It was nearly overwhelming the sensations that filled her head as she ran, the plants were quiet, at least from what Tinnok could tell from her recent birth into their world they were, but there were just so many. Every plant could have three other forms of tree life upon it, surrounding it, connected to it. It was like an interwoven system of life, every tree, patch of moss, bromeliad perched upon tree branches, and leana dripping down from the canopy intermingled. She received cool damp warmth, old and ancient tidings of beings that had resided in the forest since the world was begun anew in the Valterrian, and the inexorable current of nutrients from the air and sun absorbed into the flesh of her fauna companions, taken in to promote growth, to ensure the continued survival of a life process that many simply didn't take accounting of.
She stopped at a tree she felt familiar to her, it's leaves almost rubbery in feeling, but small, smaller than most of the broad and giant pieces of greenery used to take in as much sun as possible. She ripped off the smallest piece of the tree, and noticed that it did not respond, then realized it would probably take hours for the plant to realize it's tiny missing piece. She chewed on the leaf experimentally for a moment, and a tart juice filled her mouth. She curled up her nose, for it was not a pleasant taste, then felt her tongue begin to numb slightly, as if it was disappearing from her mouth, gums following suit soon after. Her eyes widened in wonderment and surprise as she realized she had found the tooth ache tree. Of course that wasn't it's Myrian name, but it was what all called it, for that was what it was used for, relieving the pain of tooth aches so that one could removing the offending area, or tend to it without worrying about the patient biting off a finger.
She took stock of the size of the plant, too small to compete with the larger jungle trees, so this one had found a spot int he under story where a bit of light peeked in. Truth be told it was more of a bush than a tree, but she absorbed its details to remember for later, brushing her fingers across the leaves and feeling it go about it's hard days work as it tried to get everything it needed to survive in the jungle, just as she did.
Neck snapped and her feet picked up again, dashing against the earth. Twigs and leaves crunched beneath her bare feet, but stealth was not her mission today, and her arms splayed from one side to the other as she dashed across the forest floor.
She nearly tumbled over herself and planted face first into the ground of a sudden, for she had just noticed an entirely new entity just in time: A horde of leaf cutter ants.
And what a horde they were. Reddish brown bodies scurried over and around each other in a mission of the utmost importance, to feed and make their colony grow. Each little body held a giant piece of leaf above it's head save for the substantially larger soldier ants, who stalked back and forth, checking with their fellows and protecting the important line of assembly that continued along the ground. Tinnok kept a respectful distance from the business her compatriots were going about, and followed the train of ants with leaves as opposed to those heading back without, striding what to them would have been hundreds of leagues in a single step. She followed their progress through the jungle to a hole in a tree where they filtered into and returned from, and stooped down, examining the blackness as if it might give her some great knowledge. It in fact, did not, and so she did the next best thing.
Careful of those in the pathway, Tinnok gently lowered her hand into the road word down by thousands upon thousands of insubstantial feet, putting her hand in the way. Chaos broke out in the rank. Ants veered away from her hand in a worried frenzy and those returning to the cavern seemed concerned that they had gotten lost. None of the workers to much as attempted to approach the foreign entity which had dropped down in their path, but the soldiers most certainly did. A giant fat head brushed against flesh, and as it did Tinnok gasped. Such cold and machine like intent hung within it's mind that the half-breed had to rip her hand away as if she had been bitten by the creature. Though a pile up of them had formed on either side of her hand, the ants seemed to go back into the flow of their work swiftly, as if she had never been there at all.
The newly appointed witch reached down for the soldier and delicately lifted it up by its abdomen, applying just enough pressure so that the gyrating of its torso and head would not cause it to fall from her grasp. She dropped it upon her arm but by this time he seemed to have calmed somewhat. The series of images that flashed in her mind were not specifically meant for her, but Tinnok suspected they were always there, the mantra of all soldier ants. Instead of express images, it was strange colors and feelings in the form of scents, strangely pungent that filled her mind. It was a trail made from smells that the ants followed, and the scent of her hand had completely disrupted the order of her day. She felt shame then as the soldier listlessly wandered about her arm, knowing her act had been the prideful response of a giant bent on disrupting those infinitely smaller than herself. She also realized all of a sudden that this ant was a female and a new curiosity gripped her as she lowered the female insect back to the ground.
Using the tip of her pinky finger she touched one ant after another. It still created quite the mayhem, for despite her status as a witch it seemed the insects wanted little to do with her in any capacity, they still had a job to do after all. One after another of the creatures, she could tell were female, and just as all the soldiers seemed to have this pre-set list of instructions to follow, walking back and forth, sacrificing their lives for whatever happened to come across the path, so too did the workers. It was a strange feeling to realize that these creatures must never stop, never rest. Meals could be eaten on the way too and from the plant that they were decimating, and there would be no assigned break for these creatures from their regiment that surely continued from sun-up to the dark of night and sun-up again, since they only needed scent to find their way. Were they all just copies of the queen that bore them? Working until they died? It was a strange idea, sad, but also commendable, and Tinnok smiled at the fact that they seemed to be all females.
Her body rose slowly off the ground, and she stepped respectfully over the collection of dutiful workers and their attending army. Her queen would never be content to merely sit in a chamber creating offspring to work until they died, but the parallels between the line of insects and the Myrian people as a whole were still there, causing Tinnok to smirk before her light steps turned to heavy thuds and she ran still deeper into the forest. Her breathing became quicker faster this time, legs complaining of these quick sprints and frequent stops, but she would hear of no bodily complaints today as her heart pounded within her chest and her hand pumped through the air. She had much more to discover before Syna fell low in the sky, that was for certain.
