The Light in Aquala

After a few hours of walking, the canopy above had become thicker, its larger leaves heavier and of a deeper, darker green.

The canopy was now so dense that only a few little rays of sunlight reached the jungle trail. The leaves, the hanging vines, the very air seemed to come alive in the humidity. Small, colorful birds could be heard happily chirping to each other.

A movement of bright colors caught Lena's eye. It was a toucan, perched high on a dangling vine that had been caught up between two trees, its black body a stark silhouette against the emerald leaves behind it.

Mara called for a break, taking her backpack off and sitting down on an old, fallen trunk, its bark soft with moss and tiny, creeping ferns. She decided to sketch the toucan and had pulled one of her worn, leather notebooks out of a zippered pocket on her vest, her movements slow and deliberate in the oppressive heat.

"Interesting," she said, tilting her head upwards toward a colony of hanging, woven nests that dangled from a distant tree like strange fruits. "Listen."

The birds were starting their bizarre, bubbling song that was a cascade of notes rising and falling in harmony.

Lena smiled, a mischievous look on her face. “Sounds like they're showing off to each other, trying to be the best at their song."

"Probably,” Mara laughed. “The males of this species actually hang upside down from the branches and swing back and forth like a pendulum to attract the females. The songs are probably part of their showing off too."

Just then an extra large iridescent yellow butterfly emerged from around a tree, its wings the size of their palms, flapping with an awkward, completely random rhythm. It was vibrant and bright against the dark green shadows.

"This one has some nerve. Whatever happened to personal space?" Lena complained, as the glittering butterfly kept haphazardly flying towards her, while she kept ducking out of its way.

A troop of spider monkeys began crashing through the canopy above, screeching and chattering, raining down bits or leaves and half-eaten fruits that they no longer wanted.

Lena started laughing as she watched them swinging from one branch to another, pushing each other out of the way.

One of them, probably the alpha, locked eyes with Lena for a moment before swinging higher up into the canopy, screeching at the rest to follow him.

"It's all so magnificent," Mara said with a contentedly sigh, her eyes then darting from the bird nests to the toucan, then again to the sketches on her page.

Both sisters fell silent, feeling at peace while listening to the sounds of Mara sketching and the distant calls of the monkeys started to fade.

Satisfied with her finished drawings, she replaced the notebook into her zippered pocket and after a cool sip or water, they resumed their journey, happy they had taken a few minutes to enjoy their surroundings.

They continued walking for a while when something completely new and unexpected caught Mara's attention.

They were passing beneath the ancient tree that marked the end of the more commonly used paths and the beginning of their own path to Aquala.

Mara paused suddenly.

She had passed this tree dozens of times over the years, but today something was different.

Carved into the bark, barely visible beneath the new, slightly glowing layer of moss and lichen, was a symbol she had only just recently seen. It was small, almost hidden, and it looked very old, while looking brand new at the same time.

But what made her breath catch was its shape and color.

It was identical to what she had recorded on her instruments a couple of weeks earlier. It was the same symbol that had appeared far away in another part of the island near the Academy. It was a circle of gold and silver iridescent lights surrounding the most intense, blue, glowing light.

"Mara?" Lena's voice pulled her back. "What is it?"

Mara reached out and touched the symbol, a slight tingling sensation instantly traveling up her arm. Her fingers came away with damp moss clinging to them, and when she looked again, the symbol had started to fade.

"I have never seen anything like this until a couple weeks ago near the Academy, and now here it is again. Come quickly, it looks like it’s fading!" she cried out.

Lena ran over and leaned in closely.

“Incredible, I have never seen anything like this in my travels either.” Lena whispered and they both stood there, watching in wonder.

It was so strange how this inexplicitly new but ancient symbol was now gradually disappearing.

They squinted their eyes in concentration, trying to memorize all of the beauty and details before it vanished completely.

When it was gone, they kept standing there, bewildered and unsure what to do next.

"Let's keep going." Lena eventually suggested, and they continued walking in silence, each trying to figure out what the symbol was and what it meant.

Mara's finger that had touched the symbol still felt cold, and she clenched her hand into a fist to try and warm it up.

How strange!