Mist enveloped the wisps and they floated together towards the riverbank. Fusing together, they took the form of a stag, glowing bright. The ethereal creature stood in the clearing as the symphony of nature's sounds crescendoed. Just as quickly as the stag formed, it dissipated, scattering the wisps and mist where it once stood.

Such was the fleeting nature of the magical forest.

Does water speak? Do trees listen? Can the moon show you its past? If they did, would you be there to meet them?

I was. But it was not water or trees or even the moon that chose to speak to me. It was a star. A star that fell from the sky and landed in the shape of a deer. And like all things fallen, it was not who it was created to be. Stars watch they do not talk, but this one did as we walked through a forest path. It told me of things it had seen, people born and past, battles won and lost, time forgotten, all as we passed in silence over the leaves that I scarcely noticed were there. It spoke of deeds good and ill, loves enduring and painful beyond tears. It spoke of horizons unseen by mortals below, of possibilities only known in the sky. It spoke of eternity.

As I listened, I saw it clearly as if before me, a million twinkling brothers and sisters, a view throughout time. The forest was forgotten, I was no longer on my path. I was following the star as it rose, still talking its sweet talk, fading, changing. I was becoming light, joining into the world above. I wanted never to leave. I became fixed in my place, my eyes opened to the world underneath as never before.

But then I heard a cry from down below. A voice I recognized as my own. Dropping my gaze, I saw myself standing alone in that forest path, the deer walking serenely from me. In despair my body cried, devoid of all light it once had, fading into mortal death, "Who would trust a fallen star?"