The evening was heavy with the humid smell of midnight rains in the tropical forest. The quenched leaves slowly swayed in a timid breeze that with each sweet-smelling gusts, was secretly gathering strength to joggle all those drops. As the thunder rolled out in the distance the jungle began to sing once again, the eerie melodic tune of the night, keeping every creature peacefully alert.

Up high in the canopies, where the air was lighter and the view picturesque was a great and elderly sloth called Oumalia. It had taken her a full week to climb to the top and who knows how long to get to this specific tree. For this had always been her favorite one, the one she came back to every year no matter how long it took her. So happy to have made it back in time she held on to it with such unconditional love that only the rainforest could understand. Oumalia breathed in its delicate green smells and rubbed her face on its soft moss bringing relief and absolute bliss to her heart. Up here she could bask in the moonlight while gazing at the immensity of the world below. Safe, she could listen to the chirps, growls and howls which inundated her with joy. The jungle is still alive, still thriving, resisting, despite the endless attacks of greed and false superiority.

Oumalia breathed in deeply remembering her children one of which was born in this tree just a few branches down, the great distances she had traveled and ventured, remembering creatures who helped, and most all those superbly succulent leaves she came across so many years ago. She had had a full life with all the happiness and sorrow it should bring to make every moment count. Oumalia held on tighter to her dearest tree friend and took one last deep breath filling her lungs with the magic of the cosmos. As she exhaled with a smile, eyes full of love and moonlight, the wind rustled the jungle in a last but not forever goodbye. In a swirl her soul began to escape and drift into the celestial realm and as it seeped through her being, her body began to fuse with her beloved tree. Growing leaves, moss and fungi almost instantly and attracting insects from neighboring branched. Oumalia was gone but now belonged to the great and eternal skies where she can protect and watch over her home, best friend and lover, the jungle.