Jade Fern Grove sturdied up boulders and loosened the river

even as the darkness gathered, the crickets kept singing. it seemed louder the longer he walked, until the air was filled with nothing but their buzz; and when someone huffed behind him, in the few moments such a greeting took to register, caligula flinched hard enough that it was only by some stroke of luck he kept his footing, paws sliding on loose dirt, whipping around with all the careful deliberation of a snake who, feeling the tread of a foot on its back, reared to strike.

for a long moment he lingered there with teeth still concealed behind charcoaled lips, staring back through the gloom at the giant watching him, a shadowy grey silhouette with ears angled forward. but when she did not move, the man uncoiled, shoulders hunched as he stared back over the distance; nostrils flared as he searched for the scent that might yet indicate a claim that he had passed over without thinking, and yet found nothing at all.

"ah...is this..." his voice cracked with disuse on the words, barely loud enough to hear at all, and came back stronger than before. "i am sorry. i did not mean to disturb anyone here. i only wish to pass through."