The Dryad 20 Ivy

Coming out of the forest was a young lady with dark green hair. Someone who was not quite an adult yet, but no longer a child either. She would have appeared to be 14 or 15 years old if she were human, however that green hair made it clear that she was not. This was something I had rarely seen. Most of the spirits were fully matured when they became corporeal. I myself had not noticed any change in my appearance over the millennia that I have had a body. I did not not have any actual record of how I looked back then. And even when I tried my hardest I could barely remember things from a millennium or two ago.

Seeing that she appeared to be what the humans would call a 'teenager,' I decided to approach carefully. I did not know if her appearance would be an accurate indicator of her personality, but it was the safer guess to treat her with the respect that is often demanded by 'teenagers."

"My sincere apologies for imposing on your domain. My companions and I are on a journey and will need to travel along the trail that pa.s.ses through your woods. My name is Laurel, and it is a pleasure to meet you."

"You sure talk stiffly," she responded.

I forced a smile. I guess I did overdo it some. I forgot that most 'teenagers' demand respect but at the same time disdain formality. How you show respect without formality is a mystery to me, but oh well.

"I have always found it better when you are an uninvited guest to show respect to your host. What should I call you?"

"I am Ivy. Why are you here and what are you?" Her att.i.tude was abrupt.

"I will start with your last question first. I am a dryad just like you. It has been a long time since I have left my home. Consequently, I was not aware that there was a new dryad only a few days travel from my home. I would have come visit if I had known."

"It's not like I am new here. I have had a body for 754 years now."

She still remembers how old she is. That just goes to show how young she really is. This time my smile was less forced. "Since it seems that you have never met another of our kind, I will inform you that 754 years old is very young. I myself have lost track of how many millennia I have been around. Though I do have to say I am one of the oldest. But you are the first of our kind I have met in just under two thousand years."

She was a little startled by my age but she did her best to hide her surprise.

"So why are you here?"

I figured I would tell her the truth. Maybe she had seen or heard of the magician, and if not, it would serve as a warning to her if he ever came to her woods. She would not be strong enough to face him unprepared.

"We are on a mission to find my friend. A human magician invaded our woods, tainted my forest, and abducted my friend as well as several of the fairies that were living in my woods." I could not keep the smile on my face any more. But I did my best not to let my pain show.

"How could you let that happen right under your nose?" She said to me with a look of disgust on her face.

Her words and att.i.tude cracked what little strength I had left. I could feel my neutral expression crumbling. "I am sad that I did not notice this problem earlier. It was too far from where I rested to notice anything more than that something was wrong," I said with a frown. Her question made me wonder again if there was something that I could have done differently. If I just set aside my pride and went to investigate the issue myself, Faun would not have gone missing. This had been a painful thought that had kept resurfacing in the quiet hours of the night when all the others were asleep. It was a was like having a large splinter lodged in my soul. Its nagging pain was always there, reminding me that this was my fault.

But this was a pointless train of thought. Nothing would be gained by thinking about what might have been. All I could do is move forward with what has already happened. Faun was gone and I needed to find her. I tried to force out a smile but it probably came out as more of a grimace. "My friend, a greater animal spirit, was somehow captured by the magician. I am going to find her and bring her home."

"How could you not notice something that was happening in your domain?"

"My domain has grown quite large over the years."

"Really, I think you might just be lacking skill."

This hurt a little, but I was more surprised at her lack of tact. 'Teenagers' can really be something. Well, if she really wanted to doubt me, I can deal with that.

"Do you mind if I stretched out my powers for a minute? I have been suppressing them for several days and it would feel good to relax my control for a bit."

"Sure, go ahead. I am a little curious about what makes an ancient dryad so special," she said rather snidely. Holding back a sigh, I decided to keep any malice out of my power. There would be no point in fighting her. But she still has a lot to learn.

Very slowly I started releasing my power. I wanted to make sure that I did not chase that magician away again. I was searching for any sign of the blight or any other spiritual ent.i.ties that might be harmful. Once I reached approximately the same power level as Ivy, I paused for a moment. Beyond this point is when I would really need to start being careful. Those rare gifted humans and the elves could sense my power. Just like that magician. While he would be hard pressed to tell one dryad from another at the same power level, he would be sure to notice if there was a big difference in power levels. I needed to find the magician. Fixing the world view of an ignorant little girl, who is not even a millennium old yet, was much less important. I could not have the magician running again.

"Really. Is this all? You are not any stronger than I am."

I smiled at her statement. She would soon learn the truth. I turned my attention back to my perception. No signs of blight or malice appeared. Once I was satisfied that nothing inside my current perception range was hostile, I started to increase the range of my awareness. Since everything inside was fine, I only had to look at things that now crossed into my awareness. This allowed me to grow at a much quicker rate.

After a minute Ivy had a shocked expression on her face. At this point I was approximately double her power. But I still had a ways to go in my stretch. I ignored her and focused inward on my search. I reached somewhere between six to seven times her power level before I stopped. I was not showing my normal strength I usually used back home or anywhere near what I can produce when needed, but I knew that the further I extended my reach the more likely it was that I would miss something. The amount of area that I covered increased quickly as the radius of my power increased. I felt some small frustration that there was no obvious sign of blight anywhere within my perception. Tracking down this magician was going to be guesswork and luck if we couldn't find any clues.

Even though I was frustrated, I could tell that Emily in the village noticed my powers rapidly expanding. I sent her a comforting message to let her know that things were ok. I could not send actual messages. It was more of emotions, so I sent her an emotion of comfort to let her know I was fine. This was one of the things I still had to teach her how to do. The elves had a hard time noticing the changes in emotion in spirit power. Partially since they could not notice, Faun and I would usually use this method to communicate while we were apart.

"What was it that you just did? Why do I feel calmer all of a sudden?"

"I was sending a message to my other companions. One of them is a half dryad and is in the human village gathering information. She noticed my power stretch, so I was just letting her know that things are fine."

After a few minutes I again withdrew my powers back to a more suppressed state. I was a little reluctant to pull my powers back. It felt wonderful to stretch them. I am not sure I have ever suppressed my power for this long. I never bothered to do it during the other times I had left my woods.

Ivy seemed much more reserved now that when she first arrived. We both sat there quietly for some time. I was a little surprised that the elves did not seem to stir at my power. I guess these two were some of the physically closest to me back in the woods, so maybe they were used to feeling this much of my power.

It was about an hour later when Ivy spoke up again. "Miss Laurel, would it be okay if I asked you a few questions?"

"I am more than fine with that. As long as you drop the 'Miss.'" I said as a genuine smile reappeared on my face. "Just call me Laurel."