Who: Haydn and Clover What: a chance meeting between Phoenix and Witch When: May 10, late evening Where: The forest outside the grounds Warnings: PG
There was no rustle of leaves or even a chirp from a cricket. The forest seemed dead and Clover was having a hard time sleeping because of it. There was a thing as too quiet. Perhaps it was the moon or that the shifters were giving the forest dwellers quite a scare.
Clover wished she could just drift off to sleep but the more she tried the more restless she became until she rose out and headed out, boldly. Barefoot and dressed only in her nightgown she journeyed deeper into the forest.
The cool moss felt delicious under her feet and the more she moved, the more she felt her potential slumber strumming its night song lullaby. She hardly noticed the pond at first until her night dress dragged behind her and the water seeped up into the cotton further and further until she could lean back and float as if she was the lady of Shalott.
Embraced by the cold water of the pond she luxuriated in the weightlessness and the silent distance became a comfort. Her eyes closed and there she rested among the lily pads. And then, she heard him.
"You’ll frighten the dawn.” Said Clover, floating, searching the bank for the twig snapping form. She looked like spilled cream in a puddle of wickedness. A star in an endless sky.
“You shouldn’t lurk.” Her arms began to paddle and the water churned with a hushed splush as she righted herself. Her bare feet sunk into the silt and sludge of the bottom of the pond. She felt a fish give her ankles a few nipping kisses as it experienced the stranger in the water. Finally it slipped away, disappointed that she wasn’t a morsel of food that the tiny fish could devour.
“Come out and say hello? I won't hurt you." she said. “I’m not out to soak up your soul. Please, don’t go.I am so restless tonight.”