<div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/KnfrIGL.jpg)</div><strong>Wise Old Elephant</strong>(She/Her)<br/><strong>Time:</strong><em>Year 1, Thaw</em><br/><strong>Tags:</strong><em>Happy Little Spirits!</em><br/><strong>Actions:</strong><em>Taking Babies on a Tour!</em><br/><br/><hr/><br/>The wise old elephant and her grandbabies walk here and there and all over the happy island on their journey to see all of the favorite spots!<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Big Map!</div><div class="spoiler_body">(https://i.imgur.com/EJ0LGYn.png)</div></div><br/><br/>They start on the far west side of the island, visiting their first stop - the<strong>Sunflower Grove!</strong>A wonderful expanse of sunflowers and butterflies! The babies are delighted! They love the butterflies! They chase them about with their little noses held high in the air, trunks flopping about as they haven't quite figured out how to use them yet!<br/><br/>"It gets better!?" The babies can't believe their floppy ears! More and more butterflies will come here! They trumpet for joy and beg the wise old elephant to let them come back again and again. With a smile she agrees, standing there still and quiet as her grandbabies show all the joy in the world for what they've been shown!<br/><br/>She thanks the spirit for showing the babies the beautiful flowers, and the place to come see butterflies all summer! The babies do not want to leave, and so the herd lingers here for quite some time.<br/><br/>. . .<br/><br/>Next the elephants walk into the forested hills and are shown a very mysterious thing! A<strong>Wishing Well!</strong>There is nothing else quite like this on the whole island! Who built this? Nobody seems to know! The elephants didn't even know it was here!<br/><br/>The babies listen with wide eyes, a little scared of this fantastic thing and its strange magic, as the happy spirit explains it. They take the bright stones gingerly in their clumsy trunks and carefully follow the instructions.<br/><br/>"I wish for sunflowers and butterflies!" The first one says, quite eager, quite excited, and not quite grasping how wishes work.<br/><br/>"I wish for bananas!" The second one says happily!<br/><br/>"I wish for grandma to take us out in the island every day!" The third one says happily, flapping their ears in joy at the thought.<br/><br/>The Wise Old Elephant smiles a bittersweet smile. "Oh my precious ones." She says, touching each with her trunk. "Some wishes are easy to grant." She touches the first two babies. "But not everything is possible." Her trunk lingers on the third, sadly, for a moment. Then the elephant picks up a stone of her own and drops it in.<br/><br/>"My wish is for the happy spirits to come and meet me on a special day."<br/><br/>"A special day?!?" The babies say excitedly. "When is it? What will you do?"<br/><br/>"Soon." The elephant promises. "And perhaps you will see! But for now, we must be along, we have other places to visit!" The elephant thanks the happy spirit and the young ones trek on.<br/><br/>. . .<br/><br/>The elephants walk south, out of the forest and into the grasslands again. As it is getting dark they come upon the<strong>Shimmering Tide</strong>.<br/><br/>"Oh what a lovely sight." The Wise Old Elephant says softly. "I'm so glad I got to see it before - " her voice trails off.<br/><br/>"Before what grandma?" A baby asks innocently.<br/><br/>"Before you should have been in bed." She jokes.<br/><br/>"Can we play in it?" Another asks, while the third has already scampered off to do exactly that!<br/><br/>Soon the babies are splashing in the shimmering water, trumpeting in joy as their grey skin shimmers with the glowing water being splashed all over it.<br/><br/>"Thank you little spirit." The Wise Old Elephant says, watching from the shore. "This is the most they've ever enjoyed bath time."<br/><br/>After some time the elephants are indeed worn out from their long days of roaming about the island, and the elephant tells them they will spend the night here, lulled to sleep by the gentle waves and the shimmer of the tides. Then, the next morning, it is time to move on.<br/><br/>. . .<br/><br/>Along the coast the elephants walk until they reach the<strong>Prismatic Springs</strong>.<br/><br/>"Ah, a nice and warm place to relax." The Wise Old Elephant is grateful, lowering her cold and tired old bones into the water with a peaceful sigh.<br/><br/>"Ooooh pretty colors!" The babies say! They splash about trying to find the most colorful spots! As the babies splash and play about, the spirit brings a wonderful apple to their grandmother.<br/><br/>"Why thank you little one." The elephant takes the apple happily, eating it in one big bite, crunching on the juicy and delicious fruit. It is perfect snack while relaxing in the hot water! "This is just what I needed. I fear the next part of the journey will be the hardest for me. But thanks to your wonderful spring, I will be able to walk up the mountain with my grandchildren at least once more." An old trunk pulls the spirit in for a quick hug. "Thank you."<br/><br/>. . .<br/><br/>The trek up to the<strong>Tip Top Peak</strong>of the mountain at the middle of the island is indeed hard on the old elephant. Some of the paths are steep, and not meant for one of her size, or her age. Yet she soldiers on, knowing that her little ones must see all of the favorite spots, and that the spirit up here insist this is the bestest of them all! Thankfully, between the relaxing soak in hot water and the spirit showing them the easiest of paths, the Wise Old Elephant indeed makes it to the top with the babies, who scamper about so much playing in the snow the whole way up!<br/><br/>The baby elephants are stunned at the sight! They gaze with slack jaws and wide eyes at the view from the peak, seeing the whole island out below them in every which way.<br/><br/>"I can see the butterflies!" The first one says with joy, looking back east at the sunflowers they love so much.<br/><br/>"I can see a cloud!" The second one says, looking up, earning a chuckle from the Wise Old Elephant.<br/><br/>"I can see...." the third baby elephant squints looking to the east, "...I'm not sure what I see!" But as much as the baby elephant tries to point what they are looking at to the others, far, far out in the water, but the Wise Old Elephant cannot quite see as far as the youthful eyes of the baby. The young one tries to describe and talk about something strange, something never seen before, a bunch of trunks all tied together and some trees and leaves in a funny shape? How very strange!<br/><br/>But then it was time for rideymathings!!!<br/><br/>The baby elephants have the time of their life sledding down the mountainside, while the Wise Old Elephant tries not to look too worried about how fast they are going on the rideymathings! She plods down the mountain at her own slower pace, which gives the babies and the spirit plenty of time to run back up to the top and slide down again! And again! And again! And then finally the Wise Old Elephant has gingerly and carefully made her way down the steep and twisty mountain paths, and it is time to move on through the forest.<br/><br/>. . .<br/><br/>And past the forest into the grassland again, where the family came upon the<strong>Natural Terrace!</strong><br/><br/>The happy spirit had many places to show them! And the little elephants scurried all about, sampling all of the wonderful things that grew here, or at least the shoots and early growths for some! They listened intently as their mother talked of what all could grow in a lovely natural little terrace like this, and they chased the happy spirit about from spot to spot as they showed the babies all their favorite little places!<br/><br/>They stayed until the evening, watching the fireflies, curling up and sleeping all together in one pachyderm-y pile of happy elephants!<br/><br/>In the morning, they moved on.<br/><br/>. . .<br/><br/>They walk a little farther south to the<strong>Field of Wildflowers!</strong><br/><br/>This special place has many flowers blooming already, thanks to its wide variety of flowers, there are some blooming all year long!<br/><br/>The kindly old elephant smiles at the spirit resting on her tusk. "Hello little one!" She says sweetly, as her babies play about in the flowers, one looking about for butterflies.<br/><br/>It smelled so wonderful here! The babies rolled about in the more fragrant blooms, gathering the scent of the flowers on their little elephant hides! "I smell best!" One declared. "No me!" And soon grandma and the spirit were being asked to resolve this most serious of disputes before the babies got distracted trying to figure out which color flower tastes best!<br/><br/>For some time they played here until the Wise Old Elephant beckoned them away. "Come little ones, we have one more place to see."<br/><br/>. . .<br/><br/>And finally they arrived on the opposite end of the island from where they had started two days ago, looking out to sea from the<strong>Moonrise Outcrop</strong>.<br/><br/>As the babies play about in the grass, the Wise Old Elephants stand on the clifftop, looking out to sea, listening to the song of the great beasts of the waves.<br/><br/>"This is a peaceful, beautiful place, thank you little spirit." She says with gratitude.<br/><br/>As the night falls, the moon rises, and the elephants watch with great interest as the little spirit tries to hug it!<br/><br/>"You can do it! Hug more!" The little ones encourage, wrapping their trunks around the spirit as of it lend him the power of their hugs to increase his hugging range! It does not work of course, but they very much believe!<br/><br/>The Wise Old Elephant watches with approval, a slow smile on her old face. "What a delightful thing. My friend I think you have convinced me that the time will soon be right. Gather all of your friends, the happy spirits, bring them here to me when the moon has risen ten more times. And thank them all for showing me and my grandbabies the very best places on this wonderful island!"