The Flora and Fauna ((Quills!))

[Anonymous]

The figure above the tent blinked when the lantern was lit, not expecting it. He narrowed his eyes at the sudden brightness in the dark, but soon adjusted. He looked down, next to the tent and dropped down from the branch, swooping downward, his wings making a very soft sound and he landed lightly near to the side of the tent. His eyes darted to the tent, and briefly to Ulma. He wondered who she was, but did not go any closer. He slowly folded his wings, and came a tiny bit closer, crawling, then accidentally stepped on a twig, the brief snapping making him freeze. His wings were slightly unfolded now, in case he was going to have to leave. His eyes, watchful and dark, glanced cautiously at Ulma, for she might have heard it. Most likely.

[Anonymous]

There was a noise near the tent. Clearly it was indeed the suspicious kind of darkness, and not the ordinary jungle kind. Ulma hastily swallowed the piece of fruit she was chewing, stone and all, in one big gulp, and pushed herself to her feet. "Oliver?" she called. "Are you to be waking?"

Swinging the lantern round to look again, she finally saw the dark figure crouching on the ground. She gripped her stick more tightly. "And who may you to being?" she croaked, her voice shaking. That sentence was bad even by her usual standards, but she was too frightened to care. She really hoped Oliver had been right about this not being bad...

[Anonymous]

The figure looked at Ulma. He said, in a quiet voice that had a bit of sadness in it, "Oh....I'm sorry if I've frightened you. I mean no harm." He stood up, and entered the open tent. He put a hand on Oliver's head, who was sound asleep, and looked down at him. A little smile crossed his serious face. He said, quietly to make sure Oliver didn't wake up, but seemingly talking to him, "I'm sorry, Oliver....I had to leave, and I won't be able to come back.." This boy beside Oliver looked quite similar to him, except darker, less innocence and happiness. His smile faded, and he looked at Oliver as if he knew him very well.

[Anonymous]

The strange new boy turned and went into the tent, where Oliver was sleeping. Ulma was not very happy about this. Did he have permission? What was he intending to do in there? No no no, this would not do. She strode over to the tent, still clutching her stick tightly but emboldened by protective anger.

"To be excusing," she said quietly and switching the lantern to a lower light, also trying not to wake Oliver. He had been very tired and needed his sleep. She glared at the newcomer, noticing that he and Oliver looked a lot alike, but that wasn't important right now. "What are you to be doing in here? You tell me, now, or you get out!"

[Anonymous]

The boy looked up at Ulma, the bit of sadness still in his eyes. He honestly wondered who she was and why Oliver was with her. After all, he had rather missed his little brother from the years they had been apart. He said, quietly, "I'm not going to bring him any harm..." He looked tired suddenly, but a different sort of tired. The sort of tired when someone has been burdened with something for too long a time. "I...just wanted to see him again. I just wanted...to see my little brother again." He sighed.

[Anonymous]

Ulma considered this. The boy and Oliver did look almost identical, and he hadn't been doing anything untoward. It wasn't entirely clear why the boy hadn't woken his brother up for this reunion, but she wasn't going to ask. She grunted. "Well, if that is what is... You can to be continuing."

She turned and returned to her pile of tasty fruit, keeping the lantern positioned so that the tent was just within the edge of the light. Nothing suspicious seemed to be going on, and there wouldn't really be much she could do if there was, but she still felt like she had some sort of duty to keep an eye on them.

[Anonymous]

Oliver's brother looked down at Oliver's sleeping figure, and thought, 'He's so peaceful...so innocent. The things I have done to keep him like this...' He thought about how they had always been together. Oliver would do anything, anything to help him. Oliver thought he was dead. His 'death' had only happened months ago....almost a year now. He couldn't tell Oliver he was alive. He would only be hurt by it....and he would just have to leave his brother again. It was best. People become like those they talk with. After all, he couldn't let his little brother turn into a monster. A monster like him.

He got out of the tent, not looking back. He said to Ulma, "Please do not tell him I was here." He, without waiting for an answer, flew off into the night. He didn't realize that he left a black feather that lay next to Oliver...

[Anonymous]

Ulma shrugged, her mouth full of fruit, and watched the boy fly away. Why would he come all this way to not even have a conversation with his brother? It was baffling, not to mention a little rude. Still, if he didn't want her to say anything, she probably wouldn't. She had no idea what was going on and it wasn't her place to get involved. But then, lying to Oliver also counted as getting involved, didn't it?

It was a sticky dilemma, to be sure, which would need some thinking about. She sat there with the lantern flickering into the night until, some time later, she too fell asleep.

[Anonymous]

Oliver woke up in the tent, opening his eyes slowly and yawning. He glanced around, and, not seeing the feather, and sat up. He exited the tent, leaving the feather that he didn't see, and looked around. It was sunny and hot, as usual. The trees glistened with moisture from the humidity. He flew up to the fruit tree, getting some more, and swooped down, nudging Ulma gently and setting the fruit in front of her. "Good morning. I got some food."

[Anonymous]

Ulma blinked in the harsh light and muttered something unintelligible. Then she saw Oliver and sat up. "I was not the sleeping to be doing the sleeping, no, I was on the watch for all of the night, yes, I am to be being quite very sure."

She patted herself down frantically to check that she was still all there, heavy dew dripping from her hat and clothes as she moved. Realising that everything was fine, she calmed down noticeably. The lantern had burnt itself out, though, and she grunted and kicked it over.

She straightened her hat out and was back to normal, picking out a fruit for breakfast. "Yes, it is to be a good morning, Oliver. Thank you for food." She hadn't come to much of a conclusion last night, but if he didn't ask about what happened then she didn't have to say anything and it wouldn't technically be lying, would it? That was good enough.

[Anonymous]

Oliver nodded and sat on the damp grass, looking sleepily around and yawning once again. He squinted up at the bright sky, seeing no clouds. He went back into the tent and saw the feather. He took it in his hands and looked at it, examining it. He walked over to Ulma and said, "Do you know where this feather came from?"

[Anonymous]

Well, now he asked, and Ulma made a decision. She would tell Oliver what happened; not everything, but she would tell him. There might be good reasons not to, but she thought he should have the chance to decide what to do for himself. He was a bright boy, and even if he made the wrong decision, it should be his mistake to make, not anyone else's. It wasn't fair to keep things from him. This was something she had learned long ago, when her own children were growing up.

"Last night, a thing was to happen. There was a boy, I did not to see him clear, he to be looking a bit like you, but with the black wings. He saw me, and he left. It was not to be waking you up for, I was to thinking." She shrugged. "Maybe the feather is belonging to him."

[Anonymous]

Oliver's eyes widened, and he stared at the feather. "That's impossible..." He frowned a little. He said, "That's impossible, because the only person that I know who looks like that is my brother." He started walking off after putting the feather in the tent. "It can't be my brother, you must have saw something else. Because, my brother is dead." He didn't look like the normal, happy Oliver. He looked somewhat frustrated and sad.

[Anonymous]

Ulma hurriedly put the remaining food in her pockets and went to start packing the tent away. If Oliver was going to start walking in his obviously distressed state, she should try to keep up with him. She didn't want him wandering about by himself like this.

As she rushed to untie the top tent sheet, she called after him, "Maybe you are right. Maybe it was to be another thing. Or maybe he is not dead. The world, it can to be very strange, yes?"

[Anonymous]

Oliver stopped in his tracks at the mention of his brother not being dead. It didn't make sense....he had seen him die!..

...or had he?

He turned around and said quietly, "He died a year ago. He couldn't have suddenly come back to life." Then, he thought some more about that. It would mean that he might have never died. If he never died, then that would mean....he was alive the entire time and pretended he had died. Oliver's expression looked deeply troubled. He wondered, 'Why had his brother never have came back'? Did he...hate him? He sighed. Tristan, his lost brother, hating him was unimaginable. He remembered the life he used to have before he was saved from a terrible situation. He sighed, and hung his head. He would try to forget this ever happened. "Let's be going..."

[Anonymous]

Ulma hesitated for a second before replying. She didn't want to let on how much she knew, as that would mean she had lied and  that would be wrong. She was never wrong! But still, she should say something to encourage Oliver to look for the truth, if that was what he desired. She shrugged, and said, "That is what I am to be meaning. Things can to be strange."

She finished folded the tent sheets so that the damp side faced outwards, and strapped them haphazardly to Ugly before untethering the animal. It wasn't happy to leave its breakfast of moss and dead bark, but followed its owner anyway as she squelched through the clearing. "We go this way." She gestured in the direction they'd need to head, which happened to be the same way she'd seen the boy fly off last night... She doubted they'd run into him, but...

It was worth a look, at least.

[Anonymous]

Oliver started going in the direction he was pointed, not saying a word. He smacked branches aside, not caring that some were scraping his arms and legs, trying to pull him back and push him aside. He kept looking from side to side, not seeing who he was looking for. But, he was determined, and it showed on his face. He would find his brother, whether it was hard or easy. Suddenly, a few raindrops began to fall. Oliver knew this meant a downpour was coming, but he ignored it.

[Anonymous]

Ulma hurried after Oliver as fast as she could manage, but was having to half-jog just to keep up. She'd always had short legs and she wasn't as fit as she used to be, so it wasn't easy, and the coming rain would make it even harder. She ducked and swerved around the branches that were hitting Oliver, which slowed her down still more.

"Are you to be wanting a hat?" she asked in an attempt to get him to slow down, a little out of breath already from the pace. "I have one that is spare."

[Anonymous]

Oliver shook his head, beating away a plant, then saying, "Oh...I'm sorry, I'm probabaly going kind of fast." He slowed down, still shoving away the things in his path. He knew his brother must be around here somewhere. He just knew that he would come to see him. He knew that his brother didn't hate him. He heard the rumble of thunder, and rain began pouring down on them. He looked up at the stormy sky and sighed. He asumed that they should stop for now, given that there was a crazy storm coming. "Should we take a break and find somewhere to rest while the storm is going?"

[Anonymous]

Ulma slowed down now as well and got her breath back. She shrugged, the movement flicking droplets of water off her shoulders as rain cascaded from the canopy high above. "It is the jungle, there is always to be a storm. If always to make cover from it, never to be moving!" She laughed. "But if you are wanting to be stop, then we can to stop."