The Importance of Moss.

The Importance of Moss 3.

What would one do if you lived with three others whom were irritating when wanting to be? It’s probably simpler for anyone else, Kier thinks, not everybody is part of a troop and therefore has to look after slightly immature ones. It’s not that he doesn’t love his troop because he truly does but honestly they can be annoying. Especially with the excitement of the new tree, and that they’re actually going to be staying in said tree and not under little scoops of dirt anymore. And yes it was rather exciting, but did that excitement need be shown by squealing and running around and chucking little clumps of dirt at each other? It was dirtying up their moss, and wings were surely going to get in a tangle if it were to continue.

Wings were stupidly delicate, I’ll have you know. There was one awful time where Laurence had torn his. Now Laurence had these tall white wings, they had hundreds of shades of grey and the little vines down and along the sides were stretched black and his wings were just gorgeous. Anyway, back to the story, there had been a fight. It had been a while ago, while their parents were still alive, and it had been pretty nasty. A large stick, with one of those vicious spikes lining the sides had simply dug in and dragged it out and pulled at the wing until the stick was free and the white was stained with a darkening red. It was an awful memory for dear Kier whom had been simply terrified for his friend, and had feared for his life because he always dramatised stuff more than he should. Laurence still had his paler and thinner part on his wing where it had happened, but he had this odd pride of it and Kier didn’t get that.

So, new tree. Full functioning with all their moss and any other things one might need set in it. There were leaves for their sleep-wear and whenever a non-breathing animal were to be found off the fur would come then to the river, then to the tree for an extra layer of warmth to snuggle in. It was all sorted and there was no room for disaster, which meant there probably would be some. Though Kier was hopeful there would be none, and it would be a smooth time of the cold.

He could only hope.

Of course there is still moss to collect, and their days are still stupidly monotonous with that even if there is more fun because transporter leaves. However, we will meet a new character to our story on one cold day of monotony. 

Drew had gone off by himself and that in itself was a rule broken. Drew wasn’t allowed to go anywhere by himself and nobody was allowed to let him go off on his own, but nobody had been looking- Luke his partner had been far more interested in watching one of the  blue winged things with orange triangles on their faces fly off. And Laurence and Kier always went together, anyway. So Drew, seeking freedom for those few seconds had flew off much like a rebellious young-one would do.

What he didn’t know was that outside of their own little area was incredibly the same as their area, just had less family and was a lot more boring. This was because there was no Kier with his fists and shaking wings, there was no Laurence calming him down and calling him ‘babe’- Drew did not know what this meant- and there was no Luke to poke fun at. There was the odd creature scuttling by with their own little troops but other than that there was nothing fun at all.

That was until he saw the quivering pile of moss. And having to go through Kier’s lectures on the importance of moss, he was very aware that moss did not quiver and since there was little wind (he knew this because he was having to move his wings a fair amount) it must mean that there is an adventure here and Drew is not one to miss an adventure.

So, calming down his wings so that he slowly hovered down to the ground, and then he stopped all together and his bare feet hit the dirt and the grass raises high above his head. He sees this as a good cover because what if the quivering moss is something to be scared of- what if it tries to eat him? He was brave, though, and surely moss didn’t eat. He hoped it didn’t because he certainly did not want to be eaten in his sleep.

Clearing his head and clenching his fists, he stepped carefully over to the quivering moss and when he got to it he put his pale-vined hands over the green and tugs. His eyes widen in shock at the sight that’s in front of him.

It’s another like him, but it’s not at the same time. It- he- has long blonde-brown hair that’s falling into these little square things that sit over the bridge of his nose, and he has these things on that are most definitely not fur and not leaves. Things exactly like the squares on his nose are circles on his head, and brown holds them on his head. Then there’s his wings and pity fills Drew’s whole being, the top half of his left wing is missing, and he must have been in some absolutely awful battle. 

Drew steps back and frowns. “What are you?” he asks, and it’s not meant to sound rude but it probably did anyway because he doesn’t know if he should be scared about this male or if he should be worried because why is he not in his troop?

The other one doesn’t say anything, and he has these huge green eyes that are wide and are looking wet and Drew feels bad because he didn’t mean to upset someone else. He apologises quickly and takes a seat next to the strange being. He lets his wings slouch slightly so they don’t tangle with the others’ full wing. It’s bright green, which mixes into this dark green fringing and they’re very beautiful wings. Drew says so, because he feels like he should know that his wing and a half are very pretty.

He doesn’t get a reply, just a sniffle and a hand crunching up and wiping underneath his nose. Drew leant against him to get his attention. 

“Have you got a troop?” he asked him quietly, looking up at him and trying to decide if his own troop would be annoyed if he were to bring this sweetie back to their tree. He didn’t see why they would mind him being there since their parents just adopted Drew when they found him, so they should be able to do that with someone whom looked their age, too, surely? But they’re probably all pissed off that he flew away. Maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea.

“N-no,” the boy murmured, and he sniffles again, his pale hands with the green vines all down are rubbing wet cheeks raw and his voice so goddamn beautiful, and Drew kind of wants to keep him forever and never ever let him go.

So he makes a decision there and then, and it’s not just based on his half-a-wing and how sad he seems, it’s based on the fact that why the hell not? And it doesn’t matter that he’s weird looking and wearing these things that don’t make sense- what are those square things on his face?- because nobody can survive out here when it gets so cold and he doesn’t want to see this poor thing having a hole dug for him. 

Drew takes the sticky hand- which gets him this worried look- and says in a determined voice, “you can come and stay with my troop.” Then he stands up, and he’s about to fly off, then remembers that this one simply cannot fly because he only has one and a half wings. So instead he hoists him up and starts to walk, keeping their hands together so the other does not have time to think about leaving or staying in his quivering pile of moss.

Then he starts to ramble, just to fill the silence as they walk back to his tree. “We have this awesome new tree, and it’s got moss and fur and it’s going to be so warm because we all cuddle anyway. And I think that Kier and Laurence are very close, do you think that means anything?” he looks at the other who stays quiet, shrugs, and continues on speaking nonsense the other will not understand nor care about. “Luke and I think it does but they always deny it. Kier gets annoyed a lot but Laurence always calms him down and calls him a ‘babe’ and do you know what that is, I don’t.”

The one with one and a half wings does not know what a babe is, either.

A/N: I would like to apologise for the three (?) week delay in writing that this has had, and it's not because I didn't know what to write it's because of Tumblr, so blame that. Thank you for reading :)