Curtains of light descend through what barely passes as a canopy of leaves, dancing around the valley floor. Deciduous trees flare every shade between gold and red - sparse growth having left pockets of clearings scattered throughout the forest. The shafts of light illuminate the ground layer, revealing a undergrowth blanketed in a soft layer of dead leaves.
A sun-dappled fawn noses its way around the trees, meandering around the fallen logs and loose bolders. It sniffs the air, hoping to catch a scent of the elusive blueberries. Its favorite meal. Lean muscles ripple under the baby coat of fur as the fawn navigated across a clearing.
A squirrel scuttles atop a small stone. Raising off its front paws, it looks around to take bearing before dropping back on all fours and disappearing into the cover of leaves. Its exit is marked by a subtle furrow of displaced foliage.
The fawn finds its meal, it seems as if its not the first to arrive, for right beside the plant is a crowded junction of worker ants, busily extracting the juices of the blue berries and sending it down the factory line.
A soft trickling of water tickles the edges of ones ears. It seems to promise rivulets of chilled, crystal clear water. And it does, just slightly south of the deer runs a stream waist deep and equally wide, it meanders between two towering boulders and ends in a small lake, bordered by pine trees. Accumulated twigs and leaves form mini rapids that break the smooth watery path at intervals.
A clutch of rabbits drink from the stream, their ears perked, alert at all times. Suddenly, they bolt. A shadow fills the void they just occupied. Already the rabbits disappear from sight, their hind legs kicking up tufts of leaves as they head for cover in denser parts of the forest.
A fox, missing its prey, slinks back into the shadows of the trees, head drooped in frustration and chagrin.
Birds laugh in their perches high up in the canopies. Their chorus of chirps chase the fox back into its hidey-hole till the next unsuspecting prey stops by.
Further upstream, a couple breaks camp from the night before. They douse their little campfire, pack up and trudge off. A small ember is left untouched. It pulses weakly, slowly fading out into oblivion.
A slight breeze wafts through the trees. A dry leaf blows over the ember. It stays there for a long time, unmoving. Eventually, a small puff of smoke rises. The leaf smoulders slowly. Other members catch onto its invitation and soon enough, a pile of leaves start to burn.
...Fire!
