“Is it time? She should be here any minute now, right?” For what had to be the thirtieth time that hour, Larry paused in his pacing to glance at the antique-style clock hanging over the mantel, mentally urging the steadily swinging pendulum to move faster, as though he could force time to pass more quickly through willpower alone. The clock seemed unperturbed by his silent entreaty, however; the pendulum did not deviate even slightly from its maddeningly regular rhythm. From nearby c

Soft chattering sounds weave in and out of hearing as tiny, furry shapes dart across the forest floor and scamper through the trees, too fast for their forms to coalesce into anything more than blurs of brown. From the canopy high above, a medley of chirps and trills drift down, only faintly audible to the forest floor’s occupants.
The gentle burble of water splashing over stone drifts over from a nearby stream, the soft sound a continual, steady murmur that harmonizes with the natural sou

Falina
threw her head back in elation as she sprinted across the forest
floor, trees and vines whipping past at breakneck speeds. Her long
mane of crimson whipped behind her like a halo of flames adorning her
head and giving the centaur a fierce, wild countenance. All was quiet
around her in the dewy, pre-morning thicket; the sun had not yet seen
fit to rise fully from slumber, its golden glow only barely streaking
across the horizon, and it seemed that the many residents of the
woodland were in