Creek-Shots! | Craig of the Creek one shots

The Lampyridae's Job

All insects have a job.

We're such plentiful creatures that we have been assigned by the rest of the animals to keep the Creek alive. Many legs, wings and pincers make light work, although the work varies slightly from species to species.

Ants teach the Children responsibility. It's an easy lesson and one they could learn in their own homes. Ants take what they can get whenever they can get it. If the children leave their food uncovered, it's theirs for the taking. It's in their nature, they have no choice but to teach it.

Bees teach the Children to stay out of trouble. Don't pick fights with those that can easily hurt you. Leave be what should be left alone. Many of them have taken their advice to heart. "Mind your beeswax," one will say to another, and we all snicker amongst ourselves.

Butterflies teach beauty and change. Simple, but important.

Moths teach that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and change is not always for the good.

Spiders teach childish fear and how to overcome it.

Ticks teach real fear, and that the Children should listen to their elders about the dangers that come from our domain.

Crickets are... irritating. We think they're trying to teach about the joys of the seasons by giving the Children a show, but we can understand them and their petty gossip. They shouldn't be saying such things around young ears, but they only listen to the sounds of their own chirps, and never to the rest of us telling them to quiet down. Anyways.

Beetles teach that strength is not all it first appears. There will always be a bigger being in the forest, or a shoe that will squish you flat. This doubles as a lesson for the more hubristic beetles.

The mites, midges and other invisibles teach the power in the unseen. Sometimes you can only tell when one bared their teeth after they leave their mark on you.

Cicadas teach about the once-in-a-lifetime, the fondness of that special memory everyone has. When the time is right, they give what they can to those who are here, and let the others find the lesson elsewhere. It's not fair, but it wouldn't be special if it was.

As for us?

It is our job to keep the Children believing in the power of the fields, the rocks, the trees, and the Creek. When the grass is bathed in more sun than moonlight, when the Children linger in our domain after the calling of the horn tells them to leave, when they sneak out at night to see us, we give them what they need.

We teach the wonder of nature.

The magic of the Creek is reflected in their eyes as hundreds of us leave the grass, appearing out of the thin and cool night air. We take flight as fallen stars and they grasp at our glow until one of us is caught.

We listen to them, and we are let go, and the magic of the Creek is nourished with their wishes.

As for their whispers? Their secrets, hopes and dreams given to us in their soft but enchanted words, the very force that keeps the stream running, the animals feeding, the plants flourishing?

We keep them safe.

As for granting them?

We try our best.