Flutter Dash's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Flutter Dash circled the clearing for the third time that morning. She couldn't watch every approach at once. Hawks had been hunting closer to the forest lately, and the rabbits beneath the pines needed protection they didn't even know to ask for. The observation tower stood at the forest's edge, its panels glinting in the weak tundra sun. From its upper platform, she could scan the northern and western sky, but the eastern ridgeline remained a blind spot. She landed on the railing and tucked her wings tight. The wind carried no warning sounds, only silence that could mean safety or ambush. She'd found the old radio in an abandoned ranger station last winter. Now it sat below the tower, modified to pick up motion instead of music. When shadows crossed its sensor field from the east, a small amber light on top would pulse. No sound. No alarm to scatter the rabbits into panicked runs that made them easier prey. Just light she could see from her perch. The light flickered once, then held steady amber. Flutter Dash launched without hesitation, angling toward the ridgeline. Below her, a rabbit paused mid-hop near a cluster of stones marked by a thin beam of red light—the shelter she'd shown them yesterday. The rabbit hopped toward it as she climbed higher. The system worked. She could protect what she couldn't always see.