Book One, Chapter Seven, Post Three

As he prances and cavorts, Terrence falls so far behind the rest of the group that Quiberron Libran catches up with him. "Intent on the natural world are you? Hey nonny, nonny." Terrence skips along next to Quiberron's horse. "You know, my agent told me that the astral plane resonates at low C. She said you can hear it if you listen quietly. I've never heard it myself, though. Hey nonny, nonny. Have you noted anything of interest?"

“Oh, hi Terrence. I’ve never heard the astral plane resonate either. Planar travel was an entirely theoretical series of lectures at the library. Maybe one day I’ll be able to find out myself though.” He says this brightly as he walks along beside his own horse.

Quiberron decides Terrence looks interested, and continues excitedly, “Did you know that I’ve already seen three different species of butterflies that I’d only read about! Not to mention two ferns and a species of oak that I don’t recognize at all. I’m not really that into plants, however. The beasts and peoples of the world are much more interesting. And on that front, unfortunately, our journey from Haleford has been slightly disappointing. There were so many specimens of different races at the party, and then drow and ogres during the attack. And meeting a that half-scorpion late last night was the capstone. I haven’t even finished writing all my notes from that encounter. Other than the aforementioned butterflies, a few birds, a squirrel or two, and a couple of admittedly very interesting beetles, I haven’t seen anything comparable.

“I’m certainly looking forward to running into more interesting things in The Wilds, aren’t you?”

With that, a peculiarly large beetle with incredibly long, curled antennae lands on Terrence. The bug rubs its forelegs against an antenna as if cleaning it, uncoiling the appendage. The process makes a strangely disconcerting noise that likely insults Terrence’s musical sensibilities.

"Well, this little fellow has offended my musical sensibilities... but he's re-stimulated my poetical ones. To wit:

“Like humanoids the beetles do
have parts that number three.
These parts when duly scrutinized
make them just like you and me.

“Like us, they have an abdomen,
to store food when they graze;
their thorax only serves to guard
the heart that drives their days;

“and finally it shows we're kin
and share a pedigree
that we've got these sweet antennae...
and we... oh, wait! Nevermind."