Laeril’s POV

“They said the dryad hates spell singers!” A boy said snidely.

“Who says!?” Laeril argued back.

“It’s obvious! I heard it from the other kids from your village!” The boy sneers. “You’re the only kid who the dryad didn’t protect, it’s because you’re a spell singer! The dryad doesn’t like spell singers, and our new dryad talks to your dryad, I bet they hate spell singers too! That’s why they say we can’t have any more humans!”

“Yeah, so stay away from us! I don’t want the dryad to hate me too!” A girl in the group turns up her nose.

“Don’t follow us! Just go back to your master, you and your master should just get out of the village!” Another boy rips into Laeril as they all walk off, leaving her to turn away and cry. None of the kids in the village would ever play with her, not the ones from this village or even her old friends back from Cundo. Even they rejected her now.

She was really starting to have enough of them treating her like this. She’d been told by her master to stay away from the dryad because it was dangerous, but she just couldn’t take it anymore. She was going to go to the dryad, she had to get it to tell them they were wrong. But… what if they’re really right? The dryad really DID say no more humans, it’s the job of the spell singers to calm human children while they are being taken in order to help the newborn elves survive their first few years. It didn’t make sense for the spirit inhabiting the nursery tree to reject bringing in more humans at all. No! There HAS to be some sort of mistake!

As Laeril cautiously drew closer to the nursery tree, she began to hesitate. She couldn’t believe that the dryad really hated spellsingers like all the other kids were saying, but a part of her still really feared they might be right. She just couldn’t find a good explanation for all the strangeness of this whole thing, but she still couldn’t believe it! It just couldn’t be true!

She stood a good 20 or so paces from the giant base of the nursery tree. This is what would be considered a respectful distance from which to address a dryad. She let out a little squeak in her voice, as her words failed her. She couldn’t speak. How was she going to phrase her question anyway? ‘Dryad, is it true that you hate me?’ It just didn’t feel right to ask a question like that, but… that’s also the very thing she truly wanted to know.

‘Ok, just call out to them! That’s all you have to do!’ Laeril told herself. She opened her mouth to try speaking again, when suddenly the dryad’s light manifestation appeared hovering in the air near the top branches of the tree, and they were looking up into the air.

What is the dryad looking at? Laeril’s thoughts stopped as she considered that, but soon she had an answer to her question as a voice entered directly into her head.

‘People of Rima village, be honored. I present to you the princess of the fey, conveyed by Lord Baltair of the Arbor Committee. Her royal highness comes to address and negotiate with the dryad.’

As Laeril heard the words in her mind, her eyes stayed fixed on the dryad. The dryad’s projection of light glared at the sky where the voice that had entered her head came from. There were some voices behind her as everyone gasped.

‘Greetings people of Rima village.’ Another voice entered Laeril’s head, this one much clearer and younger, and definitely female. ‘Yes, I understand your surprise. I am the princess Aerien, adopted child of The Queen, Oren, of the blue jade dragons. I know some of you may recognize me by my name. I am indeed the same infant child who left Cundo village an invalid just a month ago. My body grew due to the power within my own body accelerating my growth. It was this same power, along side my natural talents, which caused the queen to adopt me as her daughter.’

Adopted? Princess? Laeril thought this princess sounded either the same age or younger than she was. The other voice just said she was going to talk to the dryad though. Could the princess ask the dryad if they really hate spellsingers? She sounds like a kid, so maybe she will understand.

The dryad’s projection lowered itself to the ground and walked right past Laeril. They walked toward the source of the princess’ voice. This could be her chance. Laeril gave the dryad some clearance as she ran to the edge of the village the princess’ voice had come from as well. She froze for a moment when she saw the dragons up above the canopy. They were HUGE! They were bigger than the trees! But, she couldn’t get scared. She couldn’t get scared. She would not have another chance like this.

She weaved her way through the few people in the gathering crowd and saw a kid with short grey hair. It was really strange. That hair was short like a boy’s, but she knew that sometimes hunters and warriors who were women also cut their hair short. But, she was a princess. No, it didn’t matter. She ran toward the small child who didn’t look much over 15, less than half her own age. But, suddenly, she felt like she was falling. No, she wasn’t falling, she was being lifted into the air. Her feet were touching nothing. Laeril flailed her arms in a panic and screamed as she watched the ground fly away from her. If she fell from this height, she would die for sure.

“Let her down.” The princess’ voice rang through the air, oddly doubled as Laeril heard it with her ears and her mind at the same time. “If this town hates me, let this child speak for all of them. You do not need to protect me, and we do not need to estrange ourselves from the people by making an example of someone so young.”

What? What was the princess saying? Laeril could not follow any of it.

‘Your highness…’ A booming masculine voice responded from the direction of one of the smaller dragons above. He was smaller than the biggest one, but he was still amazingly big. Was it this dragon that was lifting her up without even touching her?

“You do not need to be concerned.” The princess said. “If a child this age manages to injure me, that just means I’ve had a serious lack of training. You are not to hold her or anyone in this village accountable for anything she does after she is released.”

What!? Did they think she was trying to hurt the princess!? No! That’s not right at all!

Laeril was still trying to make sense of what was going on as she saw the ground getting closer once again. She panicked for a little while that she was falling, but she was ultimately placed gently on the ground, after which she immediately fell to her hands and knees.

She looked up to see the princess calmly looking at her. Laeril was surprised once again to notice there seemed to be something wrong with the princess’ face. Or rather, her skin. It all looked a pale bluish grey. She remembered them talking about a pair of twin babies at her old village who had bluish grey skin like that, they said those two babies were unhealthy and might die at any time. She didn’t know what happened to them after everything that happened in the village when they had to leave, but she heard that the magus took them to the capital. She wondered how those two were doing and if they were still alive. Maybe the princess had heard about them?

“You can say whatever you want.” The princess said. “The dragons will not interfere anymore.”

Laeril was still confused. She couldn’t tell what was even happening anymore. The dryad’s projection was standing at the edge of the clearing now. They seemed to be just standing and watching what was going on. The princess just nodded in the dryad’s direction and then returned her gaze to Laeril. How had everything gone so wrong? She just wanted to go ask the princess for help, just a kid talking to another kid. Nothing was going at all like she expected, she didn’t even know what was happening, so she just started to cry.

-

Aerien’s POV

It was strange standing here in this village. Some of these people here were the people affected most by dryad’s callous actions. The ones who were behind the actual inciting incident were likely all dead from the mob riot that was incited, that would mean all that are left are the scarred and embittered I can only imagine how they feel after getting this dryad who’s an extension of ours from Cundo standing over them now. According to what Lord Baltair told me on the trip over here, it seems all these sub dryads order the residents of the villages they reside in to not take any new humans. While I do appreciate that for my own sense of righteous morality, I really cannot imagine that going over well with people who had gotten used to this as their way of life.

There’s also the whole factor of my part in what went down in Cundo. There are so many people here who were victimized by that. I thought of suggesting a different village, but I felt I ultimately needed to meet these people who were harmed by my presence. I was just a passive victim of the whole incident, but that doesn’t mean people won’t feel resentment for the mere fact that they were harmed due to Dryad acting in my defense. I was going to be the princess of this land for a long time, so it would be better if I meet that resentment head on right now.

This is how it was as I honestly told them about who I am, that I was the exact same baby who was the impetus behind everything that happened in Cundo. Then, right as I was in the middle of presenting myself, a child who looked to be around a human equivalent of 12 started rushing me. Of course, my magically powered dragon guards were very quick to intercept her.

I ordered them to put her back down and forgive her actions. I might have accepted slightly more stern actions if it was an adult, but a child is just not thinking rationally when they do something like this. They are the most likely to take extreme actions, but also the easiest to win over with kindness. More than that though, taking retributive action against a child will only deepen any resentment felt, and maybe even create it where there previously was none.

Whatever resentment the child may have had that caused them to attempt to rush me, their fear over what had just happened seemed to completely overwhelm it. She just started crying. As she cried, another villager, a young man, came rushing out and knelt a little ways off from the crying girl.

[Your highness.] He said. [Please forgive us, this girl is not representative of us in any way. She is a spell singer’s apprentice. The village has had to shun her and her master since the dryad’s order to disallow the entry of any additional humans. Any action she takes is completely her own. We are grateful that you are here to intercede with the dryad.]

[Is that right?] I asked and then glanced over to Dryad’s projection that had come to meet me. My eyes swept back to the girl who seemed to be trying her best to calm herself down. She was looking at me with eyes that seemed to be begging. Not the eyes of resentment at all. [I think I understand now.] I said. “Dryad, answer me in English. Do you have something particular against spellsingers?”

“Of course I do.” Dryad responds. “My goal is to end the enslavement of humans by elves, spellsingers are the ones among the elves trained to make the fairie’s treat. They are the cornerstone of the elven slave catching operation. Why wouldn’t I have something against them?” Dryad glares over to the girl sobbing on the ground. “Honestly, the only reason I tolerate the ones in this village is because of how young that girl is there. She’s learned too much to be spared by simply abandoning her path, but she is too young for me to find it in me to take action against her, or even her master by extension.”

I see. That is certainly a difficult situation.

“Do you meant to say that you have taken action against spell singers who do not have child apprentices?” I asked.

“That has it’s own complications.” Dryad said. “Believe me, I want to, but I know that would probably upset some people.”

“Well, thank you for showing some restraint.” I said and closed my eyes. This was definitely a difficult situation. I did sympathize with this crying girl and her situation. She must have entered this way of life thinking she was doing a good thing and helping people. But, it was absolutely true that she was part of the exact group of people who would have to be sacrificed in order to end this institution of slavery. If it was as simple as being a pariah in the village all of a sudden, perhaps that would be enough. If that’s how spell singers will be treated now, this girl will never find a willing apprentice of her own and the lineage of master-to-apprentice transmission will end with her. This might, indeed, be the kindest way to deal with this complicated issue.

As for her, perhaps the kindest thing I can do is what I have already done by insisting Dryad use English to talk about this subject. It would be far too cruel for her to hear and understand what was just said about her.

[I understand the situation.] I said to the kneeling man. [No offense is taken, and I have already forgiven her for her actions.] I placed a tender hand on the girl’s shoulder. I wished I could say something to ease the distress that was very clear in her eyes. Her profession was one which I could not tollerate, but she was a person just like me or any other villager here trying to do her best in life.

I didn’t have anything I could reasonably do or say, so I was forced to withdraw my hand and turn toward Dryad. [The dryad and I will enter into a discussion now. Dryad, can you please take me to your main body so we can have this discussion in privacy?]

[Of course, Aerien. We are all eternally grateful to you. It would be my honor to host you.] Dryad laid on the flourish of speech and even bowed. I was immediately aware of how everyone around, including the dragons who came with me, were downright shocked at this response. This was a show, of course. It could very well have been real, but even then all they would have to do is just be friendly. They did not need the flowery speech or the bow. THAT part was a message, a message specifically to the dragons above. They were saying “I want to talk with this one, and I would like to make her my primary channel of interaction.” And, with this move in the present situation, this action would just about assure that I’m the one called for all future negotiations.

Well then, now time to figure out if there’s anything more to this. I followed Dryad to their tree, the largest in the village. I was let in, and Dryad was already squeezing a cup of fruit juice from a branch they had just grown. “I know you did not eat or drink when you were with our leader, but would you like some juice?” They asked.

“No thank you.”

“Well, that’s quite alright. I will give it to one of the children upstairs later.” They said, setting the cup aside. That’s right, this would likely be this village’s nursery tree. I wonder if there’s an elf child up there, or if it’s just the humans right now. “Now then,” Dryad continued with a giant and earnestly happy smile on their face. “How are your mother and the master of our leader doing? It seems they did not come with you, how are they adjusting to the capital?”

Uhhh… what?

Subscriber's comments of the chapter

"I remember asking how you would ever reuse Ceren's apprentice for anything... now I know =)
It does is pretty sad for her, but if spell slinger are already half-trained in magic, can't they just switch?"

                                                                      -Asekhan

"Oh crap, does that mean the Dryad fragment did not actually come back to her main body? or just that they're not as much in touch as we thought? In any case, Aerien's plan probably won't be of any use ^^
I really wish those dryad had a name..."

                                                                     -Asekhan

Author response to subscriber comments.

I have a name in mind for the main one, I've just never had the opportunity to introduce it yet. (Hint, she was named by one of the Earthling reincarnated Great Fairies she rescued.)

Jemini

So, seems like my habit as a chronic overwritter has struck again. I meant the part with Laeril to just be a little something to create some more personality in the village, but it wound up going for much longer than I thought it would. Well, it also contributes a bit to the broader message, so we'll see where this goes in future chapters.