Balance within the forest

[repost] someone runs into the woods, this is the woods' outlook on them.

The spirits, the elves, and the imps, and really all the other usual inhabitants of a forest such as this one are watching her. They watch this girl, who walks through the woods with determination in her eyes but a wary and hesitating look in her step and posture. While she wasn’t obnoxious nor loud it was glaringly obvious she was not of this land. Scratches on her arms showed that she had been ignorant of what trees and bushes would scratch her, and the knots in her hair revealed that she and underestimated the grasping ability of branches as they loomed above her.

 

She was loud.

 

Leaves crunching beneath her feet, twigs breaking, and the occasional sound of her struggling to move large sticks from her path. She was looking around constantly, her eyes frantic as if she knew that she was looking for something, but not knowing what that something was. However, oddly enough, she never looked behind her.

 

The times were peaceful enough that the ones who belonged among these trees let her pass freely for now, but chaotic enough that there were far too many eyes on her too count. You can never be too careful after all, and it’s obvious she is failing at being careful.

 

Then finally she stops, as the trees reveal a painted sky that seemed to show the whole purple and red color spectrum and she marveled at it. Marveled at the simplistic beauty of the ever changing sky. The colors continued to fade and melt into each other as she watched, fascinated by something she had seen thousands of times. As twilight melted into night she started walking again, much more calm but still wary and watchful of everything.  She did seem to have a balance however, as her steps quieted, a feminine grace showing through her steps as she took in the intricate pattern of the forest.

 

Balance.

 

The forest inhabitants saw this, saw that this girl was balanced—somewhere between serenity in the forest and watchfulness of everything going on around her. She was confident in how she walked, like she was normally in control but had already accepted the fact that this was not her element, and respected that. The girl relaxed more as she walked, no longer as worried, her searches of the area not as frantic and now more curiosity driven. A cool evening breeze washed over her, bathing her skin in a soft touch and light that no lover could ever truly imitate and her eyes closed. Her steps only hesitated slightly as she walked however, and she wasn’t surprised that this forest was accepting her, it wasn’t part of her plan, not that she had ever really had one, but it was a nice side effect none the less.

 

As the night grew darker she finally stopped her hike and without the pretence of grace collapsed onto a pile of leaves so that she could lean back against the rough bark of a tree. Her eyes closed and she gave into her instincts. Complete peace, like stagnation, was rare, and while temporarily helpful, never lasted long, and that was for the best really, now however—she would take the contentment and serenity where

Reviews

[Chelsea Schermerhorn]

Nice. The imagery is good. You have made it into the first cut of finalists in my Imagery contest.

[Nighteyes]

I wonder what this story would be like without the mention of the supernatural creatures at the beginning. Do you think it would add to the feeling that the woman is finding safety and balance within herself? Maybe put the focus on her a little bit more?

I really like your descriptive words, though. You have a gift for painting a picture and capturing the essence of the scene.