Voyagers

Nile tended to keep to himself most of the time. Even as a solitary individual, though, he still noticed what went on around him and knew the general patterns of the other dinosaurs in his home area. In fact, he prided himself on keeping tabs on his neighbors. Well-informed meant well-prepared and being well-prepared meant you were rarely caught unawares.

Rarely wasn’t never, though, and somehow he’d let something new get past him. Nile wasn’t sure how. He hadn’t been unwell or distracted by anything recently. Furrowing his brow, he tried to think of anything at all that might account for this mistake and he couldn’t. Which meant it wasn’t an error on his part, it was just something really sneaky…or really small.

The idea came to Nile as he crossed into a small clearing in the forest. As the trees fell away behind him, and the moss and fern blanketed floor opened up before him, he cautiously lowered his head and began to sweep his snout through the foliage. The fern fronds bent away without any resistance at all, revealing leaf litter and twigs underneath. Nothing more. With his brow furrowing once more, Nile sighed and raised his head to glance around the clearing uncertainly.

Then he spotted the vine. He’d been in this forest many times before and he’d never seen its like. It was enough like the nearby plants to go unnoticed if one wasn’t looking too closely, but now that he was, he noticed the subtle differences in its coloring and structure. He had been this way only a week before and it hadn’t been here either. Which meant it was most definitely new. After another moment of close inspection, he moved past it and into the forest beyond.

Nile wove his way expertly through the densely packed trees. Normally, his size would have made the journey difficult, but experience with the area meant he was well prepared for any of the usual obstacles or delays. Unfortunately, the whole reason he was even making the hike today was because things were not as they usually were.

As cautious as ever, he continued up the incline slowly and kept his eyes peeled for anything else new or different. It didn’t take long to spot something, but it was so innocuous that Nile almost overlooked it. However, something about the scattering of feathers intrigued him so he decided to stop and take a closer look.

Upon closer inspection, the feathers weren’t like any that he was familiar with. There was a wide variety of creatures on the islands that wore feathers, and he was sure he hadn’t seen them all, but the shape of these was off. He craned his neck down to nudge a few with the tip of his snout, taking a whiff of them as he did, and the unfamiliar scent only made him more certain that these were not from any creature he’d encountered so far.

After staring at the feathers for another moment in quiet consideration, Nile finally released the breath he’d been unintentionally holding and looked up and around. The forest was alive in the usual midday way, and yet… Something unseen, hidden in the foliage off to his left, skittered away and the receding steps had him narrowing his eyes and staring into the brush. When nothing but the wind and the occasional fly moved after several moments, he slowly relaxed and raised his head once more.

The gentle wisps of a passing sea breeze just barely made it through the trees to him and reminded him of his destination. As much as he wanted to keep looking around the forest, Nile sighed and then turned back the way he’d been heading. It wasn’t far until the peak now, he reminded himself silently. Once he made it, he thought as he started walking, he’d be able to see much more than he could in the forest.

Pushing onward, he ascended the peak until the trees finally thinned and the ocean stretched out to meet the horizon. Turning toward the nearby beach, Nile focused on the sandstone arches below. They were a frequent spot for the more social dinosaurs to gather so he assumed they would be a hub of activity now more than ever. And he was right.

Multiple kinds of dinosaurs were gathered around and under the arches. Most seemed to be in pairs or groups and they all had their heads bent together as if in discussion.

For a few moments, Nile merely watched the dinosaurs down below in silence. His recent discoveries were momentarily forgotten as he briefly wondered what it would be like to be extroverted. Would he have a lot of friends or a lot of enemies? Would he be revered or merely tolerated? It was hard to picture and it made him uncomfortable to even try. So, he shook off thoughts of crowds and instead focused on the strangeness of the vine and the feathers.

Perhaps there was some sort of new plant growing that was attracting a new bird, Nile mused silently. He rarely paid heed to the smaller wildlife of the island since it wasn’t worth the energy to catch. It seemed like an awful lot of activity for such a simple thing though. It had to be more than that.

Nile mulled on it for a moment before something finally stood out to him. The footsteps he heard in the brush. He hadn’t been overly concerned with them at the time, but there had been something there and it wasn’t a bird.

Equally curious and concerned, he steeled himself as he swung around and started to make the descent.

Finding the exact spot he heard the footsteps at was far more difficult than just stumbling on a new plant and some feathers. Despite his familiarity with the forest, Nile had a hard time pinpointing the precise trees he’d been between when he heard the thing skitter off. He had far more luck with just closely looking at the ground but he had to do that slowly.

Finally, he pushed apart two ferns and glimpsed a tiny set of footprints in the dirt. They were so distinct that he was sure they had to be fresh. They also seemed to be going away from where he had been traveling. Following the tracks lead him a few feet away to a nearby tree but then they vanished. Nile craned his head all around the tree in search of more footprints but he couldn’t find anymore. There were no overly large roots to hide under or openings at the trees’ base. The tracks just stopped.

Strange new plants, evidence of new creatures, it was all a bit much for what Nile had thought would be a relaxing day. He’d eaten well the day before so he didn’t have to hunt and yet here he was hunting for clues to something he didn’t fully understand. He was trying to, but his ideas were only going so far. He gulped as he realized that he might actually have to consult with another dinosaur. Which meant they would have to have a conversation.

Nile winced at the very thought and shook then it off like a bothersome bug. Ready to move on, from the thought and from the suspicious tree, he gave the entire area one last look and then started back down the hill.