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 Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 6:49 pm
There was nothing quite like a warm night and a beautiful sky. Lightstream was, as usual, sprawled in her clearing, watching the stars wheel overhead. She'd moved two or three times, trying to find just the right place, where the mangroves didn't block out the sky and where there was mud for her maps, and had finally settled in her current clearing. Many nights ago, she'd first met another doe like her -- dark with blue markings -- named Hearsay.
Part of her motivation for staying where she was, besides its lovely view of the night sky, was that Hearsay now knew where to find her. Though the other doe often wandered, it was comforting to know that sometimes, her friend would return to tell her all the latest news.
She'd just finished a small part of her star chart, mapping four stars that almost went in a line. The image struck her as resembling a crane, if she connected certain dots like so. She blinked down at the map, her eyes casting light over it, and wished she had a real crane to compare it to.
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Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:31 pm
 Hearsay wandered leisurely through the trees toward her destination. The sun had gone down a while ago and the stars – where she could see them through canopy – were clear and bright. The forest itself was full of life, despite the late hour, and there were sounds coming from everywhere. She kept her ears pricked for the sound of voices; you could almost always find someone slinking about and you always learned the most interesting things by overhearing other kimeti’s conversations. However on this night there was nothing to distract her on her way to see her friend.
It was a most peculiar friend of hers that she was going to see. The doe was a recluse, preferring the company of the night sky to that of other kimeti and was hardly ever in contact with anyone. When she had first learned the doe’s story Rumor had declared that she would have to fill her in on what she was missing. It baffled her that Lightstream could be so content without knowing all the exciting things happing in the swamp around her, but after many meeting she began to understand the charm of her solitary life style, even if it wasn’t suited to herself.
Soon she arrived at her friend’s clearing and was once again impressed by what she saw; there was nowhere else in the swap that you could see the stars so clearly. Even though her coat was pitch black it was never hard to spot Lightstream, just like it was hard to miss herself, they both had bright blue markings that glowed with the same eerie light as their eyes. “Light!” She called. “There you are!”
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Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 6:00 pm
Lightstream had never missed the sound of Kimeti voices -- the stars were all the sight she needed, and the music of the swamp was all the sound she needed. Hearsay was so unlike her that, indeed, their only similarity lay in their dark colorings and bright blue markings. Hearsay thrived on listening to other Kimeti and gathering all that there was to know about their doings, while Lightstream preferred solitary observation.
But when she heard the call, she lowered her eyes from the heavens, smiling. Hearsay's markings were like a bright blue beacon. "Rumor, my friend! It's good to see you again. And you've come on such a lovely night, too; the stars are as bright as ever." She got to her feet and tossed her head, to get her hair out of her eyes.
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Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 10:29 pm
Sometimes when she came to see her friend Hearsay wondered if she would be able to pull Lightstreams eyes away from the heavens. There was never a moment when she could that that girl wasn’t looking up. “Nothing has changed I see.” Hearsay commented good-naturedly. “Anything new in the stars tonight?”
There was a rustling in the trees behind her and a little black-and-blur-blur sprung out of the leaves. Its dove into the clearing, twisted around and disappeared back into the trees so fast that it looked like a florescent blue streak against the night sky. The rustling of wings through leaves got quiet as the bird got farther away until it couldn’t be heard anymore. “I swear I have no idea what is wrong with that bird.” The songbird’s bonded kimeti claimed in a dry tone. Chitchat was prone to pulling stunts like that. That bird could never sit still, not long enough to eat properly, it was always having to stop to spit up bits of food it had swallowed wrong because it hadn’t taken the time to make sure it went down right.
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Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 11:39 am
Lightstream tipped her head up, again, to examine the stars. "Yes," she answers gravely. "The Hunter and Huntress have moved, and the Scorpion follows. I have identified a Songbird in another portion of the sky, which moves more slowly."
The darting of the songbird catches her eye, and the moth perched on her back flutters its wings with a soft, dusty rustle. "Unlike your Chitchat," she adds, smiling. "What news from the rest of the swamp?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 2:07 am
Rumour grinned. “Well, that one is a little bit crazy… goodness knows why I keep her around.” Truth be told, that bird had an incredible talent for finding the most scandalous scenes. The number of things Hearsay had learned just by following that little devil around… the bird may act like a complete nut, but it was evil to the core. She shook her head.
“Good to know at least some songbirds know how to have some class.” She joked and sat down on the soft grass.
“Life has been passing with no unsual gusto… nothing spectacular to report.” She admitted with a sigh. “Although,” she amended, “there have been an abnormal amount of people head north recently… to the plains. The talk is that something big is going to be going down there. Strange folk been showing up… I was actually planning on checking it out myself when I left here.”
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Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:46 am
"She is rather excitable," Lightstream agreed amenably, though 'excitable' seemed rather gentle. With the greetings over, she returned her attention to her star chart, engraving paths with her horn. She was tracing the movement of the star-shapes she'd dubbed the Hunter, the Huntress, and the Scorpion.
"Come now, Rumor. There's always something spectacular." Even if it was just another kimeti's scandal, Lightstream enjoyed hearing about it. "North, is it? I've never been up that far. I wonder if perhaps there's fewer trees up there?" And, therefore, an unobstructed view of the heavens. "Perhaps I'll go with you. It could be an adventure." She tossed her head, getting her hair out of her eyes, and laughed.
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Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 12:38 am
“Ha ha! Excitable? That’s one way to put it.” Lightstream went back to her draws and Hearsay moved to get a better look. She put so much effort and care into her work… Rumour sighed quietly, she could never put that much into something. But then again, she had her own strengths. Her friend’s voice snapped her back to reality.
“Really?” Hearsay asked feeling the excitement begin the bubble underneath her hooves. “You would come with me?”
Rumour had been trying for ages, unsuccessfully, to drag Lightstream out of her reclusive ways. She was happy though so eventually she let the matter be. The trip would be much more fun if she came along! If the idea was already in her head it might only take a little encouragement from Hearsay to cement the idea. Her eyes glinted conspiratorially. “I’m sure there are less trees up north, from what I have heard its open plains as far as the eye can see! I’m sure that up there you would have a much better view of the stars, perhaps you could even find star-shapes you have never seen before.”
(Is this way to bright XD ?)
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Posted: Mon Aug 23, 2010 11:03 am
Lightstream smiled at her friend. "I would. I do believe I have mapped the southern views of the stars as clearly as I can." Of course there were too many stars for her to map them all, but she'd marked out major star shapes, bright stars, and their paths, and the prospect of gaining a new perspective was intriguing.
Rumour's encouragements make her eyes brighten a little more. "Yes -- yes, my thoughts exactly. If there are new star-shapes, why, so much the better." She hadn't considered that possibility, and she rose, with a rare thrum of excitement.
"I will leave these star charts behind, I think; I carry them in my mind, now. Should we leave at dawn?"
(Nope! XD)
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Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2010 9:19 pm
Hearsay smiled, that was just the kind of thing Lightstream would say. “I’m so happy you’ll come with me!” The doe trilled excitedly. “It will be so much more fun if you come. I can show you all my favourite places on the way, and you can meet some of the people I have been telling you about. (Do be sure too watch what you say to them though, I do confide in you some things that should really have been kept to myself and I wouldn’t want to offend them.) Its decided then! At dawn we will pick up our hooves and set out for the north.”
She could feel the little sparks of excitement rolling down her coat. While her friend may be content staying in one place, taking the time to carefully observe every details of the stars and the earth, Rumour was never more at home than when she was on the move. At times like this, when she had an adventure planned or her mind set on investigating a juicy timbit, it was hard to keep still. Her feet shuffled uncomfortably; they wanted to leave! Hearsay squashed the urge though and forced herself to settle down and find a comfortable patch of grass to lay down on.
“So tell me more about this songbird in the sky.” Rumour encouraged. Although she may deal in fact, her companion had a flair for fiction and always had a good story to accompany each new star-shape.
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 7:12 pm
Lightstream beamed at Hearsay's excitement. "Really, now? Never fear. I tend to be rather quiet, anyhow, except with you. I'd love to meet these kimeti that you know, and perhaps we can become friends."
For once, she could hardly wait for dawn. "The Songbird has been drifting in front of the Crocodile for some days now, with its tailfeathers just out of reach of the snapping maw. See there -- that star is the tip of the tail, and it leads up to the Songbird's body, and there are its wings."
Lightstream's imagination was very vivid; the stars could, with a tilt of the head, be taken as a songbird with wings outstretched and tail fluttering.
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