if he lot, but just enough that finding something to challenge himself with was still fun. "Ready... Set... Go!" he counted them off, bracing himself as he got ready to dart out toward the light and then took off, running toward the outside so he could be the first one to find the very biggest tree in the whole forest!

"Malik of the Sea"