Welcome to Gaia! ::

Haniel was absolutely excited that today was the day. It was made even more so by the two ascended nouls that stood before him, mother and father. They didn’t fuss but treated him like the adult he was, although they always treated him like a small adult in some way. They told him how to get to the tree, gave him some tips and advice for the trip there and back. They let him know that his dream vision at the tree was all him and there was not much they could tell him about it, except that it’s specific to each noul how they fare. Father told him to make them proud. They escorted him to outskirts of Homewood and he left them there at the tree line.

Moonstone came along with him though. He was quite over joyed to have met her and they had become fast friends. She had kept him out of trouble for the most part, especially when he kept running off. His poor nanny, he was a hoof-full for her but he did adore the sweet doe who raised him. He smiled wistfully, Haniel had met a lot of amazing nouls as a youngster. Maybe someday he’ll run into some of them again. There were certain ones that made a bit of an impression on him. “Where’s your head at?” he heard Moonstone ask.

“Oh, just thinking back on all the adventures I had as a foal before and after I met you. Also thinking about all the nouls I met.”

“I think you should be more thinking about what’s ahead of you right now. Not to mention your surroundings.” She hopped up on his back for a better vantage point.

“You’re right, as usual….” he muttered.

“What was that?” she with ruffled feathers.

“Nothing,” he grinned cheekily, then kicked up his pace to a trot.

Arriving at the tree, he practically strutted right up to it. Moonstone had hopped off and watched him, rolling her eyes and giving her head a small shake. He was so dang cocky.

WC: 345

The shift between the heat of the barrens to the cool darkness of where ever he was, was rather smooth. Haniel tilted his head with curiosity as he took in his surroundings. While he did see some plant growth, everything else around his was decidedly Other. Other as in the alien parasites that built this, well it must be some time of home. As he moved farther in, he came to a crusty and filth covered window. It showed him that he was clearly in the ruins. “So this is what this place looks like,” he mused allowed.

Turning around, his eyes took in what they could see. His nose raised into the air, pulling scents in. What is that intriguing odor? Then he sneezed as the dusty scent of old books polluted his nasal cavities. He continued forward, his eye adjusting to the gloom of the room. It was a rather spacious area with walls lined with shelving units. At one point they must have all been filled with books. It seemed some had been pulled in a hurry and packed into boxes. In the rush, some have fallen to the floor haphazardly while some remained on the shelves. Several boxes still remained, sitting on wooden tables in the center of the room, some with books and some still empty.

Haniel took stock of the floor which by looking at he dust told him some small creatures had passed through at some point. There were old hoof prints that looked decidedly noul, so this place isn’t newly discovered. “Hello?” he suddenly called out. Haniel didn’t really like being alone. He was so use to being around other nouls and having someone to talk to, whether that was his nanny, Moonstone or a new noul he’d never met. He would have liked to shared this place with someone, Moonstone might have appreciated it.

It did occur to him that this was a vision from the grandfather tree and that unless this place was truly real, he couldn’t share it with his friends. He shrugged, “Oh well, I may as well make the most of it while I’m here. Maybe I can find this place afterwards!” He smiled brightly to himself and then decided to bounce over to the shelves. His ears swung forward and he looked over the books on the shelf that were at eye height for him. “Hmmm… maybe I should pull one down and look at it,” talking to himself out loud to fill the silence with something. He spotted a book that looked promising and grabbed it by the spine.

Setting it on a dusty wooden table, Haniel snorted to clear his nose and then flipped the book open. He was a bit rough but he didn’t understand the delicacy of the item just yet. The corner of a page tore and he bit his lip. “Oh my, I should probably move these with more care. Moonstone would have scolded me,” he laughed at himself for his blunder. Looking over the page, the markings didn’t make sense to him at all. Of course he didn’t really expect them to, it wasn’t a language he had learned growing up. He pondered if there were any nouls who could read Other. Maybe he’ll look into that later or maybe not. Unless, the noul was a pretty female he wasn’t sure he’d pay much attention.

He decided to carefully flip through the book, hoping maybe there were pictures to show what it was about. There wasn’t, it was full of nothing but Other language and that was boring to him. Glancing to the side he saw a bigger book that was thinner than the one he had grabbed. Haniel glanced to one side and then the other before side stepping over a bit. The cover was plain like the other, nonetheless, he flipped the book open and before him was full color photographs. There was an odd flat faced creature, many of them, walking upright in a lot of them. Some stood, sat, laid down or did other activities. He tilted his head sideways, are these…. The Others?

Haniel’s ears swung forward and his eyes widen. They looked so strange but they seemed to like to socialize with each other, they had families too. The smaller Others weren’t so bad looking. He saw some with lots of mane but they didn’t have tails or fur. Curious. He kept flipping through the book totally enthralled with the images, some showed big buildings in the background. The buildings were unencumbered by plant-life. Is this what this place looked like when the Others were here? He bounced in place, over joyed with the discovery he had made. “I think I should come back here again. I’ve gotta show Moonstone.”

WC: 797 / 1,142