Pompods

14

Something large and curved had begun to rise up from the center of the silver lake and could be seen being assembled by the Memees.

Elder Ino had watched over them since Gato had reported seeing something jutting from the lake. He wondered what they could possibly be doing.

No one had ever explored the lake as there had never been any reason to do so. The lake's waters were silvery and dense and one was unable to see anything below the water's surface. No one had ever ventured any further than the shallowest areas of the lake because of this.

Whatever they had begun to assemble was currently out of reach and Elder Ino debated if it was worth sending anyone across the lake to investigate. The Memees had never done anything harmful, outside of attempting to injure themselves, which was fairly hard to do and he did not think that what they were now constructing would somehow be detrimental to them. But these Memees were focused on assembling whatever it was and he had never seen so many work in unison to accomplish such a task before. What could it possibly be?

Piece after piece would surface and then be fastened to an adjoining part by a dozen little creatures as their outlines reflected off the lake's surface. The scene reminded him of tiny flies swarming within a broken ribcage.

A small group of podlings had gathered around to view this curious sight. A few had wandered onto the lake's edge and bobbed along the waves produced by the Memees disturbance. Ripples appeared on the once still surface to cast distortions of the reflected landscape. Mountains shimmered as the trees along the embankment waved gently to him in their reflection.

"Elder, what are they doing?" inquired a tiny voice from below.

Elder Ino looked down to find an orange podling sitting on the water. Small ripples of colour radiated outwards as if punctuating its inquisitiveness.

"That is a good question. A good question indeed," he said as he watched the others roll around.

"You seem to have an inquisitive one there, Elder Ino."

Elder Ino turned to see Zaree and Oku walking along the lake's edge as a small school of podlings rolled beside them. These were being followed by a few Memees and a lone Kasha slowly trailed behind them. Most curious was to see two Memees riding on Oku. One sat on his shoulder as the other lay sprawled atop his head, as if sun bathing and seemed to be fast asleep as the tip of its head drooped down between Oku's eyes to give him the impression of a stray hair. It was that Oku looked completely nonplussed to the fact that it was there that struck Elder Ino with a strange sense of delight at the sight.

"That..." he said as he paused to find the appropriate description for the strange sight and failed. "Is an unexpected sight."

"Yes," said Zaree as she watched the podlings roll and give chase to the Memees. "He has become much tolerant of them recently."

A couple of podlings bounced before Oku.

"Play, Oku. Play!" shouted an excited one.

The Memee sleeping on his head slid off when he looked down and flopped onto the sand. A purple podling started to bounce on it to wake it. Small squeaks escaped it as it attempted to right itself. Oku raised his hand to shield his eyes as he looked out onto the lake.

"It looks as if many things are changing around us," said Elder Ino.

Behind them the sound of a loud 'thwack' was heard and followed by the joyous squeak and gurgle of the Memee as it sailed through the air and splashed into the lake.

"And yet many things remain the same," she replied. She did not need to look to know that Oku had just kicked it into the lake. The sound of it made her smile and reassured her.

Elder Ino returned the smile. "It is good to see he is healing. Zaree, I know I haven't pressed you about the incident with the Tark beasts."

"And I am thankful for your kindness in this, Elder Ino," she said as she watched the activity at the lake's center. "But, I think I am finally ready to talk about it."

"I am glad to hear it, young one," said Elder Ino as he observed a few from the village arrive to see the lake's new curiosity. Many arrived once a day to observe the progress at the center of the lake. "I have been curious as to what happened that unfortunate day."

Zaree glanced back briefly as she held the Elder's arm to lead him away from the group that had started to gather.

"The events of that day are such a blur to me. It has taken me quite a time to clearly remember what had happened. As I said before, much of it felt more like a dream," she said as she paused to regard the imprint her foot left in the sand. "Or a nightmare at times."

Elder Ino did not press her but simply put a reassuring hand upon hers as they slowly walked the lake's edge.

"I remember running from the beasts and almost being trampled, but I managed to climb a tree in time. The Tark beasts... there was something wrong with them. The way their eyes looked, as if scared and enraged at the same time. Blindly attacking whatever stood in their way. I was so scared, Elder Ino. They clawed and jumped at me and all I could do was close my eyes and hold on," she said as she squeezed his arm unconsciously.

"It's alright, young one. Take your time."

"I'm fine, Elder. But their sheer relentlessness was frightening to behold."

"I'm glad you made it out safely that day. You must have been relieved to see Oku when he arrived."

"My eyes were shut at the time and it was only the commotion and screams the beasts made that made me look. Yet, it was not Oku that I saw when I looked down, but the form that he took when the village was attacked."

She stopped to look out over the lake's reflections of the landscape and the odd structure being assembled at its center. "It..." she began but paused to draw in a deep breath before she continued. "He... he was fighting and killing the beasts. I did not know it was him at the time as that form scared me even more that the Tarks. I thought it would come after me once it was done with them."

She turned to look back at the group. Podlings rolled around Oku as he sat patiently, eating pieces of the Kasha's fur.

"I must have looked at him with such fear in my eyes," she said as she faced Elder Ino, tears moistening the edges of her radiant blue eyes. "What he must have thought as I looked at him with such horror upon my face."

Elder Ino left a significant pause before he asked, "What happened next?"

Tears began to run down her cheeks as she smiled. "The most beautiful thing," she said.