Cave Explorer - Marion makes adventures for herself

      Now that Marion knew the location of the islands main festivals, she constantly walked over to check out what the locals were celebrating. She didn't often talk to anyone, but she had a great time hanging out there and learning the culture, and participating in non social ways.

        Her absolute favorite thing to participate in is the fire dance, she is so glad that Mele taught her so many tricks. She''s really gotten good at it. 

 

    Mele often will go with her to do the social parts, she's been a good friend to Marion.

    It's not the main thing that Marion has been doing in Sulani though, far from it. She has continued to trek back to the cave she found and explore its depths. She's trying to map the interior so that she knows her way around inside. If she can learn which path leads to what grotto or dead end, she can figure out where she hasn't explored, and since she saw the mermaid there, it's clearly a cave that holds secrets.

    Nalani hadn't told her one way or the other whether she had been the mermaid Marion had heard singing in the cave the day she had stumbled upon them. She had changed the subject, so smoothly, that Marion hadn't noticed until much later when she was thinking back on her discovery of a real life mermaid that was a friend. Now, she was determined to catch Nalani again. It had to be her!

    There was definitely other mermaids around that she hadn't found yet, but the way that Nalani had deflected her question so smoothly, it had to be her. It had to be. Her voice had been so gorgeous. The mermaid she remembered seeing in her groggy memory of that moment in the cave had been gorgeous. Nalani was gorgeous... it all made sense. 

    Like all of her beliefs, she just needed something to prove them!

 A Collection of Shells

Trekking through the island's cavern, Marion spotted a large pile of debris and seashells. 

With little pause, she rummaged through the collection of objects for the perfect souvenir for her adventure before a sharp pain halted her hunt.

Dangling from her hand was a large crab whom called this debris home, its claw clamped tightly on to Marion's finger. After several attempts and a few tears, Marion was able to oust the offending crustacean from its prize and leave before the crab found something else to clamp onto.

    One day she stumbled upon a the home of a crab that caught her by surprise and latched on to her finger. She had to go home to nurse it, but she quickly returned. She wasn't going to be turned away by a small injury. Though she did start packing a first aid kid in her adventure bag to carry with her after that little run in.

 

Glow Worms

Marion was exploring an undocumented section of the cave when she came upon a beautiful sight, though unsettling to some. Thousands of glowing larva covered the walls of this hidden grotto.

Watching where she stepped, Marion took in the strange glamor of the bio-luminescent display before continuing her exploration. 

     Another day her discovery was that of a room filled with glow worms. She sat in that room for hours, mesmerized by their bio-luminescent glow. It was beautiful, and she found herself lulled into some moments of peace looking at it all. Almost a deep meditation or a trance like state. It was a probably much needed moment of slow down from her over enthusiastic hunting for clues of mermaids.

 Bat Colony

Roosting above Marion's head, a colony of bats was resting in a tight group.

Careful not to wake them, Marion spied on the colony, realizing bats could be quite cute when not swarming around. 

        Yet another day, Marion came across a room of bats that she was able to sit and watch for awhile. They were really cute when they were sleeping like that all bundled up together on the ceiling. She watched them for a little while until she noticed them starting to stir, and she realized the time. She quickly moved outside to get out of the way as the sun began to set and the bats began to stir and wake up for meal time.

     It was to good of an opportunity not to pass up though, a beautiful sunset provided the perfect glow for some great selfies.

    Wait?

    Was it just her imagination, or had the mural changed a little bit since she last saw it when exploring the caves?

    She looked at it closely. She was sure it had looked different before... Hadn't it? If only she had taken another picture!!!

    She was distracted from the mural when she heard the noise behind her, hundreds of bats burst from the gave and swarmed into the air to begin their hunt for their nightly meal. It was a beautiful sight that felt like a once in a lifetime special memory. Though... if she was here at this time every day, she could probably see it again, and again. It wouldn't get old, it was magical to behold.

(If you have never seen this in person, or even in a video I highly suggest looking it up. It's amazing. Where I first really saw it and was impressed by it was in one of Josh Gate's shows where he was hunting for a Monster Bat. I wish I could remember which show, and which country. But the clip in the episode of the millions of bats coming out of the caves was truly breathtaking. I would love to see it in person if I wasn't scared of everything.)

    Marion decided to head back inside now that the bats had cleared out of the cave and were off feasting in the skies. As she wandered, she once again found the grotto from before. Nalani was sitting at the edge of the water, quietly humming to herself. Her tail slowly moving up and down in the water making little flashes.

    "Nalani! I knew it had been you singing that day!"

    "Hi Marion, yes it was me, I was wondering when you would show up again. Shall we talk?"