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Nature's Glory

Gard, Bengali and Davaak

Looking down upon an open plain, Gard smiled. He was grateful that he could still see out of his left eye for it was sights like these that made him grateful he was only half-blind. The greens, the browns, the blue of a lake in the distance, the trees, the rocks, the distant mountains, it was the sight of Nature's glory that made him glad to be alive. He was an Evabon, a terribly long-lived species and if any of his kind had ever died of old age, there was none who knew of it. Civilizations may have come and gone and been replaced by the beauty of Nature was constant.

"It is magnificent." Commented Bengali as he approached Gard from the right. The group was taking a short rest with Davaak taking a moment to sit upon his knees and hold his hands to the sky while keeping his head bowed.

Gard said nothing. He merely continued to look down on the plain. When he finally found reason to speak, he said to the White Tiger: "There are creatures here who have no idea that there is a war going on, creatures living who could become victims of the conflict as much as any person. I have lived in the Vast, Unknown Wilderness for a long time, Bengali. I have seen all the beauty and danger Nature has to offer and it always continues to surprise me. There is much at risk with this war against Mumm-Ra. There has always been conflict, but I cannot imagine one as destructive as this one."

Raising his head, Davaak stood and uttered: "Mumm-Ra… is not… of… monde naturel. He is a… a demon! A monstre! A fantome sorti d'un cauchemar! He understands not wherefore such beauty as this must be protected!"

Sighing, Bengali sadly uttered: "I think some of my own people are of the same mind."

Brigid

Brigid could have simply gone to a well to get water, but the fact was she just didn't feel like it. She went forth into the Wilderness and found a nice river. She filled the jar with water and then put it down a few feet from the river. Then, removing her dress, veil and skirt the Little Beauty stepped into the water for a swim.

The sun shining down upon her charcoal grey skin, Brigid thought of the exciting things her friend Kit was seeing. Where was Kit, her brother and the rest of the ThunderCats now? Righting wrongs? Rescuing a town? Doing battle with that demon Mumm-Ra? Brigid wished she knew.

Floating on her back, her red eyes stared up at the sky thinking about what she had just done. Zuvowang had forbidden her from leaving Wilusa for half a month. If he were to learn of her sneaking out, he probably would have extended the punishment for a full month.

Sighing, Brigid ceased her floating and dived down into the river. Her eyes could see many a thing such as sand, rocks, plants, bones, the odd thing thrown down into it, but nothing that interested her. A sword, a shield, what interest had an aspiring thag dancer in those things?

As she swam, her mind thought back to her time in Gnozzuz, when she had been prepared to be a thag dancer. Blue clothing such as she was wearing now, blue chalk placed upon her skin and even her hair being dyed blue, it was all so silly. Having her black locks dyed blue she had liked, but everything else was just so silly! Green was her colour and if she was to cover herself in chalk, she would have preferred red, like some Evabon girls and women did. It was red chalk or nothing!

Surfacing, Brigid swam over to shore and climbed out of the water. Closing her eyes, the Little Beauty squeezed the water from her ebony locks and then placed it behind her back. When she opened her eyes, her heart missed a beat for standing before her… seemed to be herself!

Balor

With an iron band upon each arm and ankle, Balor looked at himself and smiled. It was well that he had ceased walking through the streets of Wilusa and instead returned home. He just wished that he was old enough for a weapon. Maybe someday that dagger with the ruby in the pommel would be his.

Picking up a toy sword, a thing of wood, Balor smiled to himself and proceeded to imagine he was elsewhere only to pause and wonder one simple question: where? Where was he imagining he was? What was he doing? Why was he doing it?

Sighing, Balor tossed the toy sword aside. What was he going to do? He couldn't imagine an adventure, he very well could not go from Wilusa for half a month since Gard had punished him for that adventure at Gnozzuz, so what was he going to do?

Walking forth from the room he was in, the Young Gardite looked down at the sight before him below. Someone was discussing something with someone else, it was just so boring.

Sighing once more, the Boy Shaman thought of the Wilderness, his other home. To him three places on Third Earth were his home: Wilusa, the Wilderness and the Valley of the Tombs. Being forbidden from leaving Wilusa for half a month, he was basically exiled from his other homes, unable to walk amongst Nature's Glory, unable to search the Tombs to discover whatever mysteries they had… He was just trapped in Wilusa! Trapped, trapped, trapped!

"Hey, Balor!" Shaking his head, Balor looked down below to see Ekoto, his red-skinned brother in all but blood, waving at him. "You busy?"

Running down the stairs, Balor looked at the older boy and said: "No, but I can't leave Wilusa."

"Don't worry about that, we'll have fun right here in the city."

Caracalla and the Wilys

"It is a Gruisdier!" Kit exclaimed, clapping her hands together. Immediately, the great beast paused and looked down at the little girl, before continuing on its way. "I saw one in a book called a bestiary in Wilusa!"

Looking at the creature as it continued walking away, making its way to a nearby tree and proceeding to begin foraging, Caracalla commented: "Weird name."

"Weird creature." Said Kat with crossed arms.

The three kittens watched as the Gruisdier went about its foraging, eating leaves from the branch of the tree while holding the branch with its anteater-like claws. An example of Nature's Glory, the Gruisdier could not be called, being so strange a thing, at least to the thinking of Kat and Caracalla. To Kit, the Gruisdier was one of the most beautiful of the Wilderness' denizens she had ever seen, as strange a beast as it was.

Stepping forward to pet the beast, Kit heard her brother hiss: "What are you doing? That thing could hurt you!"

But alas, Kit heard her brother not. Even Caracalla seemed nervous as the girl got ever closer to the Gruisdier. When she placed a hand upon it, the creature paused, looked down at the individual who dared to touch it and then returned to munching away on leaves.

His ears moving back and forth and his eyes wide, Caracalla couldn't help but feel like there was a feeling of danger about. What was it? The Gruisdier? It didn't seem dangerous it didn't even seem threatened by their presence.

Then the Gruisider ceased foraging and proceeded to look back and forth, nostrils flaring…