This story is intended to be fairly wholesome and for most viewers. However…
*This story contains LGBTQ characters and concepts.
Book of the Dryads – Chapter 5
Secret of the Grove
Emily’s Notes – November 20th, 1902
The first snowfall I’ve experienced while living with the dryads has finally arrived. Although I am told there’s usually calm on a normal winter, this is anything but one. After all, the alliance between Grovewall and the grove itself was formed only a few months ago. Now mountain snowfall threatens to cut the settlements off from each other.
Skyla has been spearheading the mining efforts to bring a tunnel over to the outpost, so we can stay connected even if the only path in is snowed or iced in and becomes impassable. The people of the outpost are working on the same project from their side. But it has been slower than they would have liked, and we’re still a few weeks from completion (so we hope). I’m fairly certain I have what I need to make it through the winter, but having that connection to Grovewall would take some worry off my mind…
On the other hand, I’m intrigued by things I’ve been noticing. Or rather, haven’t been noticing. I saw Lilac talking with Asterosk two weeks ago. She seemed slower, quieter. Since then, I haven’t seen a trace of her, and Asterosk has been making the calls. What’s interesting to me is how the dryads seem to have adapted, and I see no signs of mourning… I may need to ask about this sooner rather than later.
Meanwhile, at first, I thought it was just the healthy lifestyle of living in nature that was doing my skin some good, but something seems a little off now. I can’t quite place it, but it seems I look different in my reflection now… It’s like I’m not looking younger, but ACTUALLY younger. Or I’ve been here way too long and my mind is playing tricks on me. No one ever found the fountain of youth…
Did they?
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The snow piled up quickly. That was a pretty major storm that made its way though. Dryads (and some of the humans who decided they wanted to see what life in the grove was like) were working tirelessly to carve walkable paths through the snow. Emily was helping with the efforts when she saw Brice and Asterosk conversing, likely discussing important matters. Still, there was a thought nagging at her for a while, and she needed to ask…
“Brice, Asterosk, are things going well?” she asked.
“As well as they can. Just trying to make sure our settlements are staying in contact with one another, explaining to Brice why Lilac isn’t currently in charge…” Asterosk explained.
Emily tilted her head.
“She doesn’t know either, I take it?” Brice asked.
“Right, I forget sometimes she hasn’t been here for that long. She just fits right in, you know?”
“Sooooo… Where’s Lilac? I saw her talk with you a couple of weeks ago, then she disappeared…” She had expected to ask, but she had to admit she was caught off-guard a little when Asterosk outright said she wasn’t in charge at the moment.
“Hmmm… She did want to talk to you at some point. She is in her sanctum. She can explain more,” Asterosk suggested.
Emily made a courteous bow and turned towards the sanctum.
“Wait, before you go… Be patient with her, and do not be concerned with the state she’s in. This is normal for her.”
Emily was confused by this, but she wasn’t about to question it; this was likely something she didn’t know about the dryads yet. “Thank you for the warning. I’ll try to keep it in mind…”
Emily trudged her way through the snow as Brice and Asterosk resumed their conversation. Now that she was thinking about it – really thinking about it – she realized Lilac wasn’t the only dryad to suddenly disappear in the last few weeks…
She entered the sanctum to see Lilac in the center, bedbound and weak looking. “Ah… Emily… It’s nice to see you…” she said, slowly.
“Oh my gosh! Are you al-“
Lilac slowly raised her hand and beckoned Emily to come over. Emily nodded and went up to the bed. “This isn’t my first winter… Young one… It’s hardly going to be my last.”
“This is… Seasonal?” Emily asked. “Wait, all the others… The ones I haven’t been seeing lately, they have green skin too… Is that the connection?”
Lilac nodded. “It’s a condition we as plant beings have had to deal with since the dawn of our people… Those with green skin feel less hunger and are more vibrant when there is plenty of sun… However… When the long nights of winter come… Our energy drains… I’ve long had to rely on the good faith of those who do not bear the same skin to help me through the winters… My duties cannot be done in such a state…”
“I’m so sorry you have to deal with this…”
“I’m used to it… Don’t worry about me… Child…”
“So, you transfer your authority over to another while you’re weakened by the longer nights of winter, and you’re given the authority back once the days are long enough?”
“Yes.”
“That’s an enormous amount of trust. I don’t know if there’s a human society out there run like this – not without problems, anyway.”
“A shame… Perhaps through you they will learn something from us…”
It never struck Emily that could be possible. She smiled at the thought her book could help society in the future. Her smile got Lilac to smile.
“I had intended to make Skyla the elder for the winter… But unfortunately…”
“The tunnel project. She’s the best one for the job.”
“Indeed… Maybe next winter…”
Emily again smiled, warmed by the thought Lilac trusted her mother enough to run the village for a time. “While I’m here, would you like me to help you with something?” she asked.
Lilac only smiled. “It seems Skyla isn’t the only one that has earned my trust lately… Please… Come closer…”
Emily leaned in closer. Lilac grabbed Emily’s face as she looked at it very closely. “It seems you’re taking to the energy of the grove very well…”
“Wha-? What do you mean?”
“It’s time you know the truth… You have earned the right… My trust… You no doubt are already seeing what our grove is doing to you… Feeling it…”
“I mean, I feel healthier and look healthier, but-“
“And younger… You are indeed younger…”
Emily paused as she processed the information. “Younger?” she asked blankly.
“Do you remember… The tale I told you of the humans’ search for the fountain of youth?”
“You told them it wasn’t as they thought…”
“Because it isn’t a fountain… It’s not an object… It’s not even a place…”
It dawned on Emily at that moment. “It’s the dryads’ domains themselves.”
“And all that encompasses them…” Lilac finished for her.
“So… Dryads are attracted to the places they live in, which are vast forests and areas teeming with life… The forests themselves are the source of the everlasting life people were looking for, weren’t they?”
Lilac nodded. “Indeed they are… It’s life reinforcing life… That is how it works… All the life energy being shared… And we are drawn to such places…”
“And the reason why no one ever figured it out was because the effects come over time… A long time. Like months and years, not minutes like they were hoping for. And if they burned them to the ground… That means there’s no longer life sharing its energy, so the power fades away… They never would be around long enough to figure it out!”
“Correct… On both accounts… You have fantastic insight… Emily…”
“I thought I was seeing something different in my reflection! I thought I was feeling more energetic! That’s because I’ve slowly been aging backwards, haven’t I?”
“I thought you might figure it out eventually… You have done such good for us in your short time here… Emily… Or you might have had a full-blown panic attack…”
Emily chuckled. “If I didn’t figure it out soon enough, I might have thought I was losing my mind…” Then a thought dawned on her. “I’m not, err, going to just keep aging backwards, am I?”
“You have nothing to worry about… You may go back to the human age of twenty or nineteen at most… But there are some things that cannot go back with this magic… You will be fine…”
“Okay! Phew, I did not want to be in my teens again. I don’t think you’d want that either,” Emily suggested with a sly smile.
“Heh… Heh…” Lilac chuckled weakly, smiling. “Even our own can be a handful… And I’ve seen enough to believe you…”
“Hehe! Well, again, do you need anything?”
“In time… Perhaps… For now… I should have all I need… Thank you… Emily…”
“You’re welcome, and thank you, Lilac.”
Emily bowed before leaving Lilac’s sanctum. As she did, Lilac drifted off to sleep, worn out from the conversation. A smile of contentment formed as she dozed away.
Emily returned to Asterosk and Brice. They noticed her coming up, as well as the smile on her face.
“Went well, I take it?” Brice asked.
“I’ll have to add more details to the book later, but yeah, it went well. I didn’t realize how vulnerable some dryads were to changes of the seasons…” Emily admitted. “I was wondering what happened to Lilac…”
“Indeed. Like the trees and flowers, we too can wilt without the sun. But for those of us who look like humans, we get along with food and rest. For those with the green skin, the more plant-like flesh, who draw their nourishment from the earth and the sun a lot more, the longer nights hit them hard. It’s the job of the rest of us to take care of them while they enter this hibernation-like state until the days grow long enough for them to rise again,” Asterosk explained.
“I braved the terrain to come and ask about that, as one of the dryads in town – one with green skin – appeared to fall ill recently,” Brice added. “Asterosk here was explaining what we need to do.”
“How was it coming here?” Emily asked.
“I’m not looking forward to going back,” Brice stated matter-of-factly.
“Ouch,” Emily muttered. Clearly, there weren’t going to be a lot of people coming over until the tunnel was complete.
“Anyway, Brice, if there’s anything you need before you head out again, make sure we can get it for you, otherwise, safe travels!” Asterosk said.
“Thank you. I’ll give it some thought before I have to head back.” With that, Brice walked away.
Asterosk turned to Emily. “I get the impression you learned more than what happens to some of us during winter?”
“Let’s just say I finally know why I seem healthier than before. That was a surprise, but in the end, it makes sense.”
“Are you going to put it in the book?”
“For now, I think that’s best left unwritten. Do you know how many would flock to this place without the slightest respect for what it is?”
“Wise words for someone your age. Back before Lilac was the elder of our land, she even suggested we tell humans what our domains could do. It took her two hundred years to change her mind. You think this way at a mere twenty-five.”
“Or less,” Emily suggested with a sly grin.
“Heh, or less,” Asterosk chuckled in agreement.
Still, Emily had to admit this was startling news. She knew she was going to be here for years, documenting every little thing about the dryad society. Just how long could she be here?
“Asterosk… Other humans have lived with the dryads before, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“For how long?”
He had to think about it for a moment. “I heard tales of a human living in one domain for three hundred years before finally leaving the realm to resume a ‘normal’ human life… Take that with a grain of salt, mind you, as it’s just a tale. But it’s entirely possible for the effects of our domain to let you live for hundreds of years…”
Emily stared forward blankly. A young woman, to become younger than she was now. For hundreds of years. The thought of near immortality sounds great… Until you grapple with the consequences of living for so long. Was she prepared for how much the world could change if she decided to stay for a century or two? To see everything she knew change and decay around her as she never changed?
She headed for her place without another word. She needed time to process this.
And figure out the answers to her questions.
CHAPTER 5 END
By CrystalSeaDragon44
