It was spring, and as such, the weather had very little idea of how it wanted to spend its life. Just earlier that morning the sun had come to shine on a clear sky and the birds sang to great it. Now the high noon sun was taking a break behind dark clouds and heavy rain had decided it wanted its time on the earth. The greening trees seemed to reach into the clouds, welcoming their embraces and the showers of earthly affection.
Taika shared in the trees’ joy at the rain as she raced from patch to patch in the forest, alternating between shelter and downpour. Her chocolate coat was sopping wet, yet still she sprang from puddle to mud and back to puddles. The dirt started to blend with her fur, smudging her features and colors. Very quickly the only aspects of the russet girl that was not some shade of mud were her lolling pink tongue and her shining gold cracked eyes.
Careless and free she played game with herself, diving into the puddles to chase an elusive water creature that dived the depths as much as she did. It had the audacity to make fun of her, and challenge her to a game of chase. The creature had mocked her, saying she could not go benieth the water, into the ground, and capture it. She had accepted its taunts, pointing out to it that it could not walk on the land to reach her and her faerie friends. It was forced to remain in the mud, eating the bugs that dared come to close. For hours she continued like this, barking out threats to the nothing as she dug in the squishy soppy mud that had only recently been pristine trails. Her adventures and play had taken her everywhere in the woodland, her prints confusing and seeming to go in every direction at once.
At last, she came to a reasonably dry spot under a thickly branched tree. She sat and panted in the soft droplets that managed to fall through the leaves and needles of the natural shelter.
“There.” She said happily to the fae folk she carried on her shoulder. “The mud dwellers will not bother us here.” A pleased smile on her features and stretched as far as she could, her tail extending far into the air with a small wag. She sat again and simply watched and listened to the rain, enjoying every moment of life, no matter what it gave her.
Taika
Do you believe in magic? |