Hana : Part Three

Proudfoot wandered around late at night. He withdrew himself to the dark embers of the mountains. His reasoning behind wandering to these parts of the mountains were that watering holes were located at such parts. He found himself in such places of leisure in other mountain ranges, all of them were located near the districts. he underestimated the size of the mountain range he currently found himself treading in. Mostly because he landed in the starship. That made him fail to realize that the mountains he had traversed in the past were not even a tenth of the size of the Ranges of the Marakese. The watering holes were found mostly near the footstep of the hills and never at the top of the mountains. The reason behind this decision was that the locals did not really care for the hillbillies to be roaming around drunk, especially late at night.

The watering holes were either located near small lodges or the watering holes had rooms along with them. So wandered Proudfoot down the hills waiting to reach its footsteps. He wandered down , twisting and turning , and at times bumping into large rocks. He wandered through small and very rarely trodden paths, that barely could fit his large frame. On either side of the path were trees of normal nature and some were of mysterious nature. Proudfoot squeezed himself between the trees when he had to, not concerned about the dangers that could lay ahead. And as he did so, the trees rubbed off on him and the scent which was innocent in nature, appealed to the giant. As the trees kept rubbing against him, he did not really care about it. In fact he enjoyed it all the more. He walked around and around now the small and tight path. This could have gone for hours now, Proudfoot did not even Realize that. That he was circling the path again and again. He was so consumed by the scent that he wanted it more and more. And bit by bit his reality was slowly starting to disappear. The circling paths had now become his reality, the scent was all he cared about now. Some of the trees started calling him out to him now, "Eat em ,some said!. Climb me, said the others" Proudfoot had become a childlike now, he was pointing his fingers everywhere , at all the trees , trying to chose which tree to climb or which fruit to pluck from.

He finally rested his hand upon a tree that he felt was best suited for him. I shall climb this tree, he said Majestically and started to climb it. He stretched his hand one after the other and started to climb it. At first he stuck to the trunk of the tree, and then he shifted to the branches. He climbed one branch after the other. He went up and up the tree, and as he climbed the tree to its summit. He looked down and up. The ground was far away and the summit of the tree too was a long way away. It did not deter him in his pursuits. He stretched his hands out faster and started to pick one branch after the other. He climbed the tree up at such a rapid pace, one would think that he has been a tree climber all his life. Which he surely was not! he had never climbed a tree before. The branches never crumbled under the weight of his arms, no matter how much weight he had put on it. It carried him with ease and they only bent in such a way to push him further up. As he went up and up, the tree starting to realize that he was losing his strength slowly , so the branches bent more and more and some of the branches even launched up a few meters up ahead.

Now Proudfoot was not even using his strength, he was just aiming his hands at the branches that held him and launched him up ahead. He finally reached so far up the tree that he could see the sky through the thick roof. The tree sat him on the largest branch on the tree. He sat on the branch like one would ride a motorcycle. He just did not have any handles to put his hands on. And now his scent had completely worn off. He was getting back to his senses. He looked around and he was beginning to understood where he was. But Proudfoot being the man he was, he did not make much of it. He looked yonder there at the farthest corners of the tree. He saw that someone was seated there. " Who must that be?" he wondered. The person did not move , they sat idle. All that he could see was that the person made eye contact with him and did not take his eyes away from the giant. The giant stood still and he felt his spines shiver. The person walked to him as though he walked on plain ground. She treaded the branches as it was air, the movement was so ethereal, it looked like the trees caressed her over to the giant. Seeing the sight of the beautiful women, Proudfoot felt at ease. Even the giant was struck by the beauty of the women. Who must you be? he asked her as politely as he could. He made sure to grunt in the least dismissive way. So the young women came and sat there beside him on the branch. She sat next to him ladylike.

"I'm Artemis, she said to him.