NEWS, FEBRUARY 2018–This story has an abrupt ending. I lost about 17,000 words of progress late last year in the rewrite for NaNoWriMo. Therefore, this story is incomplete. I do have plans to finish it in 2018, or add on to it at least, but I cannot do so without a computer and my extensive world notes.
Also, there are some useful notes on maps and species at the bottom! Feel free to take a peek now, since they spoil nothing you didn't read in the description. <3
Pleoni stared outwards at the forest below. He swooped low over a stand of mangroves, before soaring higher. He was looking for something he'd left here ages before, but the forest was so much different than it had been when he was a pup. The forests of Queensland were ever-growing.
He had not been here for seven years. When he was last here, the forest was less dense, less green. His family had fled due to the fires, and the forest had since begun to recover. It was almost a foreign country from the raging flames and thick smoke of his memories.
He landed under the canopy of a familiar looking stand of trees. Gliding from trunk to trunk, he finally found what he was looking for, a small hollow in humungous a trunk. He knew inside it extended inside the tree a good distance. As a pup, it had been their nursery.
Climbing inside, he found it very much like it had been left: a thick pile of soft feathers coating the bottom of a hollow, maybe eight feet from top to bottom and three and a half feet across.
The core of the massive mangrove had rotted, aided by termites, many years prior. From the looks of it, a vivacious and hungry bird, likely a woodpecker of some sort, had then hollowed out the weak wood in search of the termites. Colonies of spectacled flying foxes had been using it for generations after the bird left. Pleoni was surprised the hollow wasn't in use now, as it was one of the safest places for a nursery in the area. At least sixty mothers and pups could easily shelter within the hollow trunk, which was well protected from predators due to the water below and the small entrance.
He searched the numerous little hollows tucked into the sides, and froze, crying out silently. Tucked into one of the middle caves was the slightly charred skeleton of a pup. It had clearly been placed here; this stand of mangroves had appeared almost untouched by the fire. Pleoni's family had only left because they felt the mangrove stand was at risk, though it had not started to burn while they were here. Eventually, at one of the lowest ones, partially covered by feathers, he discovered what he'd come for: a small, cracked and intricately carved case. There was evident water damage to the case.
Gingerly, he picked it up, and carried it to a wide ledge near the top of the massive hollow. Setting it down, he carefully undid the latches. Lifting the water-damaged lid, he inspected the contents. A small ukelele sat inside. Cracks from heat were visible in the neck, and two of the strings had busted. one of the tuning pegs was gone entirely. Evidently, the tree had been under more of a threat than it had appeared, or else someone had tried to take the instrument with them, only to bring it back. Perhaps it was the same one who had brought back the charred pup.
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SOME IMPORTANT NOTES ON CHARACTER AND SETTING:
Pleoni is heavily based on a Spectacled Flying Fox (Pteropus conspicillatus).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacled_flying_fox
Climate Map: http://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/social_justice/nt_report/ntreport08/images/ch5_2big.jpg
Map of NSW: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/pacific/australia/new-south-wales/map_of_new-south-wales.jpg
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The Queensland Mangrove
FantasiaA lone bat returns to the grove of trees where he was raised. What he finds may alter his path forever. This is a short story to be featured in my upcoming book. All rights are reserved.
