I would like to thank the lovely younghrted2 and TRCII for being my second set of eyes and helping with the edits. <3
***
Peaches grew above, dangling from their branches. The morning sun flickered through the leaves, illuminating the little orange spheres. A smile adorned my face as I picked the strawberries below. The garden was coming together for the yearly harvest. Closer to the hovel I dwelled in, lilacs, lilies, roses, rested in the smaller flower beds, coloring the otherwise normal-looking melding of trees.
A roof over my head and a place to rest were good enough for me, so long as it didn't collapse in the rain. In the early days of my new freedom, I'd become very reliant on my gift to guide me. The house was but the first among many things my powers provided. With a roof over my head, I went about decorating a little. Some of the comforts of a home that I missed. A couple of tables, a hollow carved into one of the walls making a stone fire pit, and a bed. Making the others was easy, but the bed was complex and took me many tries until I got something decently comfortable to lie in.
Calling on my power for so long usually left me quite drained. When I was a child, my father saw me as a mystic, a healer of our people. He tried to exploit it, exploit me, but when I proved unsatisfactory, he punished me... badly. I still carried some of the scars from those harsh lessons. What my father never realized was that I wasn't a mystic at all. Yes, you could say my gifts had the potential to heal, only at a much slower pace. Instead, I had been born with the gifts of the forest; a dradic. The humans used a strange word for people like me that I happened to prefer more. Druid just sounded better in my head.
After running away, life was hard. I was much more used to being pampered and taken care of. Now that I was on my own, fending for my survival, I often had to push myself to complete the necessary tasks. I'd never worked so hard in my life before. In every way I had been a princess since the day I was born, and in the past, I'd often ignored such simplicities as farming and crafting. Now this glen, my hole in the woods, and the farm I formed for myself were my life. I learned to want for little and appreciated the calm serenity this existence now offered. Swimming in the river, caring for the land, and singing with the birds; all of it made me content and happy. A sharp contrast to the dark past I ran from.
Shaking away somber thoughts, I returned to the task at hand, harvesting. As I picked a few of the riper berries from their vines, I looked them over for infections that the bugs might have left behind. The reaping was moving along splendidly as I jumped from shrub to shrub. With a basket full of berries, I stood to return to my little haven in the forest. I would have to return in a few days to plant new seed for next year's harvest.
Fruit and vegetables had grown easily for me, after a few lessons from the land. Forest creatures, such as deer, gana, and burtalo, stayed clear of me, leaving me to rely on the land itself for food. Or maybe they sensed what I was and respected my connection to life, so they gave me a wide berth. Not that I was well-equipped to handle taking down and carving up such animals, anyway. On rare occasions, I would try hunting outside of my wards for smaller game. I managed to snare rabbits mostly, and fish were caught on a good day at the river. Once I managed to capture a fox. I had to make a stone tool, which wasn't easy, to carve the now dead animal. Its fur had been hard to handle, especially with the complete lack of experience I had, but eventually it became the soft blanket that warmed me during cold nights.
It certainly wasn't easy, farming the natural fruits and vegetables of the land, adjusting to the new status quo of my life. I remembered the first harvest, almost four decades ago. My porcelain skin was sheening with a slick layer of sweat, raven locks splayed messily over my face every time I leaned over. I was quite the mess. But I pushed myself, I had to. And by the time the next harvest came it got easier. Eventually, I got to the point where it wasn't that big of a burden anymore.
The once demure little princess in her tower, turned into a farmer. I laughed at the idea as I stepped past the open portal of my home. It wasn't so much a door, but moss and vines draping over the entrance. I didn't need to have them, but it just felt normal-ish to me.
One of the lucky boons when I first came here was how scarce the humans were. They were dark creatures, capable of great evils. Humans rarely came out this deep into the forest. Those who did were hunters, in search of rare game. I steered clear of them when I had to travel outside of my glens. Later on, towards my fifth year here, the hunters were edging too close for comfort. I went about placing elven wards around the perimeter of my home, then a second set farther out, to keep them from getting close to finding a lone elf girl, barely matured, living out here on her own. The hunters wisely avoided my land after that. Occasionally, a deer or a satyr would come to nip and graze on the edge of the wards. Satyrs weren't exactly talkative but the demi-humans made me less lonely.
One in particular, named Brutis, made an effort to befriend me. He brought me gifts, such as proper tools to farm, flowers and crowns of vine and roses. I'd giggled at the kind gestures and blushed when he teased me. He was nice and I missed him dearly. One of the hunting parties had killed him for helping a rare breed escape the humans.
I forced myself to stop thinking about the past, driving myself to focus on what I needed to accomplish today. Dipping my harvested berries into the bucket of water, I'd smartly learned to procure before picking, I cleaned away any dirt or grime. When the berries were clean and safe to eat, I placed them in a mud bowl that I had baked to store some of my fruits and vegetables. Preserving the fruit had been a difficult task. Usually, I had made wards to slow their aging and keep out the climate. They were still fresh but the wards took time to build around each bowl.
When I finished sealing away my harvest, I snatched up a lovely looking peach I'd left for myself. The firm peach filled my small, graceful hands. As I held the delicious fruit, I figured today seemed as good a day as any to eat out in the glen. I took a bite of the tart globe, the flavor exploding in my mouth sweetly as I walked back into the forest. The trees, splotches of varying shades, greeted me in the whistling wind. I smiled at the familiar oaks and willows. Their hellos were whispers, carried on the wind to my ears. In turn, I bowed my head respectfully in greeting.
Travelling deeper into the glen, something was different. At first, I couldn't place what was wrong until a small sound on the edge of my hearing alerted me. Immediately, I sensed something was off. A presence lingered on the edge of the wards I'd set up. But this presence was perplexing. The defenses I left around the glens were farther out, maybe an hour of riding, and yet there was a second, much-closer disturbance that practically lingered around my senses.
I scanned the loosely-gathered trees. Surely there was nowhere he could hide from my sight. I opened my mind to the forest, seeking its aid and found only silence. My senses were screaming at me to flee back to the hovel, tighten the wards, and hide until whatever this was had vanished. I backed away on the path which I came, very slowly, minding my surroundings carefully. That was until I bumped into a hard surface that felt nothing like a tree. It was a man's chest.
Spinning around and jumping back a step, the forest begging to be used in my defense, I studied the man. Pointed ears jutted out from curly blonde hair. It was short, but the curls were still there. My eyes locked with his. The pools of venomous green were terrifying, and I yielded a step under their pressing gaze. He didn't waste a beat taking that step forward.
Thin lips curved into a grin. A small scar, likely from a knife, nicked his otherwise perfect face on the left cheek. Even with the imperfection, the male was handsome, and considerably taller than I. His chin rested at what would be just about eye level on my face. Corded muscle strained against the tight brown leathers he wore like armor. He wasn't barbaric or massive, but definitely a warrior type.
"Joviemao, Petrimoev."
His voice, deep and rumbly, was oddly soothing in the way a female would find comfort in their mate. Almost similar to the firm, stone feel of his body. Despite that, his tone was playful. As I sat on my haunches, ready to turn and run at a moment's notice, I caught a glimpse of something...primal in the greens of his eyes. Under the scrutiny of his gaze, I felt like prey. Hairs rose on the back of my neck and if that wasn't enough of a sign to run, then the advancing several confident strides he took toward me was.
I turned on my heels, bolting off into the forest but he was quicker. Strong arms encircled my narrow waist, pulling me against that strong body as I lost my grip on the peach I'd torn into, the succulent fruit plopping on the ground as I fought against his tight embrace. My arms were pinned to my sides, as I thrashed and screamed. Roots of the ground almost lashed out in my panic. It was only with a moment to spare that I took proper control and buried the power deep down. Should I need to, my magic would be the trump card for my flight.
"Careful," the man whispered soothingly. "I wouldn't want you hurting yourself."
