A gentle whine crescendoed to whistling fever pitch, like a tea kettle shaking off its burner. The ghostly images of his sleep faded to darkness as one thought filled his mind. Danger. He could feel a cold sweat on his skin and his heart pumped wildly to wake him from his slumber.

His senses were hazy. At once he thought he heard voices, but syllables became indecipherable grunts, then stuttered wheezes like a dog sniffing for treats. His eyes finally focused, but it was too dark to see. Recalling that he fell asleep in the middle of a dense forest, he hit a switch on his wrist and a beam of light illuminated the area in front of him.

A startled huff then a quick puff of air as he registered first the smell of hot, stale breath, and then realized he was staring directly into the brown-furred face of a snarling bear-like creature. It seemed to be stunned by the sudden light source and swatted at its eyes with a large paw. He moved as slow as possible, pulling his torso up and away to gain space to maneuver as the beast was almost standing on top of him. The bear blinked a few times and then moved even closer as a soft growl emerged from its throat while its nostrils flared. It opened its mouth, revealing a line of sharp, yellow teeth.

The bear stood up on its hind legs and Wrynn took the opportunity to roll to his side. His bed of leaves kicked up behind him and he managed to clear the area before the giant paws came crashing down on the earth where he had been, sending a tremor through the soft grass.

He rolled further and landed on his feet, pulling out his pistol in the same motion. Wrynn stood and took aim at the giant intruder. It turned to look at him, baring teeth. He fired.

A single beam of red light shot from the barrel and struck true against the shoulder of the great beast. It let out a confused moan and lifted its body onto two legs. It was nearly a head taller than Wrynn at this height. Stretching out its wide arms it leaned forward and roared loudly, sending a gust of spittle and air at the invader to the forest. Wrynn stood his ground and set his pistol to the highest setting, ready to fire once more.

“Stop, stop!” cried a small voice as Chief bounded forward to stand between the two.

“Out of the way, old timer,” shouted Wrynn.

“It’s okay.” The Ufuli lifted its hands in surrender to the bear. “It’s okay. This is Asha Ishavera’ai. They are the keeper of this forest.” Chief produced something from their pouch and offered it up. The bear looked at the Ufuli less than half its size but remained on two feet.

“Get out of there, Chief,” said Wrynn, waiting to fire. The giant beast closed its mouth to sniff the air and then fell promptly back onto its four feet, bouncing the small Ufuli into the air when it landed. It put its face directly up to the old Chief and opened its mouth once more. Wrynn readied at the aggressive action, but when the bear chomped down, he saw it was eating the contents held in Chief’s hand.

It ate noisily, smacking its heavy lips as it munched on whatever snack Chief had produced. When it was done with the sample it sat back on its haunches waiting for more. Chief laughed softly in the face of the creature three times their size and motioned for Wrynn to come closer.

“Here.” Chief put a couple of featherhead mushrooms into Wrynn’s hand. “They only wish to be fed. You startled them when you moved so quickly.”

“I was worried it wanted to feed on me,” said Wrynn, taking the mushrooms. He took a closer look at the bear which he now saw had droopy ears and large round eyes. It panted as it waited patiently and Wrynn slowly offered the fungi up to the beast which leaned forward to slurp the mushrooms from his hand. Reaching out a large, pink tongue it left a thick trail of warm slobber on Wrynn’s hand, searching for more treats.

Wrynn pulled away and wiped his hand on his pant leg. The bear appeared more docile than when it was staring at him in his sleep, panting loudly as its eyes scanned the rest of the camp. It looked a powerful, fearsome being and Wrynn was glad not to have had a more direct confrontation. He brought his hand up and the bear allowed him to smooth out the fur where he had shot it.

“How did you know this was that—whatever you called it?” asked Wrynn to Chief.

“Many Ufuli have told stories of being assisted by the keeper while in this forest. They spoke of a great wolrung-like creature who protected the forest by plucking bad weeds and keeping the pathways for the other wildlife to flourish. Once, lightning struck this spot, right here.” Chief pointed at the cracked tree stump. “The keeper saved the Ufuli who were camped here and prevented the fire from spreading to the rest of the forest. That was how they earned the name Asha Ishavera’ai. Guardian of Life.”

“Are there others like this one?” asked Wrynn, looking back at the giant bear who had resumed sniffing the camp for any further treats.

“I have not heard tales of any as friendly,” said Chief. “Wolrung are usually lone creatures and have bad tempers when you come near their homes. But Asha Ishavera’ai is welcoming to strangers as long as they bring good snacks.”

At that time, Vessa approached the others while wiping sleep from bleary eyes. “What’s wrong?” asked the white-furred Ufuli. “Is it time to leave already?”

“No, no,” said Chief in a quiet voice. “Wrynn was disturbed by the keeper. It is okay to go back to sleep.”

Vessa looked up finally and saw the massive creature ahead of them. They let out a small yelp and hid behind Wrynn. “What is that?”

“Don’t worry, they are friendly,” said Chief, explaining to Vessa who took the news much easier than Wrynn had.

“Did we wake you, Vessa?” asked Wrynn.

“No,” the Ufuli shook their head. “I was trying to stay awake to keep an eye for the Restora butterflies, but I must have fallen asleep.”

The bear — or wolrung as Chief had named it — finished its business sniffing through the rest of the camp. It took no notice of the Darkal that was snoozing while hanging upside down from one of the branches in a nearby tree, but it searched through each of their packs and kicked some dirt onto the firepit to quench the fading embers of the fire. Then it came over and sat in front of the three adventurers as if expecting a reward for its behavior. Sitting, Wrynn was slightly below eye level with the creature.

“Do you think it knows where the butterflies would be?” asked Wrynn.

“I do not know,” replied Chief. “This is my first encounter with them.”

Wrynn leaned forward, keeping some distance and addressed the wolrung slowly, and ordering his translation device to cycle through a series of low-languages to see if the creature understood any. “Hello, Asha,” he started in Wargen, a language consisting of a series of growls and grunts. The creature made no reaction, but stared at him with large eyes.

Continuing in Maus, Wrynn said, “Can you understand me?” No response. He tried a few more, but still nothing. The two Ufuli watched the affair in silence and eventually Wrynn gave up.

The bear-like being stood and took a step towards the human, nuzzling its large snout into his arms with furious sniffing. Remembering now the meat product he had removed from the tin of noodles, Wrynn produced the small packet and held it in front of the wolrung to sniff.

“Sit,” said Wrynn, pulling the packet away when the wolrung made to grab it with its jaws. The large creature scooted forward and sat, waiting patiently. Wrynn was impressed that it took the command. He was not sure what introducing meat to a wild animal would do if nothing on this planet was truly carnivorous, but he decided he would engage in his first act as an invasive species. Not like the wolrung was giving him much of a choice as it stared greedily at the dehydrated fish meat.

Wrynn broke off a strip of fish and held it out cautiously. Sharp teeth snatched the snack from his fingertips and Wrynn pulled back quickly to save his fingers. The wolrung ate hungrily and smacked its lips before staring down at Wrynn expectantly.

He fed the rest of the packet to the wolrung slowly, testing out different commands as he would with his childhood hoaxhound a lifetime ago on Wallaway. The creature obeyed most of the instructions given in Universal, seeming smart enough to connect with the feeling that Wrynn was projecting — sit, shake, and down — and it was gentle with accepting the treats. When the packet was finished it bowed its head and sniffed the wrapping for leftovers and Wrynn took the opportunity to scratch it behind its droopy ears.

“Asha,” said Wrynn, and the wolrung looked up at him. “Can you help my friend find the butterflies of this forest?”

The bear-like creature let out a deep grunt in response as it got to its feet. It walked across the camp to the large tree stump, put its paws up against the wood which creaked against its weight, and let out a deep roar that sounded like a droning horn.

Around them the sleeping forest stirred from its slumber. Grass rustled as small animals scurried away and tree branches shook when birds took flight. Nerbo fell out of the tree on which they were resting and flew away to a further branch, squawking sleepily as they protested an early awakening.

Then, from the stump of the tree a faint, blue light emerged. From the cracks within the wood, a small luminescent insect appeared and unfolded its segmented wings. Shaped like a four-leafed clover, a wild pattern was etched into the delicate wings that radiated a mesmerizing, blue glow. The wings fluttered, scattering light in a intoxicating dance.

Beside him, Vessa let out a gasp. Then more lights appeared from the stump, like little stars coming to life. The little insects took flight, luminous wings pulsing as they opened and closed. They spread out all around the forest clearing, a thousand little points of sapphire shining through the darkness.

Wrynn felt himself stand, almost involuntarily. He tried to track a single butterfly to find some pattern in their movement, but his eyes were distracted as more forms fluttered into his field of vision, near and far. They floated lazily in the air, but were as capricious as the wind, flying whimsically on whatever path their little hearts desired.

Midnight in Restora Forest, Malcolm Wrynn caught his first glimpse of the beauty in the world the Ufuli called Home.