
Blue skies this morning, cloudless and sharp, the color intense enough to cut. Maybe it was an odd metaphor for the sky, but that was how it felt. He'd slipped out for a breath of air in a quiet moment, enjoying a sudden burst of solitude -- no one was around, this close to the edge of the village, this far from the centers of habitation, and he liked it that way.
He turned away from his contemplation of the sky, watching the edges of the trees that had yet to start budding properly, still winter as far as they were concerned. Good for them. The trees that budded too early suffered for their preciptiousness. Timing was everything. Wait too long and they missed out, move forward too soon and their blossoms died in late frosts. Such was life. Although he did pity the trees a little - they had no intelligence to calculate their timing, and nature could be cruelly deceptive.
Ah, well. The strong survived.
His attention was caught by the rattling sound of a piece of paper blown by the wind, and by reflex he caught it as it twisted by him. Thick paper, obviously of good quality, and simple words in a dark, dry blood-brown.
You are a monster.
The words were... well, unsurprising. Of course he was a monster. It was the method of delivery that concerned him more; he'd not sensed anyone nearby. Still holding the paper, he turned, looking upwind, alert. It couldn't have come from too far away, not with such accuracy...