Auni's Notes

Auni's Notes

Grandpa Moley and his family live in a cave deep in Moleyvalley. It's damp and smells like old tree roots. Life there was peaceful and serene before the noisy "big guys" dragged their metal to the gorge. When night falls and the big guys leave, the Moley family comes out from their cave and scavenges for food or frolics with the Moonglow Fireflies. Little Lil' Moley loves the moon even more than Lakkaberries and Moonglow Fireflies. The moon over Moleyvalley shines big and bright like a huge white plate in the sky. (Jurva says that Sniffer Moles have poor eyesight but powerful noses and sensitive ears. Perhaps Little Lil' Moley can smell the moon, even from so far away — maybe it's as fragrant as the sweetest of Lakkaberries...) On nights when the moon is particularly bright, she can make out a few shadowless moles drifting in the moonlight, like smoke blowing in the wind. They talk to each other, but never let Little Lil' Moley join in. It's as if they can't even see her. Maybe it's because Little Lil' Moley still has her shadow. She's heard that mysterious groups have their own secret rules (like the Hollowhands) — maybe she needs to be introduced by a shadowless mole, or complete some sort of arcane ritual, before she can do more than just listen from the sidelines. Though, as far as Little Lil' Moley is concerned, even just listening to them speak is engrossing. One of the Sniffer Moles comes from far away. It seems he doesn't have a home, and so he can rest his head anywhere he chooses. He claims to have been to snow-capped mountains, passed through sandy deserts, climbed towering peaks, and walked along the bottom of the deepest oceans. "Do those places have fresh Lakkaberries?" one of the local moles asked. "As far as I know, they don't. But they have many other delicacies." Upon hearing his response, the local mole scrunched up his face — it appears he likes Lakkaberries quite a lot. Little Lil' Moley loves Lakkaberries too, but she also wants to know if she'll like the other delicacies the shadowless mole mentioned. She left Moleyvalley once before to go on her own adventure, burrowing into the soil for a long, long time to reach a place full of big guys. She went at night, and there was so much noise and so many lights that she could barely follow the direction of the moon. She smelled many smells there, though most of them were unpleasant. Eventually, she followed the familiar scent of Lakkaberries to a place piled high with fruit, including many types she had never seen before. They smelled delicious. She hoped she might take some with her — just a few would do — but luck wasn't shining on her that day. Sometimes that's just how things are. When she returned to Moleyvalley, she found that everyone had been worried about her. They were shocked to hear she had traveled so far away. Wasn't life in Moleyvalley perfect? Why would she want to go anywhere else? So Little Lil' Moley told them what she had heard from the shadowless moles. "How could there be moles with no shadows? You must have been dreaming." Her brother, Lil' Moley, said in disbelief. He didn't approve of his little sister leaving the valley, and neither did anyone else — for them, after all, there could be no fruit in this world as delectable as fresh Lakkaberries. If she didn't see the shadowless moles the next time the moon shone bright, she would accept that this was all just a dream. After all, Little Lil' Moley was perfectly content with life in Moleyvalley. But the next time that huge white plate rose in the sky, the shadowless moles rose with it, repeating their conversations from before. Since this was no dream, it must be guidance from the moon. Little Lil' Moley was overjoyed. Beneath that radiant moon, she once again set out alone, leaving Moleyvalley behind, though this time, she did not know when she would return — for who could say if she would find something even more scrumptious than fresh Lakkaberries in the snowy mountains, sandy deserts, or wherever else she might end up.