Dungeon of Doors

The smell of grass and trees makes my nose twitch. There's a new smell, one I don't know. It's a bit like the trees. Heavier, denser, more rich. I follow the funny scent. My paws help me root through the dirt, my claws digging at the soil as I scurry. I can smell it. Closer now, somewhere near this tree. My tail twitches as I circle the base of the big tree.

"What are you playing, Maple?"

Freezing, I turn to look at the source of that familiar squeaking voice. It's Poppy, the girl with the especially bushy tail. I narrow my eyes at her before explaining myself.

"I'm looking for a smell. There's something weird here."

"Looking for a smell? You're silly, Maple."

I chuff, ignoring her and rooting around the base of the trunk. The roots here are thick and tangled with the soil. Bushes and ferns cluster close to the tree like a fluffy green tail. My paw slips through where I expect there to be root--into a hole!

"Hah! Found it!" I proclaim.

Before Poppy can bother me with her silly comments I dive into the opening at the base of the big tree. It's a burrow, but smooth and made from wood. The wood is not made from tree. It's different, denser wood. Thank Father it isn't too smooth or slippery, so I can still grip onto it with my claws.

The darkness doesn't bother me as I use my nose and my paws to navigate the perfectly wildkin sized passage. It winds down and left and right, before twisting up. I can smell all kinds of strange scents now, not just the weird one. There's different tree and grass smells coming from up ahead.

Stopping, I rub my paws along the wood. There's two ways to go here. The air moves down and up. I lift my head a bit and sniff the air carefully. I'm sure I can find the source of the funny smell if I just pay attention-

Thump!

I'm knocked forward by something, and I hear an annoyingly familiar little squeal as I tumble forward and down the bottom passage of the burrow. The smooth wood makes it easy to pick up speed, sliding along like a leaf in the wind. The sound of squeaking cries and scrabbling of too many claws tells me I'm not the only one who fell.

Suddenly I stop sliding, my butt thumping against the bottom of the burrow. I don't get my bearings in time to avoid Poppy landing butt first on top of me.

"Ugh, Poppy! Why'd you go and do that?"

Poppy whines like a newborn babe, crying out as she squirms atop me. How much does this stupid girl eat? She weighs a ton! I groan and try to calm her down with soft words.

"Poppy, calm down, it's okay."

"W-Where are we? It's dark! I'm scared!"

"We're in a burrow. And it's not that dark, look, there's sunlight."

Finally calming down enough to stop wailing like a child, Poppy rubs her eyes with her paws and takes notice of the faint glow of sunlight coming from around the bend in the burrow. She climbs off me and through the burrow toward the light. Sighing, I follow her up.

Poppy's butt is blocking half the burrow's exit. I squeeze beside her, peering out into the sunlit wilderness. We're not in Wildwood anymore. The trees here are so much smaller, and their roots are so twisted they resemble a matted fur coat. The air smells a bit different.

"Woah! So this is what you were talking about, Maple!"

Before I can reply Poppy is bounding away from me and around the trees. She's giggling as she dashes up to the top of a tree before scampering back down to the ground. Apparently the small trees are something to be excited about.

"This isn't what I was smelling!"

With a rather sudden thump, Poppy falls out of the tree she was just clambering on. She looks at me with shock.

"What? How can that be? This place is really different!"

"Yes, but I smelled something even more different. Something big."

Poppy gives the strangely small forest a furtive look before approaching me. She steps past me and ducks her head into the hidden burrow we came through. She turns to look at me, her face barely visible with her bushy tail in the way.

"What are you waiting for, Maple?"

"I'm not waiting for anything. I just want to know where you think you're going."

"With you! We're finding the source of that funny smell, aren't we?"

Groaning, I trudge my way to the burrow and climb in. Poppy giggles at me as if something about the situation is funny. I don't mind her nonsense, and use my claws to climb up the wooden passage hidden beneath the tree. The winding tunnel isn't so bad when you're not sliding down uncontrollably.

Soon I feel the tunnel split. We're back at the cross road. Naturally I follow the funny smell up, ignoring the way back to the Wildwood. I can hear Poppy cry out from somewhere beneath me. She's always so fussy.

"Wait, Maple! Don't go so fast!"

"I'm right ahead of you. Keep climbing."

I don't bother looking down through the darkness or waiting for her. My tail twitches as the scent grows stronger the further I go. Soon the soft glow of sunlight starts to illuminate the smooth wood walls of the passage. Strange sounds that aren't quite right reach my ears--birdsong, but distant.

My eyes widen as I finally exit the narrow burrow and see the source of the strange smell. Trees, but not like the kind I'm used to. The highbark trees in Wildwood look like twigs compared to what I'm seeing. I rub my eyes with my paws, blinking in an attempt to double check what I'm seeing isn't something I imagined.

No, they're real. Trees bigger than anything I've ever seen.

The quiet scratching of claws behind me pulls me out of my stupor. Poppy is there, her own eyes wide as she sees what we've stumbled across. Now that I've stopped gawking I finally realize where we're standing. The burrow lets out into a ledge made of wood. I lick my lips, inching closer to the edge as I look down. Sure enough, there is an unmistakable trunk below. We're currently on one of these huge trees.

"This is beautiful..."

Poppy's sudden comment startles me, and I scurry back to the safer part of the ledge. She doesn't look anywhere near as concerned as I. She walks right up to the edge and without missing a beat she starts climbing down it with her claws. The sight of her bushy tail swaying around is the only way I know she's still there and not at the bottom of that pit.

"Woah! This tree is so huge, Maple!"

I tuck myself back into the opening of the burrow. My claws absentmindedly scratch at the wood beneath my paw. I don't respond to Poppy, and that only makes her more interested in what I might have to say.

"Maple?"

She pokes her head back above the ledge, eyeing me as casually as if she was standing on solid ground. I give her a narrow eyed glare. She doesn't take the hint, instead inching closer until she's right in front of me. She puts her paw on my shoulder.

"Are you afraid of heights, Maple?"

"No! I'm not afraid."

Quiet falls between us. The sound of birds flying someplace higher up, and a surprisingly gentle breeze tickle my ears. Poppy sits beside me with her feet wiggling distractingly. She's clearly wanting to go explore, to move and climb like wildkin should.

"You know, Maple, it is okay to be afraid."

I turn my head away from her. Who is she to lecture me on things? She's the one who acts like a baby, despite being a few hours old. We even got a special boost from Father. We're basically adults at this point.

"I'm not afraid of heights, just, of falling."

"Well, I think everyone is afraid of falling! Even me!"

"Then how can you climb around like that? What if you slip?"

Poppy shrugs. How unhelpful she is, as always. I bury my head in my paws out of shame. To be outdone in courage by such a dopey girl is embarrassing. Poppy doesn't seem to understand my anguish. She nudges me, grinning from ear to ear.

"Come on, Maple. You're a smart girl, you know Father wouldn't let us fall from too high."

Is she being serious? Father nags us for running off or climbing too high. He can't magically protect us if we go off alone like this to explore. Father isn't even here right now. There's no way for him to come here since the burrow is too small.

"You're awfully daft, Poppy."

The twinge of someone biting my arm makes me jolt. Poppy glares at me, and I avert my eyes. She may be annoying, but calling her dumb was probably too far. I should apologize-

When I look back at Poppy she's gone. All I see is a flash of fluffy brown fur vanishing over the edge. Has she fallen?!

"Poppy! No!"

I leap forward with my arms outstretched. The scrape of my claws catching on the wood makes my hairs stand on end, but I ignore it for the sake of Poppy. In the next moment I'm sprawled out against the side of the trunk with my claws dug into the wood as firmly as I can manage. The only reason my eyes aren't screwed shut is because I'm worried Poppy might have fallen.

That notion is shattered when I see Poppy calmly staring at me from a little ways down the tree. She looks more surprised than angry, and I feel anger boil in me as I realize I didn't need to come down here to save anyone. She's fine!

"Maple? You okay?"

"No! I'm not okay! I thought you were gonna die!"

Poppy laughs, and I swipe a paw at her in a vain attempt to get out some of my frustrations. The blow completely misses. Naturally I go for it again with my other paw. This fails as Poppy moves to the side, climbing like some kind of super wildkin. I growl in frustration, but that quickly changes to a yelp as I feel my rear claws slip from the wood.

The sickening twisting sensation in my stomach hits me like a hammer to the gut. My arms and legs flail as I start to fall, my fears of dropping from a great height coming true in what I pray is just a waking nightmare.

But no, this is real, no matter how many times I close my eyes it doesn't go away.

I scrape and scratch at the tree as I fall. It hurts, each time I fail to grab on I just tug and twist my own claws in ways I shouldn't. Tears start to stream down my face as the wind whistles in my ears. Maybe I wasn't meant to be a wildkin, maybe this was supposed to-

Whoosh!

A strong wind hits me from below. I don't register what's happening at first, wailing in terror even as the air pushes me upwards. I blink away some tears, shocked at the speed I'm rising. I'm not falling anymore. I'm soaring, like a bird does with wings.

Suddenly that sensation of falling is lost. It's like I'm running on the ground, but with the air. My heart is still beating like crazy even as I see the ledge rapidly approaching. The bushy tail swaying at the ledge has to belong to Poppy.

Shouted words reach my ears as the wind dies down. I'm not gently placed on the ledge, but rather I have to grab and cling to it with all my might. Poppy helps pull me up. Her face is wet with tears, and she's shaking.

I hug her close. The harrowing experience somehow ended without me winding up a pancake. My swirling thoughts slow down as I look past Poppy's shoulder and see a mysterious figure. I almost don't recognize her, as I'm so out of it. It's Grandmother, Father's mother.

"G-Grandmother!"

Ripping myself from Poppy, I stand up straight and do my best to wipe away my tears. Grandmother's face is partly obscured by her hood. All I see is her mouth. It doesn't wear a scowl, not a smile, but rather a sad looking frown.

"G-Grandma?"

Poppy has turned and looks just as alarmed as I am. Part of me wonders how she even got through the burrow, she doesn't have any claws as far as I know. Grandmother is mysterious. Perhaps she can do things I don't understand.

"Relax, wildkin. I am not here to harry you."

"W-We're sorry! I smelled something interesting, and followed it here, we'll go back!"

Grandmother shakes her head. I feel like I'm falling again, fearing she's going to punish us somehow. I don't know what kind of punishment such a scary being would give. Surely she wouldn't kill us, right?

"Please, calm down. This is your home. Or at least it was meant to be, but I see you may not be comfortable here... I'm sorry, Wildkin."

Poppy and I both take a few moments to process Grandmother's words. She made this place for us? To live in? Why would Grandmother give us such a huge place to live in? Poppy is the one to speak up, instead of me.

"We can live here, but only if everyone gets to. Even Father!"

Grandmother looks a bit confused. She holds a hand to her lips in contemplation, before looking past us. She gestures toward where the ledge curves upwards and around the trunk of the massive tree we're perched on.

"Have you visited the rooms? You might like them better than out here."

"There are rooms?"

Poppy and I look at each other before cautiously moving up the ledge. As it rises things grow different, instead of a barren cliff it looks more like a home carved into a tree. There are small spaces hollowed out of the tree. Rounded openings into the wood that hold nothing but empty space. They're just rooms, burrows of a kind.

"I'm sorry for not being more accommodating. I was going to allow you and your kin to build and shape the place to your liking, but I was presumptuous."

I exchange a look with Poppy. This place isn't so bad, and I think she feels the same.

"I had planned to let you choose a name for the level as well. You can still name it if you want."

Poppy lights up at the offer. The sadness and fear she was experiencing earlier is completely forgotten as she perks up, her tail getting fluffed up with eager enthusiasm. Grandmother's mouth opens slightly in surprise as Poppy flips like a coin.

"Oh! Name it Maple! After Maple!"

"Poppy! No, that's a terrible name for a place!"

Grandmother raises her hand and both of us shut our mouths. She has a rather kind smile now, and we let her speak. Something about her presence just feels too important to ignore.

"How about Maple Weald? That's a good name for a forest."

Poppy is ecstatic. I don't have the heart to argue with it, and so I begrudgingly nod my head.

"Wonderful. Any thoughts on what home you would like instead of this place?"

Shaking our heads, we give Grandmother a rather shy look. Despite nearly falling to my death I don't hate this place. The wind saved me, so even if I fall I know I won't die here. The scent of the tree and what lies within it is also too enticing to ignore. The burrows in the walls are perfectly sized, and I can imagine filling it with things I like.

"We'd like to live here, Grandmother!"