The water was cold against Tarsam's feet as he stood upon the slimy rocks of the stream. He looked down at his toes the color of light earth and watched as white currents moved their way around his ankles. There was tiny, orange movement drifting over his pink nails then they darted away as if scared.

Goldfish or salamanders, Tarsam thought. There weren't any normal sized fish that he'd know of. They lived in ponds or rivers. Here was just a tiny trickle of water that left its larger home of a river or pond upstream, lost its way through the woods until it decided to settle here, if water could settle at a place. It rolled over rocks with the voice of a hundred whispers. Sunlight made a sheen over it, bringing out the colors as if it hit a spinning crystal that hung on string above a doorway.

Tarsam stooped down and splashed his knees, two bony knobs where the skin stretched around darkened to a bruise color. He grasped the sand with his toes as some lemur or tree shrew. Grains seeped under his nails, a gritty feel that broke the sameness that numbed each foot. Plunging his hands next, he stirred halfway under the surface to create a small whirlpool. He heard the leaves rustle overhead.

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Shadow crept across the stream and for a moment where Tarsam stood grew darker. A light breeze blew the sleeves of his shirt, and his arms broke out in gooseflesh. Tarsam shuddered as he waited for the breeze to pick up, to become stronger as it always did, a slight jog that turned into a run. Trees crackled like chopped onions in hot frying oil, and the brambles and bushes made a rustling noise like the sweep of a broom.

He waited through it, wading through it, the shadow at his back. He found a dry rock that had enough space to sit on despite being lodged underwater. Small green moss blemished its otherwise smooth gray surface. Tarsam sat upon the rock and waited. Eventually the shadow moved away as the clouds that had covered the sun in their movements eastward.

Bright golden light revealed the woods and stream to their full colors and Tarsam leaned back with his hands behind his head to bask in the warmth.