Xochipalli had left his home herd a very long time ago, back when he was just a young adult. He was still fairly young even now--at least by his reckoning--but his lust for adventure and his need to see the world had been greater than the instinct to stay home where it was safe. Since then he had seen many strange things, and as much as possible he had stuck around the strange things until he could satisfy his curiosity.Satisfying his curiosity wasn't easy. He was always asking new questions; just as soon as he found an answer, he found three more questions that needed an answer. Progress across the ocean had been in bits and spurts as he stopped for a while, then swam across vast empty areas in search of the next island of life. He had made his way quite a ways down the coast by now. Coasts were much more exciting than open water. There was more life and more activity here on the coast than there was far out to sea.
At the moment, Xochipalli was in the intertidal zone, ignoring the constant thrashing of the waves, completely engrossed in a colony of sea anemones. With the water covering them right now, they were in full "bloom," big, fat petals spread out wide. Xochi, though, didn't think they were flowers. They had a mouth, for one thing, and for another, those petals moved like tentacles. They would snatch at seemingly nothing, then pull it into their mouths. It was fascinating. By now, Xochi had been watching them for hours. He'd been careful not to touch them--they stung other animals, and even if it just felt a little sticky to rub his legs across them, he was worried he would hurt them if he did that.
He watched as thin, white tentacles erupted from one anemone and began to attach themselves to the base of another one. The other, in reply, released its own white tentacles. Xochi pushed his head closer. What was going on here...? Was this mating, or was it fighting? Anemones were strange...things that switched from acting like a plant to acting like an animal...
