Harmony

●•~Chapter 1~•●

The white suns are slowly rising over the frost-tipped mountains, shining down on a particular bunch of golden-capped honeyberry mushrooms. Just under one of these caps is a small basket covered by a white cloth, the calming sounds of the forest soothing the creature in the bundle.

Inside the bundle is an Ilkin youngling, known as a Kiltin, its eyes still screwed shut. Its skin is pale blue, its cheeks and bare shoulders covered in small white freckles and its nose and joints flushed a soft lavender. It is no bigger than your pinky, its long and pointed ears flicking at every rustle of the leaves.

This young Kiltin is our Sha, having just been born in a nearby colony. Sadly, considering where poor Sha is settled, it seems as though its mother could no longer care for the Kiltin. It is a common occurence in Ilkin colonies: if an Ilkin mother is no longer fit to care for a Kiltin, she may leave the Kiltin under a honeyberry mushroom in hopes a more suitable mother will find the Kiltin.

Sha is slowly waking up, its tiny hands reaching out to grasp onto a mother's loving embrace but instead simply grasping onto a honeyberry: the pale white color similar to most common Ilkins'. Sha sits upright, holding the berry to its chest before its beady amber eyes focus. It sees it is a simple berry, but instead of wailing, Sha takes a bite of the berry before standing with it and wobbling out into the silver grass.

It looks to and fro, left and right, before taking one wobbly step after another until it is no longer close to that golden-capped mushroom. Sha's small delicate feet, not yet used to the firmness of the forest ground, begin to redden, but that does not deter Sha. The small Kiltin's strength seems to grow with each step, each bite of the fresh honeyberry, until its steps are just as firm as the solid forest ground.

By sundown, Sha has made its way to a small lake, where a different, more hostile species resides...