It’s time for the Quarterly Blog Hop!
Our writing community does a quarterly blog hop, and for the first time I am joining in. Below is a story from yours truly along with links to many other stores too! All with the best price tag – free. I hope you enjoy the adventure this blog hop takes you on.
Enjoy!
The Little Cloud Ray
The little cloud ray swam through the warm summer air, high above the golden fields. Small changes in her fins let her weave a long arcs before turning the other way, in an aimless meandering path. The sun warmed her dark, wide, diamond shaped body. Beneath her, eight long tentacles flowed behind like sea grass.
She happily enjoyed the gentle caress of her tentilla on the wheat. As she passed over the plants, she let them cup individual straws of wheat trailing up and over each head. The wheat swayed softly with her passing.
She journeyed from one field to another, watching the wheat ebb and flow with her passing, like waves on a shore. Each straw persuading its neighbours to join in the gentle sway.
As she passed through the fields, she saw a small forest up ahead. Nestled into a ravine between the rolling hills, a small cluster of tall pine and birch trees stood proud.
Excitedly, she tipped her fins and tail to rise up higher to get above the trees. Her tentilla slid up and over pine needles, gentle and prickly.
She turned around to watch the trees bob back and forth, giggling at how much they moved. Each of the tree boughs wiggled in different ways, making the sway of the tree lopsided. Delighted, she circled around and came back through again. And again. Laughing each time she swam above the branches, each time a little closer, a little faster and she tried to grab onto the trees harder to make them swing more.
CRACK!
She twirled quickly to see the noise. One of the tall pines shivered and began an inexorable fall to the ground, brushing hard through the branches and boughs of the other trees. An enormous crash, the tree hit the ground, and a tremor shook the other trees. At the bottom of the ravine, crossing the water, the tree lay broken at its base in rough jagged edges.
The young cloud ray gasped in horror. A great updraft spun the fallen leaves in the ravine into a wild wave. They drifted quietly back to the ravine floor as a deep silence took hold.
She went ever so slowly, trying to hold all of her tentacles as close to her as she could to see what she had done. A tree was dead now because of her. She floated close to the ground, in front of the broken stump, sad and guilty. Mother had warned her that she needed to be careful and not to ask too much of the earth to bend to her will, unless there was need.
Almost as if summoned, her mother arrived. The stillness of the ravine deepened.
“Little cloud ray, what has happened here?” She spoke in a soft voice, the sound of birch leaves in spring.
“I played too hard and I broke this tree.” The cloud ray admitted. She pulled her tentacles into her with her fins. “I forgot to be gentle, Mama. I got so excited.”
One of Mother’s tentacles and its tentilla caressed the little cloud ray’s face. “I am glad you admitted your error. We cloud rays can be very powerful and we have to respect that we can do harm.”
“I see that now.” She said. The little cloud solemnly ray let out one of her tentacles and laid only a few of her tentilla on the fallen tree. She moved to touch the rough cut where the tree had broken, wanting to understand the jagged, sharp feeling of the damage. She let another tentacle ever so lightly touch the trunk and its needles.
“Is there anything I can do, Mother? To make it right?”
There was a pause while Mother looked up to the rest of the forest. “They will be alright. I think this majestic tree was nearing the end of its cycle. There are many other healthy trees here, likely from its seed.”
“But I cannot bring this one back, can I?”
“No, my little one.”
The little cloud ray was silent and still for a minute. “I understand now why we must be so careful.” She reached out purposefully to the other trees around her, laying her small tentilla on as many of them as she could touch. She closed her tiny eyes, focusing her thoughts on the trees through her contact. “I am sorry for what I have done. I hope you can forgive me.” She said.
“That was very kind of you.” Mother said as she smoothed one of the little cloud ray’s tentacles back into place. “Let’s return to father and continue on our journey across the wheat fields.”
The two cloud rays left the ravine with a warm caress of a gentle summer breeze.
They did not hear the soft weeping of pine needles falling to the forest floor.
Now that you have read my little adventure, please visit the other authors participating in the Blog Hop for more great stories:
Baba Yaga Babysits by Katharina Gerlach
Florals by Angelica Medlin
The Price Of Freedom by Amy Keeley
Danger on Raylon 4 by James Husum
Rise by Barbara Lund