Pastel Pink & Other Hues *CURRENTLY EDITING*

Day One

As my face leaves the water, the cool air whips my skin. I see ragged cliff faces stand all around me, and trees green and beautiful reach for the sky. This place is already so different from back at home. A large rock stands ahead of me, so I swim up to it and climb on to get a better view. I look down into the shimmering fjord; it looks so beautiful from out here. I catch a glimpse of my reflection, along with my long ponytail which normally flows effortlessly with me, and is now droopy and flat. It is also now a much darker shade of pink compared to its normally pastel colour. I'm going to really miss it down there. I can already tell I didn't quite think this through properly. Why do I always do stuff like this? I'm about to dive back down, but rational thought takes over again, and I remember that I'm here for a reason.

I look around a bit more, and then spot a sort of cave in the rocks. An opening, more like. There seems to be some sort of glow in there. I swim towards it and go in, searching for the source of the light. I can see a pile of small rocks that are an unusual bright green. I dig through them and find a glowing beetle under a thin layer of gravel. It crawls over to me and onto my leg. I jump and try to flick it off, but it stays there, so I just watch it as it continues across my skin. It crawls along my leg, and tickles as it climbs onto my hand. It makes its way up my arm and rests on my shoulder. I take a moment to notice all of its colours; a stunning emerald green with patches of dark red and amber yellow which all blend together. All of a sudden it stops glowing and its colours fade to grey. Out of nowhere it fills the cave with a blinding white light. I look away and cover my eyes, but it is still too bright. It quickly disappears and I find the beetle on a pendant of a silver chain necklace around my neck. Its glow has faded since I first saw it, only very slightly, but it's still noticeable. It makes a quiet chattering sound which I think, somehow, I can understand.

"You seem lost," it chatters.

"I don't need any help right now" I say warily- speaking up here feels strange compared to back at home.

"You will soon. I'll take care of it all, don't worry. Now, do you have a name?"

"Thank you very much," I say, because despite the unpromising 'you will soon', I'm just feeling relieved that I have something to help me. I'm not really sure what I'm doing, to be honest. "My name is Naida. Do you have a name?"

"I do not have a name, but I would very much like it if you gave me one."

"Ok then, well, I think I'll name you... Kamali."

"I greatly thank you, I like that name very much. I won't bother you too much, but just give me a yell if you need anything. I'll be asleep for now." This is pretty weird but I'm just going to roll with it for now. I guess this is how it is up here.

"Ok well... oh, actually, do you know where there's anything to eat?' I ask, hoping it won't be too hard to get. Looking around, there doesn't seem to be much.

"Well, there should be some mushrooms around the trees down here, I'll help you choose the good ones. You could eat bugs if you don't mind that, I guess. If you don't mind hunting, you could do that as well. Hmm, let's see.... I don't think you'd like fishing....yes, besides that, I'm not sure. If you climb some trees and explore, you should find something nice."

I think about this for a while, and decide to make some sort of bag so that I can collect things to save for other days. I try to think of what I could make it out of. The best I can think of is animal skin. I've heard that animals up here have fur or skin like mine, which could be good for making a bag. I make a spear from a long straight stick, and tie a small but extremely sharp rock to one side of it using strong roots. I set out to find an animal, all the while wondering what I will find.

As I walk through the maze of trees, I think about what Kamali said. 'I don't think you'd like fishing'. I'm starting to think he knows where I'm from, but I'm still deciding whether or not that's a bad thing. How would he know, anyway, if he was under all those rocks? Although, he is magic, it could have something to do with that.

I hear something that stops me dead in my tracks. This could be my chance. I can't see any animals, but I can hear one. Its slow steps rustle the leaves on the ground, and its unique sound is quiet but threatening. I follow the noise cautiously, trying my hardest not to scare it off. I catch a glimpse of it from behind a tree, and it looks like a....what's it called again...a fox. I move a bit closer and then throw the spear at it. It injects itself into the neck of the animal and I gasp at the sight of the blood. It's not a pretty sight, but it's one of the best ways for me to survive. I collect the fox's body and carry it with me back down to the cave. I use my spear to carefully skin the animal, trying the whole time not to vomit. I then wash the skin and my spear in the fjord, and throw the fox's insides into the trees for another animal to eat or something. Other animals eat that stuff here, right? I collect the skin together to form a large pouch, and weave it together with some more roots. I add one longer root as a strap to go over my shoulder and across my torso. I am not going to enjoy getting used to this.

I set out again and collect a handful of mushrooms, carefully selected with the help of Kamali, a small bird, and even a few pieces of fruit. I still have plenty of space in my pouch, so I snap a few branches off a tree and add them to my collection. I make my way back down to my cavern and start unpacking my bag. I've never made a fire of course, nor have I seen one, but I've heard a lot about them. I try to remember what the method was for making a fire as I set up the sticks. Let's see...take two small branches and one thicker one... I attempt to cut the thicker one in half with a rock, but it doesn't go very well. At all. It's good enough, though. OK, um...dry grass, that's right. It takes me a while to find some, since I'm quite literally surrounded by water, but I do. I place it onto the thicker log and prop one of the thinner sticks up. I rub the other one against it vigorously, and it takes a while for sparks to appear. When it does, I panic for a moment, but quickly remember the next step. Wave the grass clump to spread the fire. I do as I remember and much to my surprise, it works. Yes! First try! I'm getting a bit carried away though, and to an outsider, I would look insane because I'm waving this flaming grass which I'm pretty sure is actually dangerous, so I quickly add it to my organised wood pile, and the fire starts to grow. It's only small, but it should be good for now. I huddle up close to it and eat my fruit, its sweet flavour takes over my mouth; it's like nothing I've tasted before. I eat the rest of my fruit and lie down to rest near the campfire. The rocks dig into my back and my head, so I use my bag as a pillow. I'm still very uncomfortable, but it's the best I have at the moment.
~
I'm finding it hard to sleep; mostly because I'm so uncomfortable, but also because of the thoughts going through my head. Surviving up here might be a lot different from what I expected. At least tomorrow I'll have a whole day to do things. I might have to skin another animal or two, which I'm not looking forward to, but I can't go all sissy now. I'll need a mat for me to sleep on or a blanket; maybe both. I can't forget why I came up here, but I don't want to think about that right now. I need to get settled first. Get prepared. I need all the tools and supplies I can get before I get to that part. Ugh! Why does my mind keep going back to that? I don't want to think about it, I just want to sleep. I look up at the billions of shining stars in the dark sky. They look so clear out here. Everything looks so different. Everywhere I turn there is something new. I keep watching the twinkling stars and the bright half-moon, and listen to the sounds of the water until they slowly drift me off to sleep.