<<Emily’s POV>>

It has only been a few weeks since I moved back to the Franklin Dukedom, though it was not back to the same village where I used to live. That was more than 70 years ago. Probably close to 80 by now. I doubt anyone would remember me, but I had to be cautious. Mother had always told me to never reveal what I was to any humans. Well, she actually told me to be very cautious about revealing myself to humans. Even if you think you can trust them, when they find out you are different they might just turn and attack you. Since I was so weak, this meant never revealing what I really was. I could not take risks like my mother did.

I might be practically immortal by human or even elven standards, but I was still just a frail girl you could find anywhere. My only ability I got from being half dryad was the ability to make plants grow a little better. Well, maybe not the only thing, but I got no real strength from it. I did notice over the decades that living in or near a forest gave me more energy than when I was living in a village. That is why I would always try to build my cottage outside of the village. Being an herbalist gave me a good excuse. ‘I need land to grow my plants.’

It was just two days ago that I was able to buy a small plot of land with a house. Having a house there already was really nice. I was getting tired of having to have a new house built every fifteen years when I moved. Granted the house was a little run down and would take some work, but the structure was still sound so I would not need to start from scratch.

I was now working on getting the ground ready to plant. The field had been left fallow for many years and was nearly as hard as rock. Being half dryad, it felt a little wrong to be pulling up all these plants. But I was also half human. I could not live off of the energy in nature. I needed to eat and sleep. I pretended to need it as much as everyone else, but I could go much longer without it if I wanted too. The house would have to wait. I had spent most of my saving buying this plot with a house and needed to get some income. In a month I would be going hungry. Since I needed to eat, I needed to earn money. How would a dryad earn her money? With plants! Even so, these plants here had little value to humans. I could not sell them even if I tried my best.

I was a very tired by the time the sun was at its zenith. There was no way I was going to be working out in the sun during the heat of the day. This would be a good time to go and look at the forest. I needed to see if I could find any good transplants there. Of course I brought many seeds with me, basil, thyme, even mustard. I did not think I would be able to get the mustard to grow since this area was much further north than its typical home. But if I was able to raise up mustard seeds, I should not have to worry about money. Most of the seeds I brought were for medical plants like echinacea, but there was always a limit to what I could carry. If there were viable transplants available, I could be making a profit in days instead of weeks. And who knows, I might find a new plant or a better variant of a species I already had. Also, seeing what grew naturally would tell me which plants would thrive on their own and which I would need to pay more attention to. I took a bag and a small trowel and headed into the woods.

This would be the first time I stepped into these woods. I was a little nervous since I knew that there was a dryad residing here. I did not want to offend her by entering her forest without her approval, but there really was no other viable option. I could delay it a few days, but to a dryad that would make no difference. It would also take several months before I would be able to harvest a steady supply from my garden, which did not even exist yet, and I would starve by that point. It might only take a few month to get a harvest from the herbs, but for the trees like bay (I guess they call it laurel here) that would take even longer for me to be able to harvest. Though the bay, I mean laurel, trees were very easy to find in these woods, so I would not have to worry about that particular tree. I just needed to choose what variety I wanted.  

They dryad of these woods lived in a distant part of the forest and with my limited ability I had not noticed any movement from her. From the local legend, the dryad had once stepped out of her woods and terrorized this village, covering it in vines when they started abusing the abundance that the forest provided them. Many years later the elves came to the village on behalf of the dryad to help keep their home safe.

The description of the dryad was quite fetching: long flowing green hair with eyes that shone with her power. It reminded me of  my mother. I wish I could see my mother again. Part of me really wants to go back to that village and see if I can find her. But part of me is scared to find out whether or not she managed to survive. Now that the kingdom around her has fallen, she should be able to grow stronger again. It has been more than 250 years since I lived there. Even any elves would be dead by that point. Not that I had met any while I lived there. No one would remember me. But I might be able to find some great nieces and nephews. The war has be settled for a long time, so it should be safe there. I think in ten or fifteen years when I need to leave this village I should head to Estiban, or what was once Estiban, and see if I can find my mother.

The forest felt so peaceful and quiet. After all those days on the road getting to this new village and the days in town trying to get the lay of things here, the quiet was warmly welcomed. I let my mind relax as I walked through the forest collecting new plants for my garden. I followed a small stream deeper into the woods. I was not too worried about getting lost, but having the stream would make sure I knew how to get home.

A sudden caw from a crow brought my mind back into focus. This was a warning to others in the area. Something had scared the crow. I looked around to see what might have caused the crow’s distress when I spotted a small pack of four wolves passing through the trees. Wolves were smart and would not often go after humans that would fight back, so I did my best to stay calm.

I knew that running right now would be the worst thing I could do, since I was not fit enough to even think of outrunning a wolf. Since they had not yet seemed to lock onto me as their prey, I started slowly walking away from them keeping the pack always in my sights. I did not get further than a dozen steps. When the pack started to separate and go to either side of me, I fought the panic rising in my throat. This was not good.

Katuwarrior

If you did not guess by the chapter title this is part 1 of 3. I will try getting the other two parts out over the next two days.