Sunlight Beneath the Trees

Looking up from the tree he was sitting in, Paars listened to the wind. He had more than once been on this tree, a sturdy, dependable pine who had warned him many times of danger with the wind rustling in his needles. It was a male pine, Groen, Paars' sister had told him so. How she could tell the difference wasn't really one of his concerns now. It might have been on other days, but today, the air smelled of change. Change was always a random thing, it could be good or bad. Paars tended to like a little change on reasonable time, but the way the winds were turning he could almost imagine that this change was too big to be functional.
Flying up, he swempt higher to listen to the winds more closely. His body was small, maybe 60 cm in heigth tops, making him a rather big star dancer. Like all star dancers he lived in the jungle surrounding Morning Fog River on Gineya. He and his siblings, five of them, had been together for as long as he knew. They had stuck together as caterpillars and had pupated on the same place. They all looked alike in form, but their minds and powers greatly differed. 
Soaring high like he was, he returned to their private clearing. Not everyone of their little family was there, but Paars noticed Blauw, his brother who could command Ice as he could command Air. Their powers were similar since both air and ice contained water. At times they got the same warnings.
"Where is everyone?" Paars asked.
"Where they always are." Blauw shrugged, "Groen is out tending her plants, Geel is of singing to the sun while she should be here helping me clean up the clearing, though I really don't mind her being away... Rood is o fighting some bird who tried to nest here and Violet went right after him to stop him."
"Nice calm day." Paars nodded.
"Indeed. You're the first to return."
"I feel a change coming." Paars shrugged, "Thought you might feel it too."
"The ice is as solid as it has ever been, brother. Today I feel no change."
"The winds are full of it."
"The winds are always full of gas." Blauw said, "They gossip."
"We converse." Paars answered a bit irritated, "They carry the news around the planet, remember?"
"And freely embellish upon it." Blauw answered, dropping the leaves he had been flying to their resting perches and flying away to find a calm place for himself where he would not be bothered by the likes of any of his siblings. He did not need their company nor did he find joy in it on most occasions. But they were family and you just didn't leave them... Blauw thought, making an impressions of Paars while he flew. Yeah right, he would be gone within seconds if there was a place to go. 
"Great..." Paars said as he saw his brother float away, "Now I'm stuck with cleaning duty."

Not a mile away, another Star Dancer, yellow she was, was flying below the trees, singing and dancing in the sky. She sped forward at times, while on other occasions she just seemed to stay still and rest soundlessly in the air, turning and swirling. Her singing weren't words, were hardly even sounds, but a kind of eerie non-sound that sounded slightly off key.
"Quit that sound." Groen called from the ground where she was tending a hurt fern. Some of her branches were broken, no doubt stepped on by one of those incosiderate humans that pranced around here at times to catch her kind. She did not really have a thing against humans, but if they could only learn to take care of plants and not go stomping through them...
"I am singing, Groen." Geel called back from up high, "I want to rejoice."
"This fern needs rest!" Groen called back up, shooting small specks of dirt toward her sister who skilfully avoided them. 
"You'll never catch me." Geel smiled, "I'm more agile than any of you when I'm dancing." to prove it the yellow star dancer started with a complex set of twirls and flips in mid air.
"Show off." Groen mumbled. Though to be honest, Geel could sing wonderful. Why she sounded so off key today was a mystery. Thinking up possibilities Groen suddenly froze and asked: "You haven't switched to adoring disonant music, have you?"
"No. I sing what is in nature. Isn't it beautiful? The sun is happy today." Geel smiled as if in a altered state of mind.
Beautiful? Happy? ok, maybe it was happy... but it did not sound beautiful, it was almost like there were some tones missing in the pattern, as if something was missed that would make it sound whole.
Saddened by the thought, Groen flew up, leaving her plant and went to listen closer to the melody. geel was still flying on in blessed unknowing. How her sister could remain so happy when something clearly was amiss... Shuddering, Groen flew back to the clearing where she knew she would need to grow fruit for the evening meal. All of her sisters and brothers were very capable in getting fod for themselves, but apparently having someone grow it for you was much more appealing. Not that she minded, Groen always loved family diners.
"Where are you going?" Geel suddenly called.
"The clearning."
"Diner?" Geel asked.
"Yes there'll be bananas." Groen answere dbefore her sister could ask. Geel loved bananas... she could eat a sickening amount of it and still be fit enough to dance at night to woo the moon. Irresponsible, Groen knew, but also delightably free.
"Don't be so rude." Geel said, "I worked hard today."
"Singing and dancing?"
"The sun needs her praise." Geel answered daintilly, "Besides do you think this pattern of light gets here just like that? I make that!"
"Well, I'm glad to see you do work." Groen answered, even if it was for something as useless as a light pattern. If only her sister would use her powers for the greater good of the baby plants at the bottom of the jungle. They could use some sun.

"Quit pulling my tail." Rood called to his sister Violet once again.
"I will do as I please." she called back.
"Why?"
"Because you haven't been nice to that friendly bird."
Rood sighed and threw his water-categorised arms in the air, "He was going to eat our bedrooms, mess up our clearing and maybe even eat our food."
"Groen can always grow more." Violet answered, "And it's not like one bird would have made a difference."
"One bird attracts more birds. They breed you know."
"Not as fast as bunnies." Violet smiled innocently.
"Yeah, let's talk about your last experiment."
"How was I supposed to know they'd dig holes in our ground?"
"Because that's what bunnies do!" Rood called out frustrated. Sometimes you just couldn't talk to sisters... Well Violet did seem to have that problem all of the time. She wanted to be treated like a little princess, which she wasn't, always bragging about how her power was the best. Sure it kept the catchers away from them, but all of them were needed to survive. All, except his... Lighting a fire would surely mean trouble in the jungle. But there were other ways Rood could be useful.
"I'm hungry." Violet said, "Get me back to the clearing."
"Please?" Rood asked.
"Since you ask so nicely." Violet smiled, "I think it's that way." she pointed East.
"That leads right into the river." Putting them back on the right track, Rood led his youngest sister back. It was getting late and he really hoped that bird had learned his lesson about their clearing. No-one else should be there. It was their own little paradise from the moment they had been born to claim it. They had made it what it was.
"I know what you're thinking." Violet said.
"You can't read my minds. only those of stupid humans." 
"I always know what you're thinking." Violet giggled, "You're thinking about OUR clearing again."
Battling the urge to hit his sister, Rood felt relieved to see the clearing again... and the forms of more than one of his siblings. Maybe he could attach violet to one of them and get rid of her nagging for the day. That would be heaven.

"There you are!" Paars said when he finally saw Rood and Violet return home. They had been the last missing members of the meeting. All of them needed to be here for the news he had heard. Paars could barely contain the grin that got on his face at only the thought of their faces.
"What is it?" Violet asked.
"We're holding a meeting."
"Boring." she said, "I think I'll go back out and look for a bird... or two to play with."
"You will do no such thing." Groen said, grabbing their little sister from behind. "We all need to be here."
"Hey!" Violet called, "Let go!"
Rood chuckled slightly when he saw her being dragged toward the center of the clearing where they usually had their meals. Served her right for treating him like she had throughout the day. Normally he might have stood up for her because they were the youngest of the 6, but now... well, he would let it happen.
He sat down himself and waited for Paars to spill the beans. To his astonishment, it was Blauw who took the word.
"The Ice has spoken to me as the Air to Paars." he said, "And it spoke of unknown change."
"The Ice spoke of change?" Groen asked startled.
"Yes." Blauw said, falling silent behind it.
"We don't know what change it is, but it will concern us." Paars followed, "The Air told me so."
"But it did not say what was going to happen?" Geel asked.
"No."
"The Air isn't all-knowing." Violet started to sing happily.
"You don't know either so be quiet." Rood said, only to be thrown back by an invisible force.
That had never been one of Violet's powers? What was going on here? Then he heard his sister scream. Following the sound he found her.. Hurt.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
"N...n..no." she sobbed. Violet hurt, one of her wings was folded and she did not know if it was broken. She felt scared and alone and just wanted to go away. "Why did it hurt me?" she asked.
"What?"
"The thing!" she screamed, hitting him.
"Calm down, calm down." Geel answered, ducking up behind them from below a piece of bark. "Let me see that wing."
"It hurts!" Violet called, "Don't hurt me!", getting ready to hit again, Geel needed to shine a light on her to look at the wing without coming close.
"There's nothing wrong with it." she finally said.
"But it hurts!"
"There's a splinter..." Geel said, "A tiny splinter."
"Where?" Rood asked, yanking it out, "This? I can barely see it."
Big-eyed Violet sat on the ground, staring at something behind them.
"What is it?" Geel asked.
"B... b... ba... ballon!"
Crawling behind her two siblings as they turned a large blue transparent ball entered their clearing. Paars immeiatly attacked it, only making it split up in two smaller balls that still were too big for them to take care of. Making sucking wet noises, the balls closed in on them, drawing them apart. The females: Geel, Groen and Violet were sucked into one while the males: Paars, Blauw and Rood were drawn to the other. Knowing not what was going on, the world seemed to turn black as it shifted out of balance, taking them someplace else... someplace new and unknown... Change... 

Continue to
Star City with Geel, Groen and Violet
Paniya Isle with Paars, Blauw and Rood

Gineya Isle  -  Lantessama Isle