Faelin drops Cosette into the simulation where Cosette witnesses everything from Summer’s point of view…
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I felt a second scraping sensation and suddenly the plate covering my eyes popped away, clattering on the ground.
I opened my eyes for the first time. It was too bright to see. Light swarmed around the bodies of women in front of me stabbing me painfully until I was forced to close my eyelids.
"It's Summer," Woodlark sang softly, as if my eyes proved my existence more than any other part of my transformed body.
I blinked a number of times as my eyes adjusted to the light. Finally, I began to be able to focus on the people of my tribe standing around me, staring at me. It was my family! Some of the faces were smiling, some looked angry. For a moment, it did not matter. All the faces were familiar. I was home! I would have smiled. Indeed, my cheeks seemed to struggle against the plate still covering my mouth.
All eyes were settled upon me. Their hair was unkempt and long and colorful. Sun sparkled dust filtered around us. I looked at their olive skin and finely muscled arms of my family - their furs and tightly pulled animal skins wrapping their strong bodies. Oh, my family! They were all so beautiful!
I looked up into Kite's eyes which, for a brief moment, seemed a bit less fierce than normal. And the Supreme Aderyn, with her wrinkles almost seeming to smile. The Wanderer was in the background, leaning awkwardly over others, both eyes open, staring at me. Finally, I settled my view on Woodlark. Her hair was longer, her face more gaunt, the skin around her eyes was dark and sunken. But her eyes, themselves, were bright and smiling like a storm had cleared.
I pulled at my wrists. The hands that held me, let me go. I jumped forward and fell into her arms pulling her as close to me as I could. Burying myself in her hair, inhaling her smell, feeling her warmth all over me. I did not want to ever let her go. Indeed, she pulled me tightly to her and her body began to shake with sobs. She hummed with happiness.
I pushed back from her, just to see her beautiful face again and then hugged her tightly again. Oh! My Woodlark!
After a long moment we finally pushed away. I suddenly remembered that I had been changed and I needed to see what had been done, though my imagination had already peaked my anxiety. I raised my hand to my nose. Two light dur vines were anchored up within my nostrils. The vines were made with small seamless rings of dur interlocking, one to the next, building up a long flexible, unbreakable rope. I slid my palm down the chain on the right side of my chin. I tilted my head down to see that it was also connected to an eyelet on a formed plate of dur which was somehow attached to my right breast. The plate was not much bigger than my areola was. I could not discern how the plate was attached. It seemed as though my soft, pliant flesh had simply been replaced by cold, rigid, gleaming dur. And my nipple was now an eyelet to which the far end of my nose chain was loosely anchored.
I cupped both of my breasts in my hands and found that the left side had been identically adorned. Furthermore, a second set of dur vines descended from the eyelets on my nipple plates down towards my crotch.
I looked up at all the faces of my family staring at me, watching me discover myself again. They were beginning to realize that these changes were as new to me as they were to them.
The terminal ends of the two chains descending from my breasts were embedded in the body of a padlock whose hasp was locked through an eyelet protruding from the center of a plate covering my crotch. This was the padlock, which when removed had caused me so much pain.
The plate covering my crotch was tight and formed a seal over my place of health. The plate was curved and ended just below the swell of my abdomen. At the upper end of the plate, at each side, a thin, yet sturdy chain was attached and pulled tautly towards eyelets that were embedded directly through my flesh and into the points of my hip bones.
I began to trace the surface of the dur plate as it curved down between my legs. It was then that I noticed my wrists.
I had expected that my wrists had been encircled in bands of dur. Instead, I found that the eyelets that had been used to lock my arms behind me were embedded directly into my flesh. I pulled on an eyelet and found that the depth of its invasion was even greater than that. The eyelet was embedded all the way into the bones of my wrists.
I sat there staring at my wrists in horror. I was realizing that my bondage was not something that had been applied to me. Instead, my bondage was part of me. That is, I carry upon my person the means to bind myself in inescapable and helpless positions. This bondage is not something that can be taken away and removed from me. It was who I was now, it seemed.
I looked down past my wrists and saw more eyelets extruding from the bones of my ankles. I brushed my hand around behind me and found a pair of eyelets embedded in the small of my back. These were the eyelets that had been locked to my wrists. In fact, Firecrest had left the padlocks hanging from the eyelets, their hasps opened and turned aside, their keys still embedded in the mechanics of the lock.
Slightly lower and directly in the center of my back I felt a third eyelet from which a chain hung like a tail of some foul furry creature. I pulled on the chain, disturbed by its length as its end brushed against the back of my knees.
My eyes wandered up to Woodlark who stood watching my moves. "It's okay now," she sang but the notes trembled in the air.
All my sisters had moved a little closer inspecting my newly adorned flesh. I began to feel fingers press against me along my spine. Peregrine was pointing to my elbow. My flesh was covered with places where small, black circles of dur were embedded into my flesh. In the center of each circle was a small circular void, an opening, shallow, but still, providing access deeper into my flesh. The circles, for the most part, coincided with places where my bone curved close to the surface of my skin.
Tawny began to whistle and hoot, finally breaking the silence around us. Sora looked at her with a sour look. "I have no idea what you are trying to say," she admitted.
Tawny pointed at all the black circles of dur, whistling with greater intent.
"She says that these are places to attach things," Sora mumbled.
I looked at Tawny and then back at Woodlark, shaking my head. I did not understand what Tawny meant by attaching things, or how it was meant to be done, but the thought was making my heart start to flutter uncomfortably. I began to brush the probing fingers of my sisters away.
Tawny, meanwhile, stepped in front of me and looked into my eyes. She looked at the chains embedded in my nose and pulled them slightly. Maybe she would find a way to remove them. She grabbed my chin and examined the plate covering my mouth, turning my head from side to side. She pulled at the plates on my breasts until I almost lost my balance from all her manipulations.
Next she dropped to her knees and looked at the dur covering my place of health. She grabbed an eyelet on one of my hips and began to twist it. The movement tickled and I flexed my stomach muscles involuntarily. She was unable to twist any more until I relaxed again. Suddenly, there was a popping sensation and the eyelet and its chain swung down from where it had been anchored.
Tawny quickly moved to the other side and disconnected the eyelet there too. When Tawny pulled the chains down, the plate of dur began to drop away from my flesh. The cool air tickled the flesh of my place of health which had been denuded of pubic hair. I shivered and my flesh felt as though it was seizing or hardening where the plate had once been.
Tawny continued to pull down on the plate until it reached the extent allowed by the chains from my breasts. At the same time, I felt a sliding sensation passing out of my back side.
I stood trembling. My heart was pounding, uncertain of the nature of my reaction to Tawny's investigation. Uncomfortable.
"There is something in her," Scaub, who is Kite’s lover exclaimed, pointing directly at my place of health. "Some kind of light is coming from her." Scaub is a great healer for our family. She tends to those who become ill.
Tawny gently pushed the plate to the side and reached to manipulate the folds of my place of health. Indeed, I saw a flash of light shine down upon her fingers. I inhaled sharply at this intrusion. I began to push her hands away, but before I could react, she had pulled me open further.
My abdominal muscles began to jerk spasmodically and sporadically. My eyes lost focus for a moment. I heard a spray of some sort of liquid and felt droplets cover the inside of my thighs. My knees shook and subsequently buckled causing me to fall across Tawny - a strange vibration of energy rippled through my body.
Tawny pushed me back up to a standing position and I was able to collect my balance again. I pulled the plate back up against my crotch in an effort to quiet the thrumming sensation which echoed within my core. I breathed deeply through my nose slowly relaxing.
Tawny also stood up, staring at her hand which was covered in some liquid. Not blood of the moon, but something as black as a puddle that never dries and is filled with years of rotting leaves. The Wanderer stood with both eyes still open wide looking between Tawny and I. Back and forth. Back and forth.
As the thrumming within me subsided, it was replaced by a pain that started very small but quickly gained momentum until it began to cut and twist through my place of health. I pulled the plate even more tightly to my crotch and desperately grasped at the dangling eyelets.
"She's in pain again," Woodlark sang.
I grabbed one of the eyelets and pushed it into the black circle in my hip bone, twisting it until it seemed to engage and sink into my body. Every twist helped with the pain, and by the time that the second eyelet had been reinserted the pain was completely gone.
And so, the sun moved a bit across the sky. It seemed most every member of the Aderyn needed to touch me or pick me up or pull at the dur embedded in my flesh. Finally, I grabbed Woodlark's arm and wrapped it around me, forcing her to hold me tightly. Slowly, the sisters became satisfied that I would provide no further spectacle. Although, there was an uncomfortable degree of discussion still suggesting that I was not Summer, but some demon. I had to ignore it or I felt I would begin to shake with anger. Instead, I tried to lose myself in Woodlark, pulling her hair up to my nose and pressing my cheek against hers. I tried to kiss her once, forgetting that my lips were hidden. My actions must have shocked her, she turned away for a moment and tears began to fall from her eyes. After a moment she began to stroke my bright red hair, pulling it painfully where the Tears had glued it to my head.
All too quickly, I began to feel a pain behind my eyes. They began to feel tired and dry. I closed them, but soon even that did not relieve the pain.
"Her mask!" Woodlark sang, and I sighed through my nose in relief as the eyelets were screwed back into my skull, even though my world became dark again.
It was not much longer before pain began to infuse my arms and legs and the places where chains of dur entered my flesh on my head and tailbone. I pulled Woodlark in the direction which I remembered my cage being in. Soon I felt hands helping me back through the door. I knelt with my ankles to my thighs and pulled my wrists behind my back.
When Woodlark asked, "Should we lock them?" An almost instinctive sensation rushed over me, telling me that I needed the locks applied to me. I nodded my head vigorously.
I slumped down inside the bars in relief after the last of the locks clicked shut.
Woodlark stayed with me for the rest of the day holding me through the bars of my cage. Singing a ballad of the comings and goings of the patrols and gatherers as the sisters resumed their duties. She used a knife to attempt to scrape the Tears from the side of my head, cutting out large chunks of hair as she did.
"Your hair is so much redder than it used to be." Finally, she ended up having to simply shave my head on the left side from above my ear high up the side. When she pulled my wild mane up exposing the bald side, she joked that it made me look fierce. It felt nice to think she might have smiled.
As night began to descend, someone suggested that my cage should be lifted off the ground for safety. I soon found myself swaying in the evening breeze.
Woodlark left to get some rest. She had a patrol to go on early the next morning. I settled down and attempted to sleep, listening as the camp slowly turned in for the night around me.
Late at night, I heard footsteps approaching. There was a healthy pause between each foot placement. The distance covered by each step was wider than normal. I envisioned The Wanderer strolling up to me with her bulging eyes and bent neck.
I heard a whisper almost directly in my ear.
"The lookouts will grow weary of looking at you in a couple of days," the voice said. "And when they do, and even if you are Summer, I don't care. I am going to kill you."
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Faelin and Cosette were sitting together in a love seat in one of the lounges of the facility. An entire wall of the lounge was covered by an LCD screen which currently displayed a soothing underwater scene highlighting strange other-worldly sea creatures in their natural habitats.
“Does your family miss you?” Faelin asked.
“It’s just me and my twin sister, now,” Cosette explained.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Faelin placed a hand on Cosette’s shoulder.
“It’s okay.” Cosette lifted Faelin’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “My sister, Cameron, and I are not very close, it seems.”
“Are you identical twins?” Faelin asked.
“Yeah. When we were young, I found school to be really easy while Cammy struggled. On the other hand, she was more extroverted and was particularly popular. I knew how frustrated she was that I was smarter, so I kind of let her shine in other ways. I mean, we are spitting images of one another, but I kind of felt comfortable being in her shadow in social situations. I guess that it helped that I wasn’t interested in the boys anyways.
“So, I went away to college, and she stayed in town working as a bank teller. I told her about my first date in college… with another girl… Cammy told me I was disgusting. I knew our parents would be disappointed that I was a lesbian, but I didn’t think that Cammy would have that reaction.
“We started to rebuild a bond after our parents were gone, but it never was the same…”
Cosette stared at the video wall. A small fish had just swam underneath a large jellyfish not realizing the danger it was in as the tentacles began to close in from behind. “Well… Sorry… How about you? Any brothers of sisters?”
Faelin smiled. “Nope.”
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It had been several weeks and Dr. Markov called Cosette into her office.
“It seems that you have adjusted to your new routine quite well,” Dr. Markov said. “You are doing an excellent job maintaining notes while you are in the simulation. From the notes, it sounds like Summer is transitioning as well as can be expected too.”
Cosette felt a large smile crease her face. She enjoyed feeling like she was meeting the expectations that people had for her. “Thank you so much. I’m glad I’m able to give you what you want.”
“So, can you recap things?” Dr. Markov asked. “Not a detached, scientific observation. Let me know what YOU feel is happening with Summer.”
“Sure,” Cosette said. “Um… well, each morning as the sun rises, I can feel Summer getting stronger. I guess that is the solar power charging up her body?”
“Yes,” Dr. Markov said.
“Um… Each day Woodlark, generally, gets Summer out of the cage and removes her eye mask. She seems to have about two hours before she begins to feel pain and has to return to her cage and reapply the eye mask. Generally, her cage is hung so that it is just off the ground, but at night, they raise her up higher so that animals don’t get her, I guess.” Cosette laughed.
“When Summer feels the pain in her eyes and body,” Dr. Markov asked, “do you feel it too?”
“Actually, yes, I do. But, I think it is a muted sensation and it passes immediately,” Cosette said. “It’s not bad… for me…”
“That’s good,” Dr Markov smiled. “You are a tough girl.”
“Summer doesn’t like the feel of furs and she refuses any blankets that Woodlark brings to keep warm. It’s like, the temperature doesn’t really bother her at all. Also, she seems to be really sensitive to the feeling of the earth on her feet. She feels uncomfortable standing flat footed. She prefers to walk on her toes.”
“Hmm… strange,” Dr. Markov said. “I wonder if Summer was always like that.”
“Oh, no! It’s definitely a new thing,” Cosette responded. “Sometimes she longs for water to be poured over her, it seems. And she feels a particular rush of energy whenever it rains on her.”
“Ah! That’s because she can’t drink through her mouth, obviously, but she is still dependent on water which she now absorbs through her skin,” Dr. Markov explained.
“Well, every day or so, perhaps depending on how much water she has been exposed to she gets this, um, sensation?” Cosette waved vaguely over her lap. “Not necessarily like she has to pee, but rather, um… there’s a sexual component to it? Maybe? Summer has learned to unscrew the bolts that hold that… that… metal underwear thing on her. There is a light that shines out of her… you know… her crotch and after a moment there is a spray of black watery stuff that comes out - not like pee, though… Something different. And, the sensation is kind of satisfying… for her, I mean. Afterwards, she quickly reconnects the eyelets before the pain sets in.”
“Hmm,” Dr. Markov said. “You must understand and appreciate that it would take a really, really long time to write all the programming that is required to place our sensors in an agent like this. We depended on artificial intelligence for huge swaths of the coding. Often we used a very declarative style, saying what we wanted and leaving the implementation details to the A.I.”
“Oh, cool,” Cosette said, not quite understanding, but not sure that greater detail would help. “Well, obviously she’s never hungry.” Cosette paused. Summer did feel a hunger. But it was not for food. “Summer is really in love with Woodlark. She thinks about her allll the time. She’s sad. She doesn’t feel like she and Woodlark can be like they were before. She gets aroused seeing Woodlark. She wants to lie with her-”
“Have sex?” Dr. Markov.
Cosette laughed. “Yes. Yes! Definitely, but… more than just sex, you know… She wants to make love!”
“And they haven’t?”
“No,” Cosette replied. “Summer wonders if they even can.”
“What about the other people in the tribe?” Dr. Markov asked. “Are they beginning to accept her?”
“Each sister of the family seems to have come to terms with her presence in some way. Some are happy to visit Summer’s cage and talk to her. Some even stroke her hair - petting her, I guess… like a pet, maybe. Summer seems to crave their attention and any sense that she might be treated as normal, somehow,” Cosette explained.
“On the other hand, some still seem to hate her. Occasionally she gets poked at with sticks and spit upon and pinched. Of course, this only happens when she has her blindfold on, so I’m not sure who is doing it. Summer certainly is unable to complain about it to anyone, even though it should be obvious to everyone by the bruises and cuts that appear in her flesh from time to time. Though they heal really, really quickly - like overnight.”
“Do you have any guesses who might be doing it?” Dr. Markov asked.
“Multiple people, for sure, but The Wanderer seems to scare Summer the most.. Just the sight of her loping through the camp with her head weaving back and forth, one eye closed, makes Summer shiver and duck behind Woodlark if they are out together.
“The Chieftess, Aderyn, seems to keep a pretty tight ship though. She stated that no one should harm me, I mean, Summer and people seem to obey her. Still, I know that Summer gets nervous at night, lying curled up in her cage praying that the lookouts are vigilant and listening for the slowly paced footsteps in the grass.”
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“Hey, babe?” Faelin said after they had finished their cafeteria meals one evening. “Your hair is starting to grow out a little too much.”
“Oh!” Cosette said, raising a hand to her head.
“It’s getting tougher to achieve a good connection for the simulation,” Faelin explained.
“Oh! Well, I’ll make sure I shave my head again before tomorrow’s session,” Cosette said.
“Can I shave your head?” Faelin asked. “I really want to.”
“Um… uh… Okay?” Cosette said, nervously.
Faelin took the chair she was sitting in and placed it in the middle of the room, patting the seat to indicate that Cosette should sit down. She then moved around the room gathering supplies.
“Wh… what is that for?” Cosette asked, pointing to a bit of black fabric.
“It’s a blindfold,” Faelin responded in a playful, singsong voice. “It will help keep the shaving cream from running into your eyes. That burns like the dickens.”
“Uh… okay…” Cosette said quietly.
Faelin strapped the blindfold over Cosette’s head.
Cosette sat nervously while Faelin moved around the room some more. She heard the sound of fabric sliding across a surface. Suddenly she felt Faelin’s hand on her shoulder. Faelin began to straddle Cosette’s lap, gently setting down. Cosette felt Faelin lean towards her and kiss her forehead.
“Mmm… Oh! You're naked,” Cosette laughed.
“It’s a lot more fun this way,” Faelin whispered.
Cosette heard Faelin spray the shaving cream into her hand and felt her lather the cream into a thick foam on her head. Then she started to scrape the foam away with a razor, making Cosette squeak occasionally in nervous anticipation of each stroke.
Finally, Faelin dabbed Cosette’s head with a warm, wet cloth. She finished by massaging something that she said was polish into her scalp.
“Oh, babe, you are so fucking beautiful,” Faelin whispered, making Cosette laugh.
“Can I see?” Cosette asked, reaching up to remove the blindfold.
Faelin caught her hand though. “No, leave it on for now… And, I’m going to make you cum like never before.”
Faelin started kissing Cosette and pressing her breasts tightly against her. She led Cosette to the bed and lay her down.
Cosette didn’t realize that she was so turned on, but in no time, Faelin had her screaming into her elbow, trying not to alert the neighboring rooms.
“Oh, fuck…”
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I was awoken by the sound of my cage door opening in the early hours one morning. It seemed as though I had just drifted off from hearing the morning patrols depart. It is probably one of the times when the camp is least guarded. Accordingly, my pulse began to race and I was immediately worried. Someone friendly to my condition would likely have greeted me after all.
I heard the rattle of dur over my head as the lock above me was being worked. I sat up and tried to face in the direction where my new companion must be standing. I felt sluggish as I always do early in the morning before the sun shines on me and warms me up.
After my head chain had been unlocked from the top of the cage, I was unceremoniously pulled forward by the head chain until my blinders clinked against the bottom of the cage. Next, I heard the key being applied to the lower back chain that secured me to the bottom of the cage.
I tried to roll to my side but a strong leathery hand pushed down in the middle of my back. I jerked at my wrist locks desperately attempting to pull my arms from behind me, somehow hoping that their rattle would alert my silent tormentor of my displeasure.
As soon as my lower back chain was released, a sudden jerk on my head chain left me with no illusion that my companion wished me ill. My body bounced between the bars of the cage's hatch as I was pulled. A moment later I fell hard on my face into the dirt. With my hands bound to my lower back and my ankles locked securely to the bottom of my thighs, I had no way to prevent the abuse that began to befall me.
I was dragged across the ground by my head chain, through dirt and pebbles and needles of fir. All the while, I cringed and jerked involuntarily and the odd burning sensation arced through my flesh where I rubbed along the forest floor.
Finally, my head was jerked up and I balanced on my knees. I frantically fanned my elbows around trying to defend myself.
My tormentor's whisper blew into my ear. "You will see the strength of the Aderyn as you die, demon." Was it The Wanderer? Her breath smelled of grain and mint.
I shook my head back and forth desperately attempting to prove that I am Summer, that I am not a demon even though I knew I would not change her mind.
I was dropped back into the dirt. I heard fiber sliding across a smooth surface followed by a series of firm snaps that I knew was rope being knotted. I struggled to wiggle my knees underneath me so I could sit up. Before I made any progress though, I heard the sound of the rope sliding over wood, likely a limb, far above me.
In one swift jerk I was pulled up by my head chain - my back bending painfully. A second jerk eased that pain at the expense of contact with the ground.
I jerked my knees around desperately looking for the ground. The chains between my nose and breasts were suddenly jerked tautly in my tormentor's grasp. I heard the keys being rattled again and felt the lock on my crotch plate being manipulated.
I shook my head desperately, silently pleading for mercy, but none was to be given. The lock snapped open and as the chain fell away from its contact with the eyelet, the skewering arc of pain cut through my flesh. I clenched my stomach muscles as best as I could until, by happenstance and the grace of gravity, the chain fell in contact with the eyelet and the pain stopped.
My head was jerked up and I realized that I was being hauled up into the air. Even with my low weight, I could feel an uncomfortable strain on my neck as I was jerked again and again. At first, I flailed my knees and elbows around in an attempt to grab on to anything, but quickly stopped all movement when I felt the severe discomfort of swinging feely by the chain embedded in the top of my skull. I rose up into the air with my knees pulled up trying my best to keep the chains in contact with the eyelet.
Tears began to spill from my eyes. I didn't want to die. Who knows how high I was strung above the ground?
The jerking on the rope stopped, but I could feel some sort of vibrations transmit through the chain in my head for a while. Then, there was nothing.
I heard the limbs rustle in the early morning breeze. The sound made me focus suddenly on my own sense of vertigo as I rocked slowly back and forth.
Maybe The Wanderer was just going to hang me here as an example of her hatred. After all, the Supreme Aderyn had granted me life, tenuous as that notion may have been. The Wanderer would be breaking the Supreme Aderyn's declaration. There would be consequences for her actions if she killed me.
I heard a whistle of alarm at the far end of the camp. Finally, I thought, a lookout had noticed my abuse. I prayed that she would come quickly and lower me back down.
I heard another whistle and soft footsteps padding across the forest floor far below me.
Next I heard a different kind of whistling sound. Something sleek, slicing through the air - the morning sky brushing back soft feathers. Though I heard it in an instant, I still remember the way that the sound seemed to grow. But, that sound was only a whisper compared to the clang of a stone arrowhead embedding itself into my torso. It ripped through my skin on my left side just in front of where my arm was unnaturally forced behind me directly adjacent to my heart.
Pain, like light, flashed through my body. All my muscles contracted as one. Even my breath was forced from my body.
So, this is it. This is my death. Holy fuck, it hurts! How can I stand to die like this?
I was gasping and I felt myself swinging around in earnest now as my muscles spasmed and bounced at the taut tether holding my body in the air.
"Stop shooting!" someone shouted from below.
My entire left side was in pain. I could no longer pinpoint the source. My heart was fluttering. Was it struggling to pump my blood around a stone and wood intruder lodged lethally inside?
I struggled to breathe. I felt a stream of liquid slide down over my hip and around my arse.
I heard the whoosh again and prepared for searing pain that never came. Instead, my head jerked a bit and I heard a snap above me. The rope had been shot. The rope had been cut.
How high was I? I did not have time to consider the distance of the voices shouting below me, but an image burned itself into my mind's eye - a height that fifteen women stacked on top of one another could not reach.
What few strands of rope that had not been sliced by the arrow, held me only long enough for me to fully register that my fate lay far below me.
I remember the sense that the strain on my neck was relieved and the sound of wind whistling around more and more loudly. Then I remember a sound. It was like the sound of a large limb crashing to the ground - its child branches and twigs snapping in a growing cataclysm of sound as the limb settled traumatically to the earth. It was that sound, but the collection of pitches involved was higher and it rang as though the tree lived in a vast canyon. Too, it was no limb that fell and rang out. It was me.