A bright, shocking red cardinal soared just above the think canopy of the forest. A canopy through which its vision could not penetrate, a leaf covered every square inch. This was a forest that was old and strong. The little flame of a bird came to a clearing and swooped down into it to perch on an outstretched, delicate finger. Meet Tiranya, the forest nymph, inhabitant and guardian of this forest –her forest. She curved her lips into a circle and whistled a little tune to her ruby-coloured friend and he chirped back. Tiranya giggled and the cardinal flew away to go about his daily business. Tiranya –or Tira and she like to call her self, she found her full name to sound to serious for her liking- sighed at the loss of her little bit of companionship, lay back down in the patch of sun she had claimed and slowly drifted off to sleep. When she awoke it was a few hours past midday and the sun had moved so that her patch of sun was mostly shade now. Tira rose to her feet and walked off in the general direction of the river. On her way she asked her self if she wanted to bathe there today, but decided against it. Bathing was more of a pass time for her than an act of hygiene. She loved ‘dirt’ as most people labelled it. Tira would always be more comfortable with a little soil stuck to her body, and soil is not dirty in her eyes anyways. It’s the perfectly clean forest floor. At times her skin would feel healthier when she covered herself in mud (something she simply loved to do) than when she bathed in water.
There were two soft taps from her feet stepping on to the large rock at the riverbank. She cupped her hands and lowered them to get a drink. After downing the cool, fresh water she sat on her knees and began to stare into the water. Tira looked at her reflection. She looked almost human except for a few details. Her skin was unique in that it was the colour of pale wood, grain and all, which could be mistaken for human skin tones, and it was close to the texture of skin. Her skin never really tanned like humans did, even though it was exposed to the sun all day. Having nothing to wear apart from the wreaths she often wove for her hair she was always naked. She had long, wavy, black hair that reached down to her narrow hips and was streaked in places where green grass grew from her head instead. Many flowers also grew in her hair and hung down her back. Tira was built thin, lean and tall with long legs. She often thought if she held her hair up over her head she could look like a small tree with a face. Which is not to say she had a body without any interest of appearance; though Tira’s womanly curves were understated and elongated she did not lack beauty. Being a nymph she was supposed to be very beautiful, which Tira believed sometimes, though living in the forest she often felt she was surrounded with things much more striking than herself.
A soft sound alerted Tira to look up from her reflection. She was quickly put at ease when she recognised the sound as her friend Nael, the water nymph. Nael came strolling down in the middle of the river her feet obviously not reaching the bottom. As she reached Tira she stopped and greeted her “Hi there, Tira.” She smiled Tira waved back to her and admired her image. She always found Nael to be very attractive. She had a very different shape than that of Tira: all full, round curves with large, soft breasts that Tira had used to sleep on while Nael was telling one of her wondrous stories of travelling. How she envied her friend’s ability to travel the world. While Nael could follow the river out to the oceans and ride the currents out to all places imaginable, Tira had to stay in her forest and never had the privilege of exploring or of meeting all the interesting people that Nael spoke of. Nael would often mention her many lovers; strong, handsome and charming men who adored her. Which would disturb Tira a bit, thinking she should love men the way Nael did. She conceded that she had used sex to convince certain men to stop hurting her forest, cutting trees or poaching or the like, and she did enjoy the feelings. But seeing Nael reminded her that she truly wanted a woman as a lover.