#ttsb

It was warm. A bit too warm, and humid as well. The feeling of wet sandpaper on his cheek and a twittering in his ear.

As Ren opened his eyes, he was greeted by the big green eyes of the ocelot, who was currently licking his face. Startled by the movement, the small cat retreated back a bit before settling down to watch. As he sat up, Ren saw his new bird friend on the shoulder of a woman—or at least he thought she was a woman, for she glowed a vibrant green. There was something strikingly familiar about her, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

Oh good, she said, you're finally awake.

"Do I know you from somewhere? Because it certainly feels like I do."

 Yes! Although you may not know that you know; if that makes any sense.

"No, that doesn't really." Ren stopped, then said, "Wait, you aren't an Element, are you?"

A good observation! Or was it a lucky guess? the woman asked.

"Well, with all the things going on recently," he said, "It wasn't that hard."

The woman sighed, absent-mindedly stroking the ocelot. Ah, yes. The goings-on. My siblings haven't behaved very well. After the near-annihilation of one of your friends, we decided to step in and guide you hermits. Annoyed, she said, Frankly I thought we should have done that months ago, but I was overruled.

"Wait, one of my friends was almost annihilated? When did that happen?" The bird twittered, adding her own concern to Ren's question.

 I don't believe that is why we're here. I am Life, and I have chosen you as my avatar.

Ren was glad he was still sitting; after seeing the experiences of the other avatars, he wasn't too enthusiastic about being one himself. Life must have noticed his subdued reaction, because her next words were ones of reassurance.

I am aware that your experience and knowledge about this whole thing isn't the most positive, but you must know that is not the norm. We Elements need to build positive relations with you hermits, both for your sake and our own. The ocelot leapt from her lap and started to explore. Life watched him for a bit before turning back to Ren. You and I are connected. If anything were to happen to either of us, the other would feel it as well.

"That sounds...ominous."

It may seem so, but it ensures we work together. Life stood up and held out a hand.  Are you ready for that walk?

After a moment, Ren took her offered hand. "Now that I've had a moment to chill, I think I am."

 Good. I have something to show you.

"I just hope it isn't something too—" Ren didn't get to finish, he was too busy processing the scenery change. One moment they were were walking through the jungle, the next they were floating above the Iron Titan. Life gave him a few moments before bringing him to the next location; the inner workings of a slime farm. And so it went. She would bring him to different locations around the world; a villager breeder here, a wool farm there. Even his own tree farm.

Ren realized Life was showing him how he and his friends interacted not only with the animals, but with life on the world in general. Almost as soon as he made that connection, they returned to the jungle. The bird was waiting for them and didn't waste time lighting on his shoulder. The ocelot was nowhere to be found.

Watching you all come up with different and interesting ways to interact with my domain is always entertaining, Life said. Her wistful expression turned solemn. But there is a rumbling in the forests, a murmur in the seas, a whisper on the winds. Living things all over grow restless, and I am not capable of addressing their worries on my own.

"I'm guessing this is where I come in?" Ren asked, stroking the bird on his shoulder.

Very good! I promise it won't be difficult, just concerns the living have. Things important to them, even if they don't seem so to you. Life turned to Ren before continuing. If anything they find is concerning to you as well, then I ask you to tell me. The bigger worries, we would need to tackle together.

"Ok, I think I can do that." Ren sounded more confident than he felt.

 There is one more thing I should tell you about...

When Ren said he was off to find a jungle, no one questioned it. When he failed to return after several hours, a few hermits became concerned. When he failed to answer his coms, that's when Xisuma asked Iskall to look for him.

Iskall, having just finished recovering from his and Python's Nether escapade, just gave him a look before flying off. It wasn't that Iskall didn't want to look for Ren; it was more the location. Warm and humid was worse than hot and dry in his book.

So here he was, making his way through the jungle Ren had gone to, slipping into his diamond sense every once and a while. At least the search wasn't deathly boring; Diamond poked his voice into Iskall's head every so often to "keep him company". It wasn't the best company, but the Element was trying.

A flash of yellow caught Iskall's attention before he realized it was an ocelot. He'd seen three others during his search and they had all, predictably, run away. But—

There it was again!

It was staring at him with an unnerving intensity. It turned, as if to flee, but then stopped and looked back.

 I think it wants you to follow.

Iskall started as Diamond's voice broke the silence of the jungle.

"Dude! Don't do that! You scared the life out of me!" Iskall leaned against a tree, calming his beating heart.

 Apologies! I keep forgetting how weird this all is.

The ocelot, momentarily startled, was still watching him. Its body language was so blatant, Iskall had to agree with Diamond; the ocelot wanted him to follow. So he sighed, and did just that.

The ocelot led Iskall through a flower forest, two plains, and a savannah. They were in the midst of a roofed forest when he started to get the feeling the jungle cat wasn't really leading him anywhere. It was a massive roofed forest, larger than any he remembered seeing. Deeper and deeper the ocelot ran, yellow fur starkly out of place. Further and further Iskall followed the cat—

Until it stopped, hissed, and vanished up a tree.

Now thoroughly frustrated and confused, Iskall just wanted to go home. He checked his comms; maybe Ren had made his way back already.

Nope. Nothing.

Confusion turning into concern, he checked his coordinates. The numbers were flickering. Iskall sighed. He'd experienced this before; go too far in one direction, things started to get a little weird. Still, the ocelot had led him in a straight line; it would be trivial to retrace his steps.

First, he had to make a shelter. The sun was setting fast and mobs would start finding him. Scanning the depths of the forest, Iskall froze.

Sniffing at the ground, fifty feet away, was a massive brown wolf.

At the same time he saw the wolf, the wolf saw him.

Ears pricked, it started bounding towards him only to be stopped in its tracks by a glittering diamond glave. Tail between its legs, it took a few steps back.

Iskall knew he shouldn't try to fight something of this size, but something was keeping his feet nailed to the ground.

Breaking the impasse, the wolf made a few tentative bows, tail wagging high; a behavior Iskall actually recognized from whenever Hercules tried to get him or Venus to play. Iskall carefully lowered his glave. Was this wolf really trying to get him to play with it?

Ever so carefully, the wolf started to edge closer and closer, enough so Iskall could see it was easily the size of a horse. And this horse-sized wolf was now butting his shoulder.

As Iskall reached up to touch its muzzle, he breathed, "What are you?"

At this, the wolf pricked its ears and turned away to sniff at the ground. Iskall watched in disbelief as it grabbed a large stick in its jaws and began to carve into the ground. The lines were shakey, but soon an R became apparent. After four quick strikes for an E, he started to get a suspicion about what the wolf was getting at. A few more strikes and his suspicions were confirmed.

Iskall was now thoroughly fascinated. "Ren?"

The wolf dropped the stick and bounded around in circles, something Venus and Hercules did when they were indescribably happy. Then it– no, he came up and bumped his nose into Iskall's shoulder again, staring into his eye. Asking a question.

"Yeah yeah," Iskall said, gently pushing Ren's muzzle away. "Let's go home."