Melissa tossed and turned in her bed, trying to sleep, but she couldn't... She kept thinking about what had happened to her in that short time.
She kept thinking about what had happened to her in that short time. The journey to the capital to study, the secrets of the forest before her eyes, the different plants and animals, the attack on her convoy, running away with an emotionless guy who annoyed her or cared about her. She didn't know what to focus on because it was all new to her.
She had travelled near her family's estate before, but only to the market, to the vendors who offered various goods for her family, and it was on one of those trips that she had bought herself a small meat rabbit, the size of a grown man's palm. Only later did it fatten up into a full-sized pillow for the mischievous little lady.
The forest she had only known from Uncle Clantis' stories was far more colourful and dangerous than she could have imagined. She saw many plants and animals that she asked Daniel about each time, which was probably why he fell asleep so quickly, because her questions were so frequent that he didn't even have time to answer one before several more came up.
The attack on their convoy had come as a surprise to her, and it had made her less afraid of the forest, since the danger, which was much greater, came from humans.
And finally Daniel...
He was only a year older than her, but after all that time alone in the forest wilderness, with no other humans around, he had become something of a guarantor of her safety. Yes, he could have been gentler with her, but that didn't change the fact that she was still alive. And since she was still fed up, her clothes were tidier after washing in the lake and trimming the hem of her dress. She crumpled some of the rabbit skin blanket in her hand and felt warmer inside, but she still couldn't sleep...
A striking view of the lake at night came into her vision. The lake itself no longer reflected the sky, but myriads of stars. They weren't really stars at all, but a huge cluster of fireflies, floating smoothly over the surface of the water. Melissa watched this natural light show with mesmerised eyes, as the lake reflected the image.
Suddenly she thought of showing this picture to her boyfriend, so that for once he would see a part of the world not as a piece of knowledge, but as a beautiful picture.
"HEY," she said quietly and gave him a light push on the arm.
The guy quickly grabbed the blade he had placed beside him and then looked wildly at Melissa, who was swinging one of her hands with the dagger. He wasn't fully awake yet, but his instincts were working faster than his head. However, he quickly realised that they were in no danger and gently let go of the pale girl, who began to shout softly at him.
"Are you completely mad! Are you..." She started to rebuke him quickly, but eventually realised that she didn't have much to say, after all they were in the forest at night and he had only slept for an hour at most...
"What's wrong! What's wrong!!!" Daniel was still sleepy, but began to ask consciously, and then realised that something was missing, and quickly climbed down from the tree to look for something... well, or someone... ....
At the bottom of the tree he found his orange pet, who hadn't even woken up. Obviously Deviant had become very diluted from such an intense diet of rabbit meat.
Daniel quickly picked him up from the ground and climbed back up the tree, looking questioningly at Melissa.
"Well, I couldn't sleep and I wanted to show you..." The girl spoke in a thin voice that would have been very hard to hear, pointing her hand towards the lake with the "stars", but Daniel heard everything perfectly and looked towards the lake, looking for any dangers.
"What's wrong with the lake? There are no predatory fish there, so if you saw someone, it's just your imagination!" Danille replied to her 'concern' but heard only indignation.
"You know a lot about the forest, but have you ever looked at anything for beauty, not just survival! You know how lucky you are to see such things, but you only look, not see!"