Glow

The young doe had said her goodbyes to her family and left for the new land, promising to check back in a year when she was more sure of herself and independent. Just as she had when she was a fawn, she set off on unsteady legs and ivory hooves in whatever direction seemed best. The mild and warm spring made even this northern region comfortable to traverse and Luminosa was enjoying herself immensely. The leggy girl squinted honeyed eyes against the bright sun that filtered down onto her dappled hide. The ground was thawed underfoot and curiously a small worm wriggled its way free just beside her foot. She watched it for a moment before her eyes trailed back upwards to the yawning maw of a cave. She had once heard that some worms glowed in the dark, but this one looked to be a normal worm. Oh well. Scooping the worm up gently, Lumi moved it to a nearby patch of moss. That should do it just fine.

As for the caves ahead, well, what was an adventure without a few caves? All the best stories had them! These were carved into the side of a mountain and didn't seem to be inhabited. Lumi wondered to herself what could have caused such big caves to form in the first place. Could worms bore holes in the mountains? Well, probably, but it would have taken a lot of worms to make this cave. Or one very large worm... The thought was appealing, that she would then be the small creature and maybe the worm would scoop her up gently and set her into some soft grass which, to it, would look like a patch of moss. A girl could dream...

Stepping into the cave, Lumi was struck by the drawings. Her short tail wagged excitedly behind her. She flicked her head back to move the tendrils of her bow as if to get a better look. Oh! There! That one had to be a deer! Or maybe just a very long wolf... No, no, it was surely a deer! And that one over there with the fluffier face was a wolf probably...

Oh! But she wasn't here to look at drawings... well, she wasn't not here to look at drawings, but anyway, moving on! As the doe looked around for more worms- perhaps glowing ones- she spotted more drawings. The light from outside dimmed, although it wasn't pitch black thanks to some of the offshoot tunnels which appeared to allow sunlight from above to trickle down indirectly into the cave. How wonderful it would be to be able to live in a cave! Surely there were some creatures that did- like the glow worms- and they wouldn't have to worry about rain or snow or anything like that! As far as Luminosa knew, there wasn't any weather in caves... unless earthquakes could be counted as weather. Or maybe they could flood. Did flooding count as weather? Although, if not for weather, maybe they would have to worry about bears.

But now wasn't the time to worry! Now was the time to explore! Luminosa pressed forward, her pale nose sniffing the air, but only catching the scent of musky dirt, roots, decaying vegetation, and the old scents of some who had visited in the past. Deer were surprisingly good sniffers, her Mom had said. Apparently deer could smell even better than wolves. Even so, she couldn't smell the difference between the cave and the worms much less any glowing worms.

Lumi continued her search, seeing many a worm here or there, but none of them were glowing. They all seemed to be on the ground, though, or low in the walls. Stretching her neck up, the young deer looked about, her eyes straining despite her excellent night vision due to the darker depths of the cave she was now traversing. The darkness sprawled out before her, so thick it felt like you could get lost at any moment. Still, Luminosa pressed on, albeit a little more slowly than before. A small flicker caught her attention, but by the time she looked at it, it had passed.

That was odd... there wasn't anything that could reflect the light, was there? Maybe a crystal? Upon closer inspection, there wasn't any crystal... Another small glimmer. Luminosa's head whipped around to look, but again it was gone. As she ventured deeper, they got more and more frequent. Eventually, the doe was able to make it to one as it was glowing. It wriggled as it hung from the ceiling, faintly blue, and dimming before the girl could het a solid gander at it. Her tail flashed excitedly behind her as another worm lit up. She found them!

The small deer pranced to and fro looking at all the glowing worm friends she had found. By the time she figured she ought to head back, it was already nightfall and so she decided to stay for a glowy slumber party among the worms instead.