There was something wrong, something off – Nalini could feel it. She couldn't put her finger on it; it was just beyond her understanding, just beyond anything that she had experienced before. Nali had been pulled away from the Village, the hair on the back of her neck prickling as she walked through the near-abandoned pathways of the Cirque. It was the time of afternoon where people tended to be sleeping or getting ready – not wandering the grounds.
When the Wishing Tree loomed ahead of her, Nali felt the tug of that something grow stronger. It was a darkness, like a cloud hanging over the usually peaceful area. Since her arrival, Nali had enjoyed the Wishing Tree immensely. The spirit that lived there felt kind, protective. The tree itself radiated warm, welcoming energy... at least it did normally.
Even that felt different; there was a strange sense of tension when Nali approached, and then a brush against her senses of something wrong. Something dark and hungry, feeling as though it breezed right by her. Nali hissed in response, turning to glare in the direction that it had gone. A moment later, Sirikit was there, searching for the very thing that Nali had just seen.
"No, leave it – it is better that the thing is gone," Nalini warned, extending a hand to the tree spirit. "I saw it, a little... I felt it. It was wrong; it does not belong here."