my cap is no crown, yet i have my own kingdom networks below, its own kind of freedom though i don’t swim, i may still have gills i can change your perception, dance on tongues, or kill

I’m a tiny forest at first glance, green branches packed in a single stance. I’m firm when raw, I soften with heat, and though I look like a tree, I’m something you eat.

I sound fierce, but I barely bite, I wear four windows, kissed by light. I zip and hover, blink and fly, more fairy than a beast, what am I?

Fashioned from once-living skin, I exist only through you. I have a lying tongue and a blind eye. I remember paths in dirt, forget them in rain. Useless alone, directional in pairs. I protect, carry, and end every journey before rest.

When not hidden in a box, I am seated in a hole. I only move when you do, and I'm rarely found alone.