On treasure
Wisp found a feather bigger than itself and will not be putting it down. That's the whole plan.
Field journal · kept in feather ink
Wisp
$WISP
A small forest spirit who found one perfect feather and calls it treasure. These are the notes of everyone who has almost seen it.
← seen again by the mossy log. still holding it.
Plate I
The specimen, labelled
Spiritus plumiger, the feather-keeper
soft moss, soft light, one very serious feather
- Ears. Two. They curl at the tips like fern fronds coming up in spring.
- Eyes. Big, round, hazel-green. Looks at you sideways, as if it already knows.
- The feather. One. Yellow-green. Held with both hands. Not for trade.
- Fur. Cream and pale pink, very wispy. Hence the name.
- Boots. Brown leather, laced, scuffed. Where it got them: unknown.
Observations
On habitat
Moss, fallen leaves, the warm patch where the sun gets through. Prefers the hour before evening.
On temperament
Small, fuzzy, unbothered. Has been asked to hurry. Did not hurry.
On collecting
Most creatures in the wood keep a pile. Wisp keeps one thing and keeps it well. One feather is enough treasure.
if you find it, don't grab. just walk alongside.
On what people say
Wisp collects one feather at a time and forgets where it put all the others. It tiptoes through the moss in boots two sizes too worn, humming something it heard from a woodpecker once. People say it can hold a feather so still the wind just gives up and goes around it. Mostly it just wants someone to admire the feather, then share a mushroom cap of rainwater.
- Wisp carries a feather for anyone who's forgotten how to float
- Loses one boot every autumn, finds it again by spring
- Soft moss, soft light, one very serious feather
- Wisp's boots have seen more forest than Wisp has told anyone about
- Hello from the mossy patch, feather and all
Pressed in the back pocket
CA