“Who are you?!”
“Who are WE?” the small mountain boomed back. We’ve seen it before. It was once called a butte. Turtle.
“Yes!” shouted Fern up again, wee in perspective.”
The two eyes of the “creature” which was apparently the same as a mountain looked at each other, as if conferring. “YOU first,” they seemed to decide.
“My name is Fern!” Fern said. “I was on my way–!”
“We KNOW where you’re going,” the mountain blasted again. “We just didn’t know who YOU are.”
Silence for a moment. The two eyes looked at each other again, then back to Fern. What to say next? she pondered, then decided: “So you know about the island?!”
“YES,” it boomed without much hesitation.
“Dullard?!” she faked, testing the small mountain before her.
“BRILLIANT.” So *that* didn’t work, she thought.
“Little Ritchie?!” she then tried. “Taken over?!” It was a theory she had about the wee ones (to her own stature) of that particular island. But how would this mountain–
“YES,” it responded anyway. This big hill was old, indeed like a turtle. Before terraforming it was even shaped a bit like one. But the Lindens decided not to protect this most central of the Hills of Bill and suffered the consequences. Civil War between the split apart north and south parts of the Maebaelia continent, also known as Satori. Now it seems they are attempting to repair the damage. By terraforming it again and even providing it with a face this time to speak to, along with building a new, bridging section of formerly divided highway 8A next to it to showcase the effect. Fern is merely taking advantage of the moment, but she truly needed to get to that island, her goal tonight before this “distraction” came along.
“I’m going to go check!” she said up. “I’ll be back!”
“WE will be here.” They knew she would return. If only because of the prim atop the northern one’s eyebrow, just out of sight from her ground perspective. A special plywood cube that Fern needed to know about and understand the meaning of. And why it had a dent or hole on one side. Oh, and also to learn their names.
But for now they could sleep while waiting. “Night night BAL,” said the first eye that closed. “Night night WIN,” said the other, then shut as well.
Sunklands 