I KEEP DOING STUFF I'M SORRY-
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I looked around. The island was sandy and bright, and looming over the cliffs that surrounded me were huge trees with these strange, expansive leaves. In front of me, there was a dark, quite ominous-looking cave. Pieces of wood washed up on the shore. Despite the fog that hid this island from view, the sun beat down on the sand, making the area warmer than I’d ever felt. Or, ed feeling, at least.
And then there was a mole.
As the blue shape burst through the sandy soil, I leaped backward in surprise. The mole stared at me with those two tiny eyes, and it tapped the ground with its long claws for a moment.
I had encountered moles before. There was that time I wanted to explore the Prairie Mine, and Molu had asked me to go digging for gems. I never returned there again, but I knew from Molu that their tapping was a way of using vibrations to recognize someone since their eyesight was so poor.
I restrained myself from shivering and mes the vibrations as I felt them go through me. The mole's expression shifted to pleasure.
“Eyy, Goldenseal! I ne’er expected you to appear ‘ere again, not afer that shipwreck. ‘Sup, bro?”
I stared at it, frozen to the spot, my eyes unblinking. The mole squinted, tapping the ground again upon realizing my confusion.
“Oh, are ya not who I’m thinkin’ of? Well that’s chill too, my dude.. The name’s Molay, and I run the Island Mine around these parts, though we don’t e’er get any visitors ‘round here. See, my bros–”
“Wait, waitwaitwaitwait. Tell me more about Goldenseal.”
“Ya curious? Aight then. Lessee…”
“So, away from the colonies, there was a band of pirate cats around these parts. I did some tradin' with 'em, nothin particularly special. I met a few of 'em, including Goldenseal. One day their ship wrecked, and I ne'er saw em again. I checked out their ship, and among one of the bodies I didn't find was Goldenseal's."
I frowned.
So, this is the only closure I’ll ever get, huh? I guess it’s better than nothing… that being said, I certainly didn’t expect to be a pirate.
Molay continued, unaware of all the strange feelings surging through me. “They say some of the ghosts still haunt the caverns below. If ya believe in that stuff, anyways. Ya can go down there if ya want, but if ya want to buy something, juss call out my name and I’ll come. See ya later, bro!”
Molay disappeared into the ground.
And now I’m alone.
I stood there, still as stone, for who knows how long. That was so much, yet so little, and it was told to me so fast.
Eventually, I realized I would have to get back home. I certainly wasn’t going to disappear to this island, nor was I going to go into that mine. I hadn’t been able to use the return home skill in the sea because you break the spell if you move, but now that I was on land…
I closed my eyes, and I thought of home: my real home in the Mystic Colony. I thought of the feeling of mud squelching underneath my paws, and of bugs buzzing in my ears. I opened my eyes.
I was back in my den now. Taking a deep breath, I started to walk out again, ready to face the fact that whatever life for me had been before, it was different now.
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