It was a peaceful afternoon. Robin was just sitting by the riverside, listening to the water’s gentle flow. Her elf-like ears twitched when a louder sound hit them: A twig breaking. Robin opened her previously closed eyes, revealing black sparkling orbs, and looked at the source of the sound. It was a small fox that she knew well. It had befriended her a few months ago and hadn’t stopped following Robin since. The spirit had named him Fluff, for his incredibly fluffy tail.

 

 Fluff jumped closer, urgently signalling in a direction with his paw and nose. Robin, like other forest spirits, had a talent for communicating with animals, young as she was. With barely thirty years of experience under her belt, she stood up from her comfy spot by the riverside and followed Fluff to a small clearing. Fluff stopped just before reaching the clearing, hiding behind a bush with a small squeak, which was understandable considering that a group of humans was on the other side of said clearing, shouting at one another and swinging their weapons at a tree golem. It must have looked rather threatening to the small fox. Clearly, Fluff wanted Robin to do something about it since nearby animals must have been scared off too. The golem was taller than the humans, reaching two meters with its long legs. It was vaguely human-shaped, but its fingers were a little too long and its skin seemed to be replaced with smooth tree bark. The spirit’s eyes were a cutting shade of green and its hair long, almost reaching the grass, but not quite. The dark brown hair swung every time the spirit moved and made Robin wonder if it was uncomfortable to fight with hair that long.

 

 Robin frowned. It had always bothered her that humans came to the forest just to kill otherwise harmless beings living there, but she knew well that if a spirit lost control, it’d be nearly impossible to regain it. Once aggravated, other spirits were deadly to even her if she wasn’t careful. And she was a forest spirit, protected by nature’s touch, essentially immortal. Well, she hadn’t really tried to see how many injuries her body could sustain before she died for real, but she’d survived a fall off a 40-meter cliff with barely a scratch, so she felt she was pretty safe.

 

 And thus Robin walked out of the bushes with a sigh, deciding to assist the human to some extent, and sent a well calculated offensive rock spell at the tree spirit raging in the clearing. The group of humans barely noticed her presence from further away, so she continued sending attacks that barely did any damage in order to see how long the tree spirit could keep fighting before running out of energy. It didn’t seem to affect the spirit much, so Robin conjured up a bigger, sharper rock and sent it in the spirit’s direction. The rock pierced through one of the spirit’s arms, sending it to the ground with a howl. Robin grit her teeth. She never liked seeing others in pain, but Robin couldn’t see any other options. Unless dealt with, the spirit would deal more damage to the forest than she could allow.

 

 It was at this time that one of the humans finally decided to see where the sharp rock had actually come from. After all, rocks don’t fly at raging tree spirits on their own. The rest of the team - Robin counted 3 people - were busy taking down the spirit. Now that it was on the forest floor, the humans had a much easier time with it. Robin gave a nod to assure herself that her job here was done, and walked back to the bushes to continue with her daily doings. 

 

☯

 

“Mona, for the thousandth time, stop staring off into the distance and help us!”

 

“Huh- Oh! Sorry, Nyx!” Mona readied her bow and took another shot at the creature that had attacked her team. It was a bit harder now that it was rolling around on the ground with her teammates gathered all around it. The arrow she shot ended up stuck in the wooden leg of the being. She would’ve felt bad about it, but the creature had attacked them literally out of nowhere and her party leader, Nyx the swordsman, had decided to take on the challenge of the fight. Her attention turned back to the other side of the clearing as soon as she was out of immediate danger, looking for any sign of the person she’d seen there just moments ago. Nothing. “Ah… Sora,” she cursed. Mona spent a few more seconds staring at the clearing in disappointment before turning her attention back to the battle at hand. 

 

“Got it!” Nyx cheered, dealing a final blow to the creature’s knee. It lay suddenly limp, now resembling more a fallen tree than a beast. “Good work!” he said to Mona’s two other teammates. The party consisted of four people in total. Mona was the one with range; the archer. Nyx had the role of leader and close-range fighter. Evelyn was their party’s mage, dealing damage from a medium range and also healed smaller wounds. Firo, the final member, wielded a battleaxe. His most outstanding quality was the red, enchanted axe that he carried with him everywhere.

 

 After a few seconds of staring into space, Mona caught herself staring at Nyx. “...Sorry. I just thought I saw someone. No, I’m pretty sure I did. There was a big rock that none of us could have used to attack-”

 

“Whatever. Just don’t stand like an idiot again. It’s not like you at all. We need you to contribute in battle, yeah?”

 

“Aye.”

 

“Let’s head on then. We came here for that four-eyed fish and we’ll get a good reward for it.”

 

☯

 

 Robin had been into town only a handful of times. It was never for long, only twenty or thirty minutes at a time, but she couldn’t help it. Humans were so strange. They almost always moved in groups and exchanged goods, lived all huddled together in such a small area and some even ventured out to the forest, though not for land or some other noble cause; they were out to kill its inhabitants! They were greedy, Robin could see, and confident in their superiority. Or, at least, most of them were. Except this one time a small child offered her a flower, which was sweet, so she supposed smaller humans were friendlier than the rest. Still, her picture of humans had never felt fully complete. So here she was, gathering her courage to get up from the bush and walk out into the sunlight, onto the stone road, and into the protective walls of this city that lay ahead.

 

“Go on, Robin. You can do it. They won’t kick you out, you’ve seen other non-humans in there before. Just get up, like a good girl, and walk around the bush- Yes, like this! Yes, now onto the stone- ON the stone, not around it!” As she stepped off the soft dirt and onto the harsh polished cobblestone road to the city gate, she felt her legs wobble ever so slightly. Robin kept walking, reaching the city gates over the small bridge in no time. The guards by the entrance looked menacing, but let her pass with nothing but a closer look at her antlers. She was in. A few minutes of walking down the stone pathway led her to the town square. It was a big, flat area, free of buildings, that had all sorts of stalls around the edges and a fountain in the middle. Robin headed over to a merchant offering apples, steadily breathing and assuring herself that the crowd of around 100 people didn’t care about her presence.

 

“Hello!” Robin said with a tiny and awkward wave.

 

“Well, hello dear!” The old lady sitting behind the stall stood up to greet her. “Aren’t you an oddity! First time in town?” she asked, noting the spirit’s antlers.

 

“Not quite, but I don’t come here that often,” Robin explained, feeling a tiny bit safer now that the woman had shown friendliness and not anger or fear at the sight of her antlers.

 

“Well, I hope you enjoy your time here! What can I do ya for?” The lady smiled warmly.

 

“I was just looking around, thank you,” Robin replied shyly.

 

“Of course, dearie. Just be careful. Some suspicious folk have been sighted around lately.”

 

“I’ll keep it in mind, thank you!” Robin gave a short bow and moved on to have a closer look at the fountain.

 

☯

 

“How did I end up here?” Robin truly had no idea how she ended up in an old building, waiting in a line for… something. She didn’t know what. She was walking around outside one moment, and then suddenly she was pulled in, people standing behind her in a short line. “What even is this place?” She could see counters that young women were standing behind, clothed in green robes. And before she knew it, it was her turn in front of one of the counters.

 

“Welcome to the Adventurer's Guild! Are you here to sign up?” the woman asked in a cheery tone. She was blonde, with long curly hair and sparkling green eyes a couple shades darker than Robin’s own hair. Robin didn’t really know how to reply, so she decided to just nod in agreement with anything that the woman proposed. “Great! I’ll just need you to fill out this form right here, can you do it yourself or shall I just ask you the questions?”

 

“Whatever is quicker?” Robin asked, wanting to get out of there already. The woman nodded and started running through the questions: “Name?”

 

“Robin.”

 

“Last name?”

 

“Uhh… Woods?” Robin offered. That was one name she could at least remember. The woman behind the counter scratched away on a piece of parchment. “Birthday and age?”

 

“Uh-” Robin was caught off guard, seeing as she was obviously older than she looked to be, since spirits barely aged visibly. And now she needed a date. Great. “Make one up!” “Um- May the uhh- May the fifth,” she managed to say, doing her best to burn the date into her mind. “And age?” the woman pressed on. Robin stayed silent. “If I was 14-?”

 

“14 it is. Class?” the woman continued. Robin stared, confused. “What?”

 

“What type of fighting do you prefer?” the woman explained patiently. “Magic? Short sword? Longsword? Battleaxe? Bow? The list goes on.”

 

“...Is there a mix of magic and using a small sword?” Robin asked curiously. That would suit her style of magic and blade pretty well.

 

“Warrior mage, preferred weapon: short sword,” the lady summarised.

 

“Thank you,” Robin sighed gratefully. This was exhausting. So many choices. It continued for a little more before she was directed to another lady. By this point, Robin just wanted to get out of there and go home.

 

“You’re Robin Woods?” Another woman, this time in yellow clothing, walked up to her. After Robin confirmed her identity with a nod, she started walking to the other side of the room. “After me! We will conduct the ranking.” “R-ranking?” Robin was now even more confused. What did they have to rank? The lady didn’t stop for a moment, continuing to walk to a small crystal orb by the wall. “Please touch this orb, we will determine your magic ranking with it.” Robin, having no choice but to obey, set her hand down on the strange orb. It glowed brightly and the woman started scribbling on a piece of parchment, just as the other lady had. “It looks like a steady glow, does it give off warmth?” She hovered her hand near the surface of the orb. “A  little. I’d say you’re pretty high on magic supply, good choice of class!”

 

“T-thank you.” Robin retracted her hand. “Can I go now?”

 

“Just a second more and we’ll have your guild card made. It’s a certificate that shows you’re registered. Then you’re free to go on quests and adventures!” the lady replied brightly and walked off, back to the counter to talk to the other girls there.

 

“Thank you?” Robin stood by the orb awkwardly, waiting for the woman to come back. It took a few minutes, but her certificate was eventually handed to her by a third worker and Robin rushed out of the building and back home, shoving the cardlike piece of wood behind her ear. With her hair, it was pretty well hidden and for some reason, nothing ever fell when she put it there - she had tested it out with a few sticks and cliff dives. Into water, of course. Robin concluded it must be some sort of magic, keeping whatever she put behind her long ears in its chosen spot.

 

 Robin sped away from the town square, out the gates, off the stone bridge, behind the bushes, and then walked all the way to her favourite tree near the river. She often spent her nights in its hollow trunk, listening to the water flow. She hurried to her tree, curling up inside it cosily. It wasn’t a big tree, but it was hollow on the inside and Robin used the comfy spot as her home of sorts. The fact that it was still light outside didn't matter to her at all; she went straight to sleep. Today had been exhausting.

 

☯

 

 The fluffball in her lap was a surprise to Robin when she woke up, but it wasn’t totally unexpected. Fluff often came to sleep near her, it just seems that today he decided to snuggle up. Robin understood since the nights were slowly getting colder and colder as days went by. Last week had been pretty windy as well, Robin had noticed. 

 

 It was early morning, the sun wasn’t yet up, birds were silent. Only some bugs were roaming around as well as a few owls. The forest was quieter than usual, but the gentle flow of water continued as usual. Robin carefully manoeuvred out of the tree’s hollow trunk without waking Fluff and stretched a bit on the mossy grass. Robin took a deep breath of fresh air, enjoying the refreshing- “Wait. Is that the smell of blood?” 

 

 Robin’s mind blanked. “I can smell blood, why can I smell blood? Plants don’t have blood. An animal? Of course, it must be an injured animal.” Calming herself a little, Robin started looking around in the darkness, trying to find the source of the horrid smell. It didn’t take long to stumble into an oddly soft piece of wood. “Ah-” Robin jumped back. She hadn’t expected to bump into anything on the riverside, since it was usually pretty clear, just the smooth pebbles on the shore. And a few bigger rocks that she knew lay a little bit further ahead of her. She squatted down to see what she had found and, sure enough, the smell of blood doubled instantly. Robin carefully examined the thing to see what sort of animal it was, since it had to be an animal, right? "Long limbs, medium body, small head and no hair. Mostly. Other than the head," Robin analysed, not saying a word. "-wait! It's a human!" She had found a human.

 

 Robin didn't know who the human was, or why they were even by the riverside, bleeding, but she decided to help out. The human seemed to still be breathing, though faintly, which wasn't ideal but at least they were alive. Robin took a hold of its arms and started pulling them away from the water, getting them to the grass. Just then she remembered about light, which she could've used long ago. A simple light spell had her hand glowing lightly in seconds. Robin continued to examine the human, determining the injury to be on their stomach. By the length of the hair - not reaching past shoulders - and the shoulder width and lack of bust size Robin was able to determine that this was a male human and a young adult. A few simple spells had the man's wound - it looked like he was stabbed! - healing, skin slightly stitching together at a pace faster than what was natural. Robin decided that now would be an ideal time to wake Fluff.

 

 She navigated back to her hollow tree and peeked in, slightly stretching her still glowing hand further inside. "Fluff. Wake up please," she said lightly, almost whispering. The sleeping fox yawned at first, unrolling itself from the curled position it had been sleeping in, before opening its eyes. Fluff looked at Robin curiously. "I need to show you something. Follow me," Robin said to the fox, moving away from the tree and towards the human lying near the river. Fluff, somewhat confused, followed after Robin varily.

 

 Robin didn't say anything when they arrived, just stretching her torch of a hand towards the man in the grass. Fluff had a look and turned back to Robin. "Such intelligence. Foxes truly are smart," Robin thought to herself. “I found him this morning by the river. Keep an eye out for other humans, please?” Robin requested. The fox huffed with a small smirk, rushing off into the nearby bushes just moments later. Robin sighed. “Sometimes I wonder how animals convey so much emotion without facial expressions,” she thought, turning her gaze back to the human laying on the ground. He still hadn’t woken up. Robin didn’t know how long it would take, but it would probably be best if she was nearby when the human woke up. She set herself down near the river, listening to the water flow as it got lighter outside. Eventually, she cancelled the spell that kept her hand glowing, closing her eyes as she lay down to listen to the sounds of water flowing and birds slowly waking up and singing as the Sun rose. There, in the relative silence, enjoying the sounds of nature, Robin fell asleep.

 

 She woke up to a groan. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but when she opened her eyes, it was very light outside. Much lighter than it had been when she had fallen asleep. Robin got up from the ground, leaning her body weight onto her arms as she turned around to look at the human she was laying next to. The man was a few meters away from her, now twisting in the grass. Robin crawled closer, not bothering to stand up and walk properly. “Get up. You’ve slept long enough.” The human just turned to his other side, still laying down, eyes closed. Robin let out a sigh as she stood up from the grass. She walked to the human, nudging him with her foot. “You sure you’re alive? You were pretty close to death when I found you you know.” The man, now seemingly registering that somebody else was there and they were addressing him, now opened his eyes, but immediately flinched back. “Ugh- Who’re you?” he asked, trying to get used to the sudden light. It took him a good minute, but he eventually managed to open his eyes and have a proper look around. Robin stared. “You’re in the forest. I found you by the river last night. You were bleeding pretty bad, but I patched you up a little. Pretty sure you’d be dead if I hadn’t.”

 

“Well- Thank you?” The human was seemingly confused. He was switching between looking at Robin’s eyes and her antlers. Robin was annoyed. “What is it?”

 

“It’s just that- What exactly are you?”

 

“I,” Robin said, staring off into the distance instead, “am a forest spirit. And you don’t belong here in the forest, so, naturally, you caught my eye. Now it’s my turn to ask. Why were you bleeding by the riverside?”

 

“I’m pretty sure I was fighting with someone near a river? And then they stabbed me. Wait-” The man hurried to check over his wound, finding it mostly healed already. It had stopped bleeding a long time ago, but the man’s clothes were still smeared brown - the blood had dried quite a while ago. Robin gave him a look. “I said I healed you, but if you rip it open again it’s your own fault. My healing isn’t the best, but it got the bleeding to stop and I consider it a win,” she commented drily. The man nodded. “Thank you. I’d like to know - where is here? It’s a forest, sure, but where is it?”

 

“There’s a town protected by walls that way,” Robin answered, casually pointing her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the nearby town. “There are lots of humans there, go ask around and they’ll give you a map or something. I won’t come with you. Just leave when you can, don’t stay here for long.”

 

“Alright, I won't linger. As soon as I can leave, I will! I’ll also probably need some cleaner clothes though. These are very… bloody.”

 

“Just wash them in the river. It was all red last night, but the water has cleared out by now,” Robin suggested with a small shrug. “The flow isn’t very strong, so it’s ideal for washing and fishing.”

 

“Thank you again,” the human said, sitting up a bit more and turning in Robin’s direction. He stretched out a hand. “I’m Jason,” he introduced himself. Robin didn’t take his hand, instead staring at it. “You may call me Robin. I’d say it’s a pleasure but if I’m being honest, it’s not.”

 

“That’s- Fair, I guess,” Jason sighed. “I’ll get off your back then.” He took a deep breath and got up from the forest floor. He stretched a little, being extra careful with his stomach wound. It looked pretty bad, and would definitely leave a scar. But Robin didn’t care. She walked off, back to her tree, in search of Fluff.