After several more heavenly and well-deserved moments of peaceful resting in my cushion of leaves, I reluctantly bring my short break to an end by performing a series of lethargic toe-touches to get my blood circulating. There's a time limit to be mindful of, so I gotta get a wiggle-on and hope Bartlon doesn't get angry with me! I can't keep lounging around forever, as much as I wish I could.

Ahh, how nice it would be to spend my day doing nothing but sleeping in a snug blanket and eating the yummiest foods. Just thinking about the fantasy makes me want to snuggle back into the leaves and have a nice long nap, yet... a fantasy is all it can be. I need the boat to cross the lake and I also need Bartlon to explain the new squiggles I found, two very important tasks I can't do by myself!

"Just two hours is too short Bartlon!" I huff loudly while swimming over the leaves to the closest root. At least give me some time to have a nap!

Such a shame I don't have any pouches on my waist to carry things like Bartlon does, I'm starting to realize how helpful they'd be! I'd love to be able to take this leafy bed around with me everywhere I go, its so amazingly airy and soft! A worthy material to support my delicate body whilst I slumber! And although its not quite as comfortable as my small brown blankets in the tunnel, these leaves aren't soggy and stinky with blood, so they get bonus bed-points. Maybe I can collect a big pile then put them into the boat to take back with me! Yay!

And while I'm thinking of getting pouches, I should absolutely get a separate waist pouch for tasty seeds too! And then another one to carry fluffy blankets with me as well! Making three bags in total: bed, blanket and seeds, all the best things in life! My genius strikes again, I'll be the first bird in history to be so clever! Muahahaha... oh.

I wonder if I'll be able to carry all that extra weight? I'm already pretty heavy... and I don't have much space where I can hold things. My talons, wings and tail are all super important for flying and fighting, so I can't occupy them with holding pouches! Which I guess leaves my neck and my mouth for holding things, but that's only two places! I'll need to give up on something! Grrrhmmmmmmm!!!!! Why is life so cruel? There must be something I can do! Is being comfortable at all times too much to ask for from a tragic bird like me?!

Oh well, I'm sure Bartlon can help with his wrinkly wisdom.

I swivel my head left and right, surveying the shoreline from atop of the root that I awkwardly managed to scale up during my brain storming. I squint up and down, left and right, this way, and that way, scanning the calming view of the petal layered waves bobbing up and down in the afternoon heat.

That's strange.

I don't see the boat.

A lump of despair sinks down my stomach and sadness grips my heart as I urgently check over the shoreline a second time. Where's the boat? Am I too late? Did he leave without me? There's no way I overlooked that little row-boat, the brown colored wood sticks out like a sore feather in all this white!

I know what to do! I just need to get to the shore and then fly around the island! I probably just went the wrong direction again, ahaha, silly me, always taking the wrong turns, there's no need to get all teary-eyed. I'll find it in a jiffy! There's no way Bartlon left me behind!

"Cinders" I choke out, unable to stop myself from sinking further in despair despite all my effort to reassure myself. Maybe I shouldn't have had that nap.

Suffered 2 Falling Damage

I bound to the root in front of me in a clunky fashion and land with a hard thump on my belly. Gritting my beak to ease the pain and frustration I leap to another root, trailing a brief gout of flames behind me, this time managing to land without 'falling damage' squiggles appearing. Again and again I urgently leap across the blue platforms, watching the far-off shoreline jump closer with each hop.

The wind rushes against my face in short bursts as I stride along, the lapse of movement filled in by the sounds of my talons clacking on the roots and my wings flapping their hardest. As I get closer to the shore a foreign sound makes itself known to the fringe of my hearing, and it continues to get louder as I approach.

Muffled and deep.

Yet, gravely and powerful.

Like the creaking of the big blue tree's thick upper branches, this sound is equally sinister, spooky and frightening.

And for once, its not my empty stomach to blame for this terrifying growl.

I freeze in place and crane my neck upwards, straining my ears to pick out the dangerous sounding noise in more detail. The whispering wind, groaning roots and rustling leaves amplify in volume under my concentration, even the faint birdsong all the way across the lake is brought to my notice as I remain as still as a statue. More importantly, the growling becomes clearer. Its distant, yet booming, the sound completely in contrast to the sounds of nature, making the noise incredibly easy to distinguish. I hone in on the sound and ignore all others while praying it doesn't belong to some type of humongous Fluffer snoring during an afternoon nap. I mean, if trees can grow as big as the one behind me, can a Fluffer as well? It could be possible!

After standing completely stock-still and intently listening to the unidentified sound for a whole minute, the answer reveals itself.

Silly me for always assuming the worst!

I break the image of being a living bird-statue and happily Cinder my way towards the sound, humming all the way. Of course Bartlon wouldn't leave without me! I should have more faith in him!

I nimbly leap over the gnarly roots with the natural grace of a acrobatic kangaroo, much to my enjoyment. Maybe its time for me to try and fly in the sky properly, but for now, I'm enjoying this game of leapfrog. Eventually the sound of Bartlon's voice pierces through the groaning of whoever he's talking to. Ahh how I missed the sound of his hoarse voice, I can almost hear his wrinkles!

"For the last time Ivos" says the distant Bartlon in the gruffest voice I've ever heard him use. "I didn't see any fire on the tree and I've been here for collecting sap for the past 3 hours now! I swear you've gotten even more senile then I have!"

The incoherent groaning of whoever this Ivos person is resumes. "Gruhunanununnn-idiotic-grrrhnnn-Bartlon-andgnnfngmdfnfg-I know what I saw-hnhngbgbg"

Whoops, that doesn't sound good.

I pause my flapping and turn to face the tree with mounting dread, expecting to see it engulfed in fire and collapsing. Yet, to my lack of surprise, it looks exactly the same as it did before! I did leave a few scorch marks on it, but nothing too serious and certainly nothing to berate poor Bartlon about! That stupid tree got what was coming to it! Why is this stranger being so mean?

Although maybe I should keep my fiery flapping to a minimum? For Bartlon's sake.

I continue maneuvering over, under and around the tangling roots without the use of Cinders while eavesdropping on the conversation ahead of me.

"Ghhnhngngngngngngng-fool-" Booms Ivos with his guttural voice.

"It was your imagination, if you want to find out, go check for yourself, I have better things to do" grumps Bartlon. Rightfully so too! That Ivos is the real grump here, you tell him Bartlon!

"Grunmmmng-foolish-gngn-feeble-grhnnnngngnblurghrrrrrrrrhn-take me for a idiot? Incompetent and useless" barks Ivos, to the stony silent reply of Bartlon.

I poke my head out from underneath an arching root, right into the midst of the conversation.

I'm greeted with the sight of a back-turned hunching figure draped in a dark blue robe and Bartlon's wrinkly face towering above them. Is that Ivos? He's so tiny! Ahaha, his knees are in perfect pecking range!

I lock eyes with Bartlon and give him a friendly little head bob and flap of my wing. Bartlon's sour face immediately softens as he spots me, but then concern and fear flashes in it's place before he returns his eyes to Ivos with a scowl. Should I be worried too?

"I've finished up here so I'm heading back" Bartlon interrupts to the silence. "Try not to scare the entire town with your imagination Ivos. There's never been anything around Harou's Tree, I would know, been collecting sap here for decades".

"Since when did you care about the town?" snaps the cranky Ivos at the already departing Bartlon with voice so deep I can feel it vibrating the air.

"Fine, fools like you are useless anyway" The blue robed man spits.

"Now-"

I shuffle backwards under the sanctuary of the arching root just as Ivos's feet spin to face my direction. Refusing to even breathe, I wait as he hobbles a few steps towards me with the assistance of a long blue branch to support him.

Did he notice Bartlon looking at me? Why else would he walk directly at me?! Why is he so blue? Oh Golly!

The edge of my vision darkens and my lungs start to burn as Ivos remains standing a meter in front of me. Is he looking for me? Why isn't he moving? If he doesn't move soon, I might suffocate!

After what feels like an eternity, Ivos takes another step towards me and stops yet again.

Unable to hold my breathe any longer.

I gasp for air.

And crumple into the leaves.

Hearing the unnatural rustle of leaves, Ivos shuffles another 3 hurried steps towards my cover under the root, clearly aware of my presence. Oh for chirping out loud. I'm a sitting duck, my goose is cooked! What's he going to do once he finds me? I don't even want to know.

I start to circulate the fire from my heart to the tips of feathers in my wings. There's not enough time to ignite my wings like I did inside the trunk, but I'm still going to try my very best to run away! This old bully can eat my dust!

In a matter of seconds, by some sort of divine intervention, the idling wind chooses this specific moment to sweep up the thousands of dormant leaves laying about and send them swirling directly at the robed man before me. He splutters and coughs in surprise as I can only assume that a few leaves got blown into his mouth or face. Aha! Serves you right! I wish I could've seen your face! Thank you again wind!

The tiny man growls in fury as he storms off, thankfully, in the opposite direction to me. As he waddles away a different, more violent and turbulent wind whips across the disarrayed roots in tangible anger, roaring viciously. The sudden gust sends millions of leaves scattering away with Ivos at the center of the male-storm, the wind strong enough to even knock me backwards, causing me to thump harshly on my bum.

Suffered 3 Falling Damage

The wind quickly dies down as if it never happened as the hunched figure slowly weaves through the roots, the only evidence of the unusual incident being the eerie lack of leaves where Ivos was standing.

Did he do that?

I think I just got very lucky.

Is it safe to go now? I wanna see Bartlon!