Sekali, "The Sister City"
Chapter 22
Seven days and nights passed as the four traveled toward an unfamiliar destination. It baffled Sekali how the stretches of green seemed never to end. The Living World was exactly the opposite of his world. It was strange. The grasslands were a wonder, and a mystery. He admired them; they were pleasing to the eye. As they traveled on, birds in the hundreds would take flight at their approach. At first, Sekali watched on in amazement at these small creatures. He had seen them as he journeyed previously toward the City Port Navan, yet their numbers increased significantly with every day's travel. There were some that ran along the ground, and took flight only if the company came too close. He noted a specific type of bird that flew within a multitude of others of the same kind, swarming just above the grasses, and then up into the air. They never landed, but would fly on until out of his eyesight. Sekali especially took a fancy to the long-tailed ones that would fly up directly in front of him, shooting up into the sky at an angle. Once airborne, these birds would glide far away, disappearing into the lush vegetation, thus hidden again.
Most of all, he took a fancy to the mornings, when a mist of gray would enshroud the company, leaving them hidden to all eyes for about a hundred paces. It reminded him of his homelands and the mists of vapors that veiled and oftentimes protected his people from evil and malicious stalkers.