The head of the research team wanted to show me something. It was unrelated to their work, but something that could only be seen here. The leaves of the palm trees would all turn black today. He drove us down the winding road to the coast. He said that while we knew what caused this now, it must have been terrifying to ancient people who saw it for the first time. He parked next to a cliff where we could easily see them. Dark clouds covered the sky and cast a gentle light.
Almost as if synchronized, the leaves changed all at once. Bright green clouded into a shiny black. Surely what terrified ancient peoples even more was what the leaves were a sign of. Bright glowing eyes lurked under the dark ocean waters. Of course I dove in to greet them. They mistook me as food at first, but after some communication we quickly became friends