The forest vibrated with warning, not of something else, but the kind a rattler gives by means of its tail. That shivery feeling wasn't helped much by the clicking rolls of hundreds of cicadas out there. Wynaré stopped at the edge, and Nyth looked at her curiously, waiting to see what was wrong. Kei and Alex forged on ahead until Alex looked back and stopped too.

"What's wrong?"

Kei turned around as well.

Wynaré shook her head. "I don't know, do you...feel that?"

Kei closed his eyes and Alex looked around, saw Kei and decided to close his eyes too. Wynaré smiled a little at how, even though they acted like rivals all the time, Alex was more than willing to learn from Kei--indirectly of course.

"The forest does not welcome us." Kei opened his eyes and walked back to the edge to stand next to Wynaré and look in. Alex followed suit, standing on Wynaré's other side, also looking into the forest.

Lesara, Wynaré sent telepathically, Lesara was ahead of them, scouting to avoid trouble. We may have a problem, I think you should loop back.

What's wrong? Lesara sent back

We're not sure, you should probably come back.

It wasn't long before Lesara landed gracefully in front of them from the trees above. Wynaré hid a smile as she saw Alex startle from Lesara's sudden appearance. The rest of them had enough mind-magic to know she was approaching.

"Why have we stopped?" She was the only one with her back to the forest, facing Wynaré.

"It...doesn't feel right." Wynaré stared past Lesara and into the dark forest ahead.

"It's giving off a very dangerous aura and it clearly doesn't want us here." Kei said.

Lesara looked at him and snorted. "It doesn't want you here. This is Syndra's forest. She may no longer be the goddess of nature, but her home forest has never forgotten her. It hates high elves. Sees them as the enemy. So long as you don't do a single thing to harm the forest. Watch where you step, don't purposely hit any plants or eat them, stick to your packs for food and me as your guide. If in doubt, don't do it. You'll be fine. I'll try and make sure the forest understands that you're here for peace negotiations." She laughed and shook her head as she turned her back on them and disappeared into the trees above again. The rest of the party continued ahead, Kei leading the way by following Lesara's mind. After an uncertain pause, Wynaré followed. The forest didn't feel any less dangerous than a moment ago. Something was bound to happen despite Lesara's presence.

(First Line Friday prompt from Dreaming In Ink Writer's Group)

Some more One Word entries--four to be exact.

Vague (09-18-04)

Things are a little vague, as I sit here staring out my window trying to contemplate what happened. The beautiful blue sky with the cerulean ocean in the distance fills my vision. Away at an exotic paradise and all I can think of is what happened back home. Where did it all go wrong?

Less (09-22-04)

I can never compare. Always less than expected, less than the rest. Never good enough. Why am I never good enough. It's time to start being more, not less. To hell with what they expect, let me now worry about what I expect, and take care of that. If I live up to my own expectations they can never call me less and I'll never believe them again.

Essential (09-30-04)

Just like breathing, just like eating, and good for the soul too. All the things I need to live and can't live without. This is the thing I can't live without unless I'm not me. To be me, I need to write, good, bad, useless, it doesn't matter. Just write. Or else I'm not me

Second (10-03-04)

The seconds go by blurring into minutes and hours as I stare out of the dirty window wondering if you'll ever show up. My heart beats hard, like you've just walked through the door, or like you're going to any minute. It beats like that even though you're two hours late. It beats like that even though I know. You aren't going to show

I had 60 seconds to write each of these entries, I like the practice. As soon as you see the word, start writing whatever pops into mind--these are the pops in my mind ^_^ Hope you enjoy these little tidbits (as you may notice, a few of them I got cut off before I could add the last bit of punctuation lol).