You guys survived a 17k-word chapter, so I thought you deserved something completely unserious 🤣🤣🤣
🌲 Qadr: The Chronicle of Pine Cone #407
For three hundred years, my family had known peace.
We were noble mountain pinesdignified, sap-scented, minding our own business, swaying gracefully in the crisp breeze above the cottage. I was Pine Cone #407, perched comfortably on a sturdy eastern branch, enjoying the autumn sunlight and working on my resin shine.
And then he arrived.
He didn't walk up like a normal human being. No. He scrambled up my trunk with all the agility of a panic-stricken squirrel, breathing heavily and smelling faintly of three-day-old stale tea, twelve-lira simits, and pure desperation.
"Ouch, Astağfirullah," the intruder muttered under his breath, jamming his elbow right into my upper scales.
I gasped in wood-fiber outrage. Excuse you, sir! This is private bark!
He didn't care. He jammed a black object between his teeth, slung a massive camera lens over his shoulder, and wedged his knees around my branch. He was trembling so hard my entire twig vibrated.
Through the needle-leaves, I looked down to see what could possibly drive a grown man to climb a tree like a feral creature.
And then I saw him.
Ah. Emir Yusuf Korkmaz.
Even from twenty feet up, the man looked like he had been sculpted out of marble by an artist who took zero days off. He was standing on the gravel path below, wearing a dark sweater with his jaw set in a line so sharp it could cut paper. And, as usual, the tips of his ears were flaring a bright, warning crimson.
"Look at him," the human above me whimpered, adjusting his lens with sweaty fingers. "Symmetrical cheekbones... zero emotional intelligence... if I get this shot, my editor in Istanbul will weep tears of joy."
Click. Click. Click.
The human started snapping photos like a maniac. I tried to nudge his arm away with my sharp tip. Stop shaking my branch, you lunatic!
Then, Below us, Emir stopped.
---
WANT PART2? COMMENT
