Double Rainbow

Avery-6

Three Months Later...

It's been a long journey, but tonight I feel fulfilled. Perfect. Whole. Something feels oddly familiar about this patch of forest, as if I've been here before. As if. I see the place I've been looking for, so concealed and yet so obvious.

"Torch!" I yell, wings flapping up and down like a hummingbird's with excitement. "I found it!"

"You what? Found what?" he asks, obviously confused.

"I found the place! THIS IS THE PLACE!" I scream, unable to control myself.

Torch looks at me like I'm crazy. Maybe I am, but it feels way too real.

He comes to my side, and sneezes. Embers shoot out everywhere, and an annoyed Creek Canira who's been following us around comes to beat out the fire. "Gosh, you need to be more considerate." She rants. "As heir to the throne of the Sorona Rapids Tribe, I'm going to tell you now that burning the forest down is NOT OKAY."

Torch is mocking her, of course. "But of course, Riana."

Her face turns bright red, and she blasts water at his face. "Hey!" He says, but he knows any efforts to attack her will be met with more water- and Torch hates getting wet.

I pinch him by his long ears and drag him to where I saw it. Torch looks up at it, mouth wide open, and then glares at me, not amused. "You pinched my ear and dragged me through the forest for A TREE?!"

I swing my tail, not attempting to retort. "Yes. I did."

He pulls my claws off of his ear. "Darn it, Avery! Are you crazy?"

"Torch." I soothe him. "Close your eyes and listen."

I do it too. Breathing in and out slowly, I hear a round that can only be described as twinkling. If you mixed singing, bell chimes and that noise that Lily Lazura's light bulbs make, you would get this.

"Oh. That's beautiful."

The tree itself is even more beautiful. Opening my eyes, soft strands of leaves reach down to the ground.

The interior of the tree is like another world. Strands blow in the wind on all sides, flowers dapple the strands and floor in a beautiful lavender, and the sun streaming in dyes the world a soft, pastel green. Then I notice the glowing.

"Torch! You have to see this."

The roots just cover a huge, black orb that glows in radiant light. Three roots, and in between each one is a picture. One picture shows a blazing fire, another shows two wings and a horn in the middle, and the final shows a trident. Seven lines run around the trunk above it.

"Remember when I saw the star?" I say finally.

Torch nods.

"I think it fell here. This is the star."

"How would a tree grow up here over a few months and some spare days?"

I pick a bud from a strand of flowers and drop it on top of the black ball. The bud blossoms into a full flower immediately. "That's how."

"I've never seen anything like it." He chuckles, and throws another bud at the rock. A purple flower bounces backwards and flies through the air. "Not bad, huh?"

"So..." I say. "What do we do now?"

We sit there for a while, enjoying the peace and shade of the willow tree. "I think it's some type of machine." Torch says finally, rubbing his paw against the flame symbol. To our surprise, it glows red. "Wait. Avery, put your paw on the wings and horn symbol."

I place my paw on the symbol, and it glows pink. The first few stripes around the tree begin to glow, the bottom of a rainbow, but it sputters out. I peer around the side of the tree to see one last symbol, the trident.

"Torch, this isn't going to work unless we find..." I begin.

"A third Canira."

"We'll score the forest tomorrow, but until then, if we're going to stay here, it should feel like home."

"I'll get right on it." I fly out of the den and find a bunch of locals, and tell them we're here to stay. Most take the news well, and even though they don't know us, a few offer us home (or tree) warming gifts. I find myself stuffing my sack until it's almost full with a variety of berries, 'special' bark, and a gift of water from a sacred pool nearby, courtesy of Riana.

"This is for you. Drop it on him if he gets too annoying." she tells me. "Hey, fancy a quick swim?"

Before I can say anything, she throws my bag to the side of the river and pulls me in. I begin floundering around, unable to swim, but Riana swims under me, and I cling onto her for dear life.She moves me through rapids until we get to a waterfall.

I let go of her and try to turn around, but she holds my paw and we fall over together. I extend my wings, trying to break my fall and I splash into the pool. I cough, my throat filled with water, but I can't deny it, that was a load of fun. I laugh and paddle in circles, using my wings to glide up and down through the water like thick air.

Riana smiles, passing me effortly, and getting out to rest in the sunlight on a big, flat rock close to the waterfall. Opening one eye, she says, "Not bad, huh?" I bob my head up and down, exhilarated.

"That was amazing!" I blurt all at once, beaming from ear to ear. "AMAZING!"

Riana smirks. "Yeah, I know I am. Hey! It's getting dark out. You should head back to your tree."

My wet wings spray water everywhere as I fly out of the lake, orange dots on sunlight crashing back into the completely still waters, only the waterfall making any noise at all.

I just can't get over this place, and the way it seems to belong to me. This is perfection. This is paradise. This is home.