That triangular pattern was unmistakable. Khan would recognize it anywhere. Those eyes carried the same color and even stood in the same spot as the alien from his nightmares. They were definitely Nak, and Khan's aura instinctively intensified at their sight.
Nevertheless, Khan quickly calmed down. As identical as those eyes were, the tree wasn't a Nak. There was no skull inside that trunk, and Khan couldn't spot anything similar to a brain, or other organs for that matter.
Those eyes simply resulted from the same mutations that afflicted the woods and the rest of the planet, and Khan couldn't find the strength to feel surprised anymore. He actually believed it was somewhat normal, but his thoughts hardly focused on the three organs or the horrid, furred eyelids.
The tree had reacted to Khan's arrival, but he didn't know whether that reaction was a sign of intelligence. It could have merely been an instinctive behavior, no different than flowers growing toward the sun.
