Post by Taki on Jun 30, 2014 9:40:04 GMT -8
A Lucky Encounter with an Amusing End
Taki peered through the bushes at the scene before her, ears tipped in concern. She’s stumbled upon what at first looked, from a distance, like watering hole surrounded by a herd of quadriped creatures, grazers by the look with antlers on their heads and a smaller pair by their hoses. She’d observed one using their nose antlers to root in the dirt, and thought it a wonderful adaptation.
But this was anything but wonderful.
The herd huddled around the muddy bank, restlessly jostling about as they each tried to lap at the tiny puddles around the middle. The watering hole was near dry! Only a few tiny wet dips remained, and these were almost more mud than water. Seeing a foal lap almost mournfully at one nearly broke Taki’s heart.
{Poor little guy,} she thought, looking around. {But the grass is green. Plants are healthy. This isn’t because of a drought. So what happened?} The Myrgwae’s eyes fell on an adjacent rocky rise, noting the water marks on it, and that the lip arched over the top of the pool. {That probably fed it. Maybe if I follow it, I’ll find out what happened.} Cheered greatly at the prospect of helping them out, she eagerly traced the rise to a place she could climb up, scurried to the summit, and began following the mostly dry riverbed she found there.
The grass along the riverbed was lush, adding more evidence that the river hadn’t been dry long. Her confusion only grew as she passed a tall, strong tree on the opposite bank, which meant it must’ve been a good water source for decades! As she walked, Taki wondered n what she’d find when she reached the problem.
{Maybe a dragon wanted to make a big lake to swim in,} she imagined. {While I can understand that, I hope he’ll understand too that it’s not fair to stop up the river. Or maybe a mean old wizard stopped the water with a spell, just because! Or a big monster might have drunk the river dry! Oh, I hope not that one, because I won’t be able to help that. Or maybe -} She cut off her train of thought with a gasp a she ascended a slight incline and saw the problem: a second rocky rise has partially collapsed and blocked the river. It was so bad the surrounding ground was nearly a marsh. {Oh! What big rocks!} She approached to look them over. It appeared the makeshift dam had fallen into place haphazardly, letting only a small trickle slip through. Carefully climbing the pile, she pushed a few of the smaller ones away, which increased the trickle to a tiny stream, but no matter how hard she pushed she couldn’t budge the larger stones that were the bulk of the problem. {C’mon, move!} She took a break in her efforts after a few moments more of the stones’ stout refusal to budge. Huffing in determined frustration, she cast about for an idea and spied her solution in some debris washed up in the growing swamp. It took her some time to wrangle her improvised tool over to the dam, but it would take more than the slender tree trunk’s cumbersome weight to deter the Myrgwae! She smiled as finally the end of the log slid between some of the rocks with a satisfying THUNK. Then Taki climbed her way up the rocks, and pushed down on the log.
It didn’t budge an inch!
{Ooh, come loose you!} She shoved a couple more times, but it only succeeded in swinging the log out over the mini-lake that had built up. Refusing to give up, she jumped, wrapping her arms as best she could around the truck and jerking with her whole body. {Move – you – big – stupid – rocks!}
Abruptly, the wedged stones decided to obey, separating with a grinding noise and letting the river rush free again, and also dumping Taki right in! Propelled down the riverbed, bounced against the bottom and sides, it was all she could do to hold onto her hat and her breath! Her free hand flailed about for something to hold onto, and feeling something woody above the water’s surface she made a grab for it. Her instincts gave her quite a lucky grab indeed, for she pulled and was able to raise herself up to gasp a lungful of air, finding she’d latched onto the root system of the big tree she’d admired before. She slowly pulled herself out of the river, collapsing on its bank to pant for a few moments before she sat up to see the fruits of her labors: a rushing river, full of life and energy!
Any lingering aches and strains forgotten, Taki exuberantly jumped to her feet and did a little dance in celebration, then gave herself a head-to-toe-and-back-again shake to shed off the water, leaving her – after a quick flick of her hat – as dry as a bone.
{I did it! Oh! The animals!} Excitedly, Taki darted back to the overhang where she saw both a heartwarming and amusing sight: The herd was clustered around the watering hole’s edge, drinking greedily and some of the foals were even frolicking in the water, splashing and romping very carefree.
With a heart as light as the clouds, Taki watched them for a bit, then slipped off and continued on her way through the plains.
(400 word challenge - Amusing and Lucky. I had to make a title using the words too lol! And I'm posting it in a second thread because I didn't realize there was a reply on my original, or I would've used it instead. I'm sorry.)
Taki peered through the bushes at the scene before her, ears tipped in concern. She’s stumbled upon what at first looked, from a distance, like watering hole surrounded by a herd of quadriped creatures, grazers by the look with antlers on their heads and a smaller pair by their hoses. She’d observed one using their nose antlers to root in the dirt, and thought it a wonderful adaptation.
But this was anything but wonderful.
The herd huddled around the muddy bank, restlessly jostling about as they each tried to lap at the tiny puddles around the middle. The watering hole was near dry! Only a few tiny wet dips remained, and these were almost more mud than water. Seeing a foal lap almost mournfully at one nearly broke Taki’s heart.
{Poor little guy,} she thought, looking around. {But the grass is green. Plants are healthy. This isn’t because of a drought. So what happened?} The Myrgwae’s eyes fell on an adjacent rocky rise, noting the water marks on it, and that the lip arched over the top of the pool. {That probably fed it. Maybe if I follow it, I’ll find out what happened.} Cheered greatly at the prospect of helping them out, she eagerly traced the rise to a place she could climb up, scurried to the summit, and began following the mostly dry riverbed she found there.
The grass along the riverbed was lush, adding more evidence that the river hadn’t been dry long. Her confusion only grew as she passed a tall, strong tree on the opposite bank, which meant it must’ve been a good water source for decades! As she walked, Taki wondered n what she’d find when she reached the problem.
{Maybe a dragon wanted to make a big lake to swim in,} she imagined. {While I can understand that, I hope he’ll understand too that it’s not fair to stop up the river. Or maybe a mean old wizard stopped the water with a spell, just because! Or a big monster might have drunk the river dry! Oh, I hope not that one, because I won’t be able to help that. Or maybe -} She cut off her train of thought with a gasp a she ascended a slight incline and saw the problem: a second rocky rise has partially collapsed and blocked the river. It was so bad the surrounding ground was nearly a marsh. {Oh! What big rocks!} She approached to look them over. It appeared the makeshift dam had fallen into place haphazardly, letting only a small trickle slip through. Carefully climbing the pile, she pushed a few of the smaller ones away, which increased the trickle to a tiny stream, but no matter how hard she pushed she couldn’t budge the larger stones that were the bulk of the problem. {C’mon, move!} She took a break in her efforts after a few moments more of the stones’ stout refusal to budge. Huffing in determined frustration, she cast about for an idea and spied her solution in some debris washed up in the growing swamp. It took her some time to wrangle her improvised tool over to the dam, but it would take more than the slender tree trunk’s cumbersome weight to deter the Myrgwae! She smiled as finally the end of the log slid between some of the rocks with a satisfying THUNK. Then Taki climbed her way up the rocks, and pushed down on the log.
It didn’t budge an inch!
{Ooh, come loose you!} She shoved a couple more times, but it only succeeded in swinging the log out over the mini-lake that had built up. Refusing to give up, she jumped, wrapping her arms as best she could around the truck and jerking with her whole body. {Move – you – big – stupid – rocks!}
Abruptly, the wedged stones decided to obey, separating with a grinding noise and letting the river rush free again, and also dumping Taki right in! Propelled down the riverbed, bounced against the bottom and sides, it was all she could do to hold onto her hat and her breath! Her free hand flailed about for something to hold onto, and feeling something woody above the water’s surface she made a grab for it. Her instincts gave her quite a lucky grab indeed, for she pulled and was able to raise herself up to gasp a lungful of air, finding she’d latched onto the root system of the big tree she’d admired before. She slowly pulled herself out of the river, collapsing on its bank to pant for a few moments before she sat up to see the fruits of her labors: a rushing river, full of life and energy!
Any lingering aches and strains forgotten, Taki exuberantly jumped to her feet and did a little dance in celebration, then gave herself a head-to-toe-and-back-again shake to shed off the water, leaving her – after a quick flick of her hat – as dry as a bone.
{I did it! Oh! The animals!} Excitedly, Taki darted back to the overhang where she saw both a heartwarming and amusing sight: The herd was clustered around the watering hole’s edge, drinking greedily and some of the foals were even frolicking in the water, splashing and romping very carefree.
With a heart as light as the clouds, Taki watched them for a bit, then slipped off and continued on her way through the plains.
(400 word challenge - Amusing and Lucky. I had to make a title using the words too lol! And I'm posting it in a second thread because I didn't realize there was a reply on my original, or I would've used it instead. I'm sorry.)