Kre didn’t realize that he had closed his eyes as he was basking. His eyes snapped open and he looked around trying to find the newcomer. Thankfully, his eyes had adjusted to the darkness enough that he could make out vague shapes and he spotted a small upside-down head staring at him from the ceiling of the room.
“What the…” the words came unbidden across his lips and he tried to backpaddle further into the wall. “What are you?”
“Rude!” the creature snapped and then seemed to vanish entirely.
“I’m hallucinating,” he muttered to himself, repeatedly wiping his face with his hands as if that would help snap him out of it. “A secret room inside a tree with its own climate and a talking squirrel. I must have passed out during our run and I’m dreaming this.”
“No dream rude man.” The voice seemed to echo, making it hard to pinpoint where the creature was.
“I… uh…” What was there to say to a creature that was possibly a figment of your imagination. “I’m sorry?”
“Forgived!” the creature popped back into his view; its features still obscured by the darkness. Kre could tell that it was about a foot long… or tall… depending on his it was oriented, and there might be a tail… or that could just be really long hair.
“I don’t… uh… want to be rude, but wha… er… who are you?”
“Is something you want to be knowing?”
Kre nodded, feeling a bit foolish for doing so since he wasn’t even sure the creature was real. “Yes,” he added, which didn’t make him feel any less foolish, but at least the sound of his own voice was reassuring in its own way.
“I am Dalklyn,” the creature responded, having somehow moved to another part of the room.
Kre shifted slightly in his seat. His head must have found a small bump in the tree wall as a tiny spot of pain flashed in his skull. “I’m Kre. Nice to meet you. Well, kind of meet you.”
“This Dalklyn pleased too. Kre man want another thing?
“What other thing?”
“Any thing Kre man want.” It was a simple statement said in such a simple, matter-of-fact way that it seemed like there was no question of what it meant and that Kre was the stupid one for not knowing.
“Let’s start with you telling me about this place. Where are we?”
The creature seemed to dart around a bit, as if it were giving a rapid tour of the entire hollow chamber. “Haven Tree. Natural tree. Warm place for resting of tired. Want another thing?”
“Ow,” he muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I think I’m good. Just more tired than I realize and wishing I knew when Kitalia would come back.”
“Seven-hundred seven flickerbird beats. You ask very easy things for granting.”
Kre chuckled even as he blinked his eyes in an attempt to push past the headache caused by lack of sleep. “Well, I try to be accommodating. You’re very helpful.”
He couldn’t see the creature’s face, but he hoped that it was smiling. “Kre man very fun. Want to be knowing of flickerbirds?”
“No thanks. I think I’d really just prefer to wait for Kitalia and then get some rest. Seven hundred beats can’t be that long… maybe five minutes? Ten?”
“Five or ten minutes until what?” Kitalia’s head popped up through the hole, followed shortly by the rest of her body. “Talking to yourself already? I was not gone for that long, was I?”
“Oh,” Kre smiled, shifting to make room for her in the now cramped space. “No, I was talking to Dalklyn here.”