The light filtered warm and clear to the forest floor as Tempesti and Hildegard passed into the shade of the trees, seeking the shorts of the sparkling lake she’d sighted from the hilltop. Rustling leave whispered around them, the eyes of alien wildlife peering from the dark places. A pair of animals resembling large, colorful squirrels chased one back and forth through the shelter of a nearby shrub. Lost in her delight the senshi took several seconds to register the sudden silence as every creature went still, some unseen menace driving them to take shelter where they could as the ground began to rumble with a powerful rhythmic pattern. Wildly scanning the area, the young woman could only make out flashes of white and orange when a powerful sound unlike any she’d ever heard filled the air, all but shaking the forest floor and raising her hair in a sudden onslaught of static electricity before ending as suddenly as it had begun. Filled with a sudden urgency, she hurried toward the water ahead of her, hoping to either outrun the source of the powerful sounds or at the very least gain sight of what it was. Hildegard kept pace alongside her as she flew past the tree trunks, easily matching her speed until another shock stopped them in their tracks.

Geese.

At least, that was the closest thing she could compare to the group of massive waterfowl cavorting in the lake, one which appeared to be an adult looking after several smaller, fuzzier companions. The birds swam peacefully, with a grace surprising for their enormous size, white feathers smooth and elegant against the blue of the water. Moments later, with a thunderous honk, a second adult came running from between the trees not far from where she’d exited the more densely wooded area. With no apparent interest in her it happily ran to join its family, a blue iridescence visible at the edges of its feathered wings. Turning its attention to the others it began to preen the older of their little group, contentedly splashing with a playful shake of the tail feathers. Hildegard seemed to know better than to unleash one of her own earthshaking squawks in the presence of these behemoths.

Remarkable as these avian splashers were, neither senshi nor cosmic companion were quite reckless enough to do anything to make themselves more noticeable, even in the face of their own curiosity. Reaching the strange floral orchard was simply a matter of skirting the lake while remaining clear that they weren’t a threat to the birds or their staggeringly fuzzy babies. To describe the chicks’ sounds as “peeping” wouldn’t be accurate, considering their power, but they hadn’t yet reached the point at which they could cause the whole forest to quake. Not that she was complaining, fascinating as it would be she could only imagine the effect of all of them honking at once. It probably couldn’t cause a thunderstorm, but her hair might take weeks to recover from the static.

Pulling out her phone, Tempesti snapped a few quick photos, firing them off to her sisters and a couple of friends. She knew it would be only a matter of minutes before the device buzzed with their responses, disbelief on the parts of the earthborn recipients and probably at least one bad joke from Bacchus. She could pay them another visit in the future, maybe even see how the babies were growing, but the structures beyond the trees still called her.