Dance, my little puppets,

Aut/2.1/02  

     Autumn was coming to a close. It was too bad; autumn was such a lovely season. Näkki’s eyes scanned around her as she strode quietly through the last of fall. The leaves were almost all dislodged from their branches, except for a stubborn few, and the consistent wind rustled the foliage on the ground up into soft, swirling tornadoes.The rich colors had finally withered. Her favorite season was the transformation of fall because it really captured the essence of ending. No one forgot the leaves that shone the brightest of yellows and such leaves were in the process of dying. It was like looking at the years of one’s life that really counted and that others would remember. And then, eventually, the leaf dried up and blew away in dust - that wolf’s work forgotten, or rather that having become apart of the whole again, their contributions would no longer be unique. It became just a couple grains of dirt to help other things grow.

     Näkki paused to admire one of the few trees on the field before she stepped silently on and into the tall, brown grass. The stiff, woody stalks left before winter combed the marsh’s moss and weeds from her fur. When she arrived on the other side of the grass, on the bank of the lake, her fur was clear of it’s grime, as if the dying (in her mind) had wiped away the grit of recent endeavors. At the water’s edge, she sat down carefully and spread her toes out before her. She bit away the clumps of dirt to free her paws for new travel.

     When she had finished, Näkki stared into the water of the lake. Her ears swiveled to new sounds about her, constantly on the look out for… well, anything. A source of entertainment, probably. The day had been quite a bore, but then again, she’d gotten in lovely nap time. And as much as autumn soothed her fretful soul, the dying breaths all around her made her restless and she hated the feeling. What could she do to join the brief brightness of autumn before she died? Näkki licked her teeth lazily. Well, she’d find out eventually.

Näkki