Ripped from her remote jungle home by the population preserving organization Yetsibee, young Gerine is thrust headfirst into a universe chock-full of expectations she isn't prepared to meet, and forced to shoulder the burdens placed upon her not onl...
The opportunity to wash was rare on Lianhua, given the various vulnerabilities such a state presented. But on a planet populated completely by carnivorous rodents and insects, maintaining a semblance of personal hygiene was imperative to securing your spot on the food chain, which meant dropping whatever you were doing for an impromptu soak whenever you found a moment alone.
Those fearless few that dared take a dip in broad daylight did so with the utmost care, maintaining a constant watch for lurking lifeforms, predator and prey alike. Gerine in particular found it hard keeping a good look-out, given her ever-evolving opinion of what was and wasn't "alive".
The water wasn't alive, she was positive of that. She could see clean through it, and it didn't have a brain, or heart, or any of the other organs required by a living being. Nope, none of that, only her bare ankles and two feet planted on the riverbed.
What about the stone she used to scrub the sweat from her skin? Was it alive? She wasn't strong enough to break it apart, so had no way of telling if it bled. She held it to her ear and listened intently, trying to discern the sounds of breathing over the rush of the river. When this proved inconclusive, she tried dropping the rock into the water to see if any bubbles would rise, or if it would thrash and struggle in a bid to resurface. No dice, it sank straight to the bottom and laid there motionless. If rocks were living creatures, this one was definitely dead.
Secure in her seclusion, Gerine slowly lowered herself into the cool, clean water and breathed a contented sigh as the gentle current rinsed the grime from her pores. It had been a fine day for hunting; the muggy morning air made the local anterlopers good and groggy. Gerine's collection of three freshly fallen bucks lay concealed under a bundle of leaves not far from where she bathed, filling the air with the acrid aroma of blood. They had been alive, no doubt about that.
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Her relaxation was unfortunately short lived, for then the quaking began. Gerine straightened up and observed as the banks on either side of her crumbled, sending puny pebbles and dislodged dirt sliding into the sparkling waters, to be whisked away by the suddenly lively tide. Then came a rustling from the bushes, prompting her to paddle toward the shore for her trusty spear. The moment she pulled herself free from the pool, a pack of slimy boolerats came tumbling from the trees, scurrying in her direction. The horde swarmed around her lower legs, tripping over her toes, dirtying her smooth skin with their muddy, matted fur. Gerine swept her spear in a wide arc, aiming to shoo the scavengers away, but she needn't have bothered. The usually ravenous rodents were only passing through, on the run from an even greater threat, the position of which was marked by a dark cloud rising over the rainforest.
Gerine gazed mouth-agape at the gray goliath. Like the waters and rocks, the trees and the grass, the sun and the stars, she often wondered whether clouds were living creatures, whether their stark white exteriors housed veins and organs like her own pale skin. She knew for a fact they could move under their own volition, that they traveled in packs, and (as unsavory as it sounded) that they expelled waste in the form of rainfall, so it wasn't a stretch to assume they lived and breathed same as her. And she did think the skies looked unusually clear this morning. Now it all made sense; a cloud army was invading the surface!
