The Moss Creatures Winning Story - Understory Writers (Age 7-10): Finding Tiny by Marley McGeady

Finding Tiny

By Marley McGeady, 10
Dunedin, New Zealand

Longaeva walked through the forest until she reached a big pine tree. 

“Hello,” She muttered. She turned around at the sound of a twig snapping. Bird. She realised. She shook her head and turned back to the big pine. 

“You're still really young, only one thousand, six hundred, and thirty-two years old.” She looked up and sighed. The branches of the tree swayed and some of its leaves blew off like it understood her feelings. 

“Bye,” she said and wandered off. 

Longaeva stopped near a stump, the only part left was the wood above the roots. “What happened?” She asked. “How did you get cut?” 

She looked around, hopeful for an answer, but the wind ruffled distant trees and the birds sang. A branch snapped and the bushes rustled. She spun around and Apodas emerged from the direction of the river. 

“Talking to trees again? Longaeva, they don't talk!” He spat.

She shook her head. “I know, but I like to do it!” She said, some trees rustled and leaves glided onto her head. 

“Well, it will be Spring again, so your branches will sprout with leaves and flowers!” He glanced up at her horns that were long branches. She sighed and nodded. Clonk! 

“What was that?” She looked around and saw a small bird lying on the roots of an oak. 

“A bird!” She gasped, her gaze fixed down on the small creature. Apodas gasped, too. She noticed a wound on the wing and some missing feathers. 

“You're hurt, little one, you can't survive on your own without flight.” She glanced at her friend. 

“Find shelter, it seems like it might rain soon.” He nodded as she glanced up at the dark and cloudy sky. The small bird lifted itself up and chirped, it was obviously in pain. 

“I can't stand to see a bird in pain. It seems to me that you're a… Starling?” She was focusing so hard on the little starling that she didn't realize that Apodas was behind her. 

“Hey-” 

“Woah!” She jumped in fright. 

“Sorry, Pfft. Anyways, I got a little home, take her and please follow me.” He said and waited for her. She glanced at the little starling. 

“Well, we don't have hands, but that's what our abilities are for, right?” A faint glow surrounded the bird and then it was in the air. 

“Great, now come.” He slipped into the bushes and she followed him. They went in zig-zags and passed several cut trees. He stopped near the roots of an old birch tree and there was a little hole underneath one of the roots that was growing out of the ground, and there was one way in. The spacing was perfect for a starling! 

“Right here.” He said as she let the Starling go into the hollow. It chirped in hunger and Longaeva nodded. 

“We need to find food.” She looked around at the ground around them. She brushed some of the soil to find insects. Her best friend seemed to know what she was doing and brushed the ground, too. 

“Here!” She said at last. She picked up a beetle just like she had done with the starling and set it in front of the little bird. 

“Here you go, it's food.” She stared at the starling as its blank eyes fixed on the upturned beetle. 

“Tiny.” Apodas said from behind her. She glanced at him with confusion. 

“Tiny, her name is now Tiny.” He said and she nodded in agreement.

The next day, Longaeva woke up with rain splatters falling onto her. She immediately looked down at the starling. It was crouched down and seemed to be sleeping. She looked around. 

“Apodas?” she sighed. 

“I guess I need to get you some breakfast, Tiny.” Movement caught her attention, she whipped around and faced the trunk of a birch tree. A spider was crawling along it. 

“There, but how do I kill it?” She looked around for something to use until she looked up at a branch and got an idea. The spider was big enough for the tip of a branch to kill it, so she bent her head, thanked the spider and quickly pressed down the branch. She picked it up with a faint purple glow and put the small body in front of Tiny. The noise seemed to wake it up and it pecked the body of the spider and quickly swallowed it and seemed to head back to sleep. The day was rainy so Longaeva wasn't surprised that it wasn't excited to head out. 

“You poor little creature,” she muttered and sighed slowly.

She woke up with a start and realised she'd accidentally fallen asleep! She looked around and knew why she was woken. The sound of a blade slowly cutting down a tree-filled the area. She looked down and Tiny was nowhere to be seen. 

“Tiny!” She impatiently spun around. Panic started to build inside of her. I couldn't have raised a bird only for it to be lost and dead!  She halted as she gazed at multiple humans using sharp blades that dug into the tree's wood. But what caught her attention was a human holding a metal cage and what was in it, a small starling with a wounded wing. 

“Tiny!” Rage started to replace her panic. The humans hadn't noticed her, so it was her chance to use one of her abilities, camouflage. Longaeva focused on her surroundings and the colours, until she blended in with the background. She slid into the bushes and crept her way forward until she was close enough to the human with Tiny that she could spring into action, but sudden fear sparked through her as the person set the cage into a giant truck. 

“Tiny!” She whispered, then an idea came to her head. She lifted a rock and she used it to distract the human. The human quickly turned around and as he was doing that, Longaeva snuck into the truck. Fear and rage filled her up as she saw lots of animals in cages, chirping and snarling as they tried to get out. 

“You guys don't deserve this!” She exclaimed. Her gaze landed on a fox, it was lying down and its ribs showed. It whimpered for help. 

“I'm freeing all of you.” She said with confidence. She used her abilities nature gifted her to burst open the cages. The good thing was that she had closed the door on the back of the truck so no one could see her.

All the cages were open. All the animals were running around, fighting, and doing what they were telling themselves to do. She turned and looked at the truck door. She banged into it, but nothing happened. It was locked! She looked back to all the animals, the fighting had to stop, and it had to be done right now. 

“Stop!” She yelled. No animal paid attention to her, except Tiny. She looked down at Tiny and stood in front of it so no animal could get to it. Longaeva didn't realize that the truck was already on the move but she did see something very bad. 

“They're killing each other!” She said to herself. She tried to push open the door, But all it did was nudge it. She jumped into it, nothing happened except her whole body hurt. She looked through a small gap and tried to open the lock from a distance with her abilities, and finally the door of the truck open. All the animals stopped and looked at the sunlight landing into the back of the truck.  The animals suddenly ran, leapt and flew outside. The cars beeped and humans screamed and yelled. The truck pulled over to the side of the road and she heard doors slam and people talking with loud footsteps. 

“We need to go!” She whispered as she lifted the little starling up and ran. She heard a human yell loudly and footsteps chasing them. She heard the little helpless chirp of Tiny as they hid in the bushes. They watched as the humans ran past them with metal cages, ready to catch any animal. 

She sighed, looked at Tiny, lifted the bird into the air again and started walking.

“It's ok now, we're home.” Longaeva whispered to Tiny as it struggled. She set the small creature in its den and as it crouched down it pecked at a beetle that crawled beside it. She giggled as the little starling ate its food and went to sleep immediately. 

“Good night, little one. Good night, and I will see you tomorrow.”  She murmured and went to sleep next to Tiny. 

Tiny chirped and chirped. It's Spring now, and Tiny can fly. He perched on one of Longaeva's branches that was now full of leaves and flower buds. She glanced at Apodas. 

“Good thing we rescued you, big one.”

About the young writer

“I am Marley and I like nature. I want to want to be a zookeeper. This story is about Longaeva, a moss creature, using the powers nature has gifted her to help a starling. I wrote this story because it is everything I love, nature, writing, and helping.”

A word from our judges

Finding Tiny is an emotional and powerful story. It is a true adventure story with a beginning, middle, and end, a problem to be fixed, and a solution that the magical little creature is able to fix. It is intricately plotted, and we were particularly impressed by the way you conveyed the sense of danger and threat. You raised the stakes when the creatures were put in cages, and you connected this story to bigger issues in the real world. This was a very exciting story to read, and we hope to read more of your work in the future!

The Moss Creatures Short Story Competition for Young Writers was hosted by Words of a Feather, inspired by and with the support of French artiste Marianne Broggi. This free-to-enter competition was open to young writers aged 7 - 14, anywhere in the world.

The Moss Creatures - Stories from the Forêt, an anthology of prize-winning and highly commended stories, will be published in 2025. Stay tuned!

Congratulations on your story, Marley!