Queen Of The Ventils

XXX

As we stomped through the woods, letting dry twigs and leaves crunch under our feet, I contemplated how exactly to tell Lunalis how I felt.

Toby had warned me that I had to do this delicately, lest she run off and never speak to me again (which would have been awkward, considering we lived in the same house), so I wanted to make sure my confession was absolutely flawless. Though, now that I was in the moment and trying to do it, it seemed a lot simpler in my head than doing in person.

"Hey, Krel?" Lunalis' voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Y-yes Lunalis?" I asked a bit too quickly.
"I just..wanted to ask if you'd ever been to this part of the woods before," Lunalis asked, looking up at the almost-full moon in the sky above us. "I don't know," I said truthfully, examining the trees in the darkness. "These woods are a maze; I could end up going in circles here for hours."

She nodded, refixing her attention on the sky. "It's so beautiful," she whispered. "The dark sky...the stars....I've forgotten how beautiful they all can be. How peaceful the night really is." I nodded, not wanting to interrupt her moment of peace.

Since she'd been kidnapped from her den, she had only really been outside at night when we first trapped her, or when Insanity had taken over her body, and those weren't really pleasant memories. I wondered if she ever had taken the time to go outside at night when she lived in her cave.

Hearing someone gasp softly, I turned to see Lunalis zeroing in on a glowing dot buzzing around her face. "Pixie...?" she asked unsurely, backing into me.
"No," I said softly, not wanting to startle it. "A firefly."
"These insects don't look like they possess the ability to control fire," Lunalis said, puzzled, batting at it with a hand when it came closer.

"They can't," I said, holding in my laughs as she chased after it. "I don't know why people call them that."
"Uh huh," she said, still concentrating on the bug, who was now flying away, Lunalis hot on its trail. I laughed as I started to chase after her, letting her lead me through the woods until we reached a clearing. "By the power of the stars above," Lunalis gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. "It's....beautiful."

The clearing we had stumbled upon was devoid of trees, save one; an enormous oak which towered over all the other trees, and was almost three times an arm's length around. The uncountable number of branches stretched skyward, each feathering out into more branches with huge leaves that covered half the tree and created a canopy over the trunk. Fireflies danced among the shadows of the leaves, lingering around the tree like thousands of golden stars that cast the entire tree in golden light.

"Have you ever seen something so beautiful?" Lunalis grinned, skipping across the clearing to examine the tree. "Who would have thought this would be here, in the middle of nowhere?"
"Y-yes, quite strange," I said, starting to sweat. I knew exactly where we were, and what this tree was. "Maybe we should turn and go back," I said nervously, turning around. "I'm sure the others are worried about us."

"You're not afraid of climbing a tiny little tree, are you?" Lunalis teased, in my face in a split second. You call that tiny?! my brain screamed at me, but I just cleared my throat and shook my head. "Of course not," I scoffed. "I just...this tree is, erm, special."
"Why?" Lunalis cocked her head. "Come on; last one up is a rotten egg!"

"Wait." I grabbed her hand before she could leave again. "Look...this tree is known as the, erm, Kissing Tree. And people in it....well, they come to this tree to, uh...kiss."
Lunalis gave me a strange look. "You know, kiss? Where you, ahem, put your faces together?" I made a little motion with my fingers for emphasis.

"Is it a rule that you have to 'kiss' while in this tree?" Lunalis asked bluntly.
"Well, no," I admitted. "I don't think so...."
"Great; then there's no problem with climbing up and sitting in it for a little while," she grinned, dragging me over to the huge trunk. "Come on; I'll help you up the first branches!"