Shadows of the Dark Crystal

Chapter 1
 

The visitor appeared in the early morning, before the Great Sun had reached its summit in the pale blue sky.  
Naia watched from the cooler canopy of the great tangled apeknot trees. At first, she put her hand to her rock-and-rope bola, but paused when the visitor hesitated to shed her cloak, which was heavy with mud and algae. Beneath the hood, Naia saw a stern-faced Gelfling woman with long silver hair. What was a Vapra doing so deep in the Swamp of Sog? It was peculiar maybe even suspicious yet Naia felt no fearful quickening of her heart, and her hand dropped away from her bola. All around, the Swamp of Sog stretched and yawned for morning, the droning of buzzers and chirruping of climbers crik-criking in harmony with the great song of the world. Watching the visitor, Naia took a sour alfen fruit from her waist-pouch and munched on it in thought.
 
She must have come a long way, Naia murmured. Her companion, Neech, coiled in her vine-like hair, gave only a quiet burble in response, burying his head further in her dreadlocks. As the visitor resumed her journey, Naia balanced the alfen fruit s smooth knuckle-size pit between two ridges of apeknot bark. A quick flick of her finger sent the pit tumbling down through the spirals and twists of the tree s bark, disappearing into the depths of the gnarled trees. Then she followed, another flicker within the kaleidoscope of canopy shadows.
 
The stranger spent the afternoon traveling toward the heart of the swamp. Once or twice, Naia thought about running ahead to alert her village, but she worried she might lose the visitor to quicksand or any number of hungry swamp creatures. An alternative would be to make herself known and offer help, but strangers were called strange for a reason. Confronting an outsider in the depths of the swamp might be just as dangerous to Naia as a swamp creature might be to the Vapra.
 
What would have taken Naia a few hours on her

J. M. Lee; illustrated by Brian Froud