The Hidden Mountain Pass

Seeking more intelligent conversation you leave the owl creature and wander along what appeared to be a path. It was rather narrow but you still managed to fit if you walked carefully. And good thing you were paying attention too, you nearly stepped on a tiny red creature. Startled, it jumped foward to bit you on your ankle!

The little female snarled as she refused to let go of your leg...and it hurt! Most of the creatures here had seemed gentle and kind, or at least not interested in actually harming you but this fierce tiny thing was making up for all the others.

As you tried to remove her teeth from your skin without hurting her in return, you notice something rather a like a snowflake drift to the ground nearby, it was another of the little creatures.

The newcomer tilted her head at you, "What are you?" she asked. You explain who and what you are and where you are from, and then ask for help with the other one. The white one trotted over and gently nuzzled the red one, "You can let go now Spark, it's a human".

Spark stopped snarling, rolled her eyes up to look at you and then let go. "A human? But why did you want to step on me?"

You explain it was a mistake, that she was hard to see. "Why?" was her response. So you explain how small she was and that humans have trouble seeing things that small on the ground. The white one then asked, "Why do you grow so big then?"

And that was just the start, they bombarded you with questions till your head whirled trying to explain things that didn't have reasons, they just were. Finally you managed to get in a question of your own and ask the name of the second female, and what they were.

"My name is Angel, and we are Tinywhyos." But that brief pause in the barage of questions was short-lived and they started right up again with their grilling.

All this was interrupted by a prodigious snore, followed by a yawn and smacking lips. In terror, the three of you look around at what beast could be so large to make such a noise but there was nothing...no wait...not nothing. There was another pair of the tiny creatures neaby, one sleeping the other stretching as he wakes.

Angel bounded over to them, landing on top of the green one in a heap. "Pine, Mulberry, you have to see this, it's a HUMAN!!"

The two sleepers were startled awake, and their heads swiveled around looking for the source of the end of the world...now you knew how silly the three of you had looked before!

As they crowded around your feet, a "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" could be heard and a flash of gold drew your attention to a Whyo rolling down the slope of a rock. It wasn't a very big rock, but big enough for a creature so tiny.

"Desert Dust!" one of the other Whyos cried out, you weren't sure which, and the newcomer came over to study you carefully. The others remained in silence, which seemed rather weird, and the scrutiny was intense, making you just a little uncomfortable. As the female's head tilted back, back, back, and back her eyes got wider..."Why are you so tall?"

And so the questions began again! However, it wasn't long before the female lost interest and climbed up the rock again. Next thing you knew she was tumbling down once more, only this time, an unlucky male came around the side of the rock...and, well...you know what happened!

The poor male was left flat on his back, stunned by the collision with the female. He lay there staring at the sky gasping for breath and slowly realizing he was still alive. A winged female spiraled down in a hurry, "Stargazer, are you alright???"

Stargazer was able to rouse himself, "Yeah, I think so Nightshadow...what WAS that???"

You couldn't help but notice they were asking each other questions too, though these were perfectly normal ones. A chuckle off to the side drew your attention to a rather frightening looky Whyo.

The violet female stamped a leg, "Now Garth, don't be mean. Stargazer could have really been hurt!" The green male harumphed, and stalked off, apparently he wasn't a friendly as the rest of his species.