“Wake up loser” the same voice I hear every morning and at the same time. I’d give truly anything to not have and annoying, nagging and ugly older sister.

“Call me ugly one more time”

Shiver ran across my skin at that remark. She’s so touchy in the morning and knows how much I hate being woken like this. I wonder how far away I’d need to get for it to stop working. Stretching as I look around for my sliders I wish I could remember my dream. I never put much effort into hollowing out my space. It fit my just big enough leaf bed along with some of my experimental tools and a small desk. I prefer a windowless room to avoid the sun as much as possible in the morning.

Just because we are the Sun people does not mean I need it any chance I can get. Picking the fields is enough. Fitting on my sliders I shoot through my entrance and slide down the burrow. The sun people are a crafty folk with simple nature antunment. My burrow is an example of our natural ability to manipulate earth and everyone has varying degrees of this.

Larissa is special and can attune to creature of any kind. My unfortunate case being her family it’s easier for her to harass me.

“And I’ll continue to harass you until you get to the fields!” Her tone getting stronger as the day progresses. She just doesn’t get the nuance of design and genius such as mine takes time. Particularly time away from the fields. Pushing off the mud I skate across the surface with my sliders. A brilliant combinations of mushroom cap and mud skipper slime I can breeze across our land. Large leaves plants shade our cozy humid grove and dapple the air green. Snatching up some wild berries I make my way away from the fields. Its cattail season and everyone will be there climbing the poles to relieve the stocks of their fluffy substance.

What everyone seems to ignore about cattail season is dragonfly season. A truly brilliant display of grace, speed and design. If only I had a skill like Larissa, maybe I could tame one and really soar. To truly witness our big in all its glory.

“You have until the end of breakfast to make it to the fields or I will send Whistler after you” ground Larissa into my head. If she wasn’t bad enough she had to flaunt her skills by taming a leopard hopper. She may be annoying but she does user her skills for good sometimes. Taming Whistler was probably the single smartest and annoying thing she could do. My sliders are fast but they are a snails crawl compared to the distance Whistler can cover in a single hop. He may not be graceful but his raw power is impressive. Fortunately Whistler is very much needed for Cattail harvesting. His mandibles make short work of the reeds and allow us to crates rows through the fields.

Tree roots make bridges overhead while moss and ferns line the many paths of the people. Some climb down from the roots that prefer to make home above the paddy covered understory. Nothing against them but sliding across the mud is so much easier than sliding on bark, unless it’s mossy bark. Most of the above bark is dry and soaks up the slime very quickly.

Just pass the small crab wholes lies the clay mines. Deep valleys of walls with clay in various stages of drying. Perfect for creating and binding pieces together. I do a quick look over to see if anyone is around but it should be clear. Sliding down I veer towards an older part of the mine. I quickly lift an nearly hidden leaf covered in clay and slide under. Squatting down I fly down the tunnel of clay to my secret hole. By now I can barely make out Larissa sicking Whistler on me but it’s too late now that I’m here. Gliding out into a blue lit cave my eyes adjust to my sanctuary. Blue glowing lichen gives off enough light to see and work by. Tables line one side while clay pools house various liquids on the other. As much as I give off a lazy air I really just want to design things to make the people’s life easier. They may not understand now but someday I’ll see my people soar.