They Can Hear Our Hearts Beat

After the episode with the fireflies and her koto, Ikigai has been sticking close to home. However, with the nights barely ending, the moon never leaving and the strange occurrences becoming more of a normality every day, the young princess decided that she couldn't stay locked up at home forever. With determination, she ventured out into a land that she knew was relatively safe. The Weeping Woods were like a playground for the wolves of Ashen and the Armada. Often she had seen members of both packs beneath the hanging branches of the willow trees. Just in case she didn't see anyone today, Iki had sent Willa, her white, antlered cat, to see if Kotori would meet her here.

The sky was dark and bright all at once. The moon hung big and fat in the sky and the stars seemed to streak across the darkness in arcs of light. Sometimes when looking up, it was difficult to tell if the lights were far off stars or the blue fireflies that were everywhere these days. Along with the fireflies, strange crystals had begun to grow on everything. Iki had noted their growth on the trees around the shrine at home and was curious if they would be on the willows as well.

They were.

As the moonlit princess moved through the wood, she stopped to inspect the many different variations of crystals growing from the different trees. Some seemed to be pushing from the inside of the trees themselves, while others seemed to embrace the pale, white trunks. Crystals also grew from the hanging branches which made traversing beneath the canopy a little dangerous, but Ikigai managed. The horned girl lay at the edge of one of the slowly moving streams. All around her the world seemed to glow and pulse. It was beautiful, she thought.

"X"