The Dryad 123 Shivering In The Cold

Walking away from the pond, I was glad right now that the elves were less perceptive. They should be able to tell that I was moving but they were not able to clearly tell where I was. That made it much easier to avoid them as I slipped through their guard.

But before I made it too far from my clearing I stopped at a wider spot on the trail that the elves took between my pond and the village. Eight elves had given their lives trying to protect my pond. Leaving without acknowledging their sacrifice was wrong. I might not have known them but they were still trying to help me and deserved remembering.

I was stumped for a while on what I should do. I was not familiar enough with elven practices. Even if I was, that would not feel like it came from me. In the end I grew two oak trees on either side of the path. Just a little way overhead I caused two branches to grow together forming an arch. The next part would take the most concentration. I caused the surface of the branches to distort forming the words: "In remembrance of those who gave their all and returned to the woods that gave them life."

Giving my handy work one last look, I turned and set out to join my companions.

Leafia and the others had managed to make it a few hours into the woods before they stopped to set up camp for the night. It was well past sunset now and I had to think they were struggling to work in the dark. It would be a few more hours before I was able to catch up with them. But I still found comfort 'watching' them set up the camp for the night. It was something familiar that I felt I had been missing. This fall had been filled with so much that was new and uncomfortable. Yet somehow setting up the camp felt nostalgic. I smiled as Emily and Gray were walking around searching for firewood. I was glad to see that they were still looking for dead wood and not cutting into trees. I could only laugh at the mess Istan was making. Every few seconds a large pole would fall to the ground. It was hard to put up your tent on your own. Why was Leafia not helping?

Not far away she was sitting by the campfire. I guess she was working on their dinner.

They must have been really tired from traveling back at such a fast pace as they all turned into bed after sitting around the fire for a short while. Even with Leafia starting before them, the time they spent around the fire did not seem enough to even make a proper meal.

Judging by how quickly they made it to my woods and the fact that I knew they had been travelling well into the night tonight, it seemed that my companions had barely even stopped to rest. No, even if they had barely slept, that would not have been enough to get them here so fast. It was a mystery.

I continued to watch them as I made my way well out around the elven village. The longer I watched them the more I got the feeling something was off. After several minutes I noticed the horses were missing. Did they escape in the night? No one was near enough to where they were camping to have stolen them. How did I not notice the horses running off from camp? The least I could do was gather them up and bring them back.

I sent my powers out to find them but felt no sign of the horses anywhere in my woods or even at Emily's house. I started to get nervous and pushed my powers further until I found the familiar feeling of the horses on the far side of the village. Judging by the other horses around, this must have been where Gray bought them from. They must have left them there before heading into the woods. It seemed that they did not think the horses would be very useful in these almost tractless woods. I could not really blame them for that. Though the horses were well behaved, getting them to jump over all the downed trees and branches with a full pack would be a tall order. This had been made even worse in my woods with the purging of the blight I had performed when I had returned.

I guess I wouldn't be doing them a favor by gathering the horses then.

The temperature dropped as the night progressed. The water in the air condensed on the trees, forming thick layers of frost. If Mist was still in the pond I would not be worried. At most she might get a small layer of ice on the top of her pond, but that would not harm her. Now that she was just in the bowl…. I shuddered but it was not from the cold. Water spirits were not meant to be frozen solid. As much as it pained me to think of it, I could only rely on Maximus to take care of Mist. He surely wanted her for some reason and would not just let her die. Right? I did not want to think about it. So I put my effort back into walking.

By the time I made it to their camp all of them were sound asleep. Emily and Gray were cuddled together to protect themselves from the cold. Istan and Leafia did not seem to be faring as well. Leafia especially seemed to be really cold. Was Istan's blanket just that much warmer?

Well, I would not be as warm as Gray was for Emily. But I had been walking for several hours and even if plants were not warm blooded, movement still made heat. Not wanting to let more of my heat dissipate I snuck into Leafia's tent and lay down next to her, making my way under her blanket.

Leafia's body seemed to be attracted to the heat I was giving off. As I neared her she glued her body to me. Her back was cold and her legs felt like ice. I wrapped my arm around her and curled up as close to her as I could get. Her s.h.i.+vering seemed to settle down a little after a moment but it did not seem to be enough. Plants just did not make that much heat. Stretching out my powers I caused a blanket of moss to grow over us, trapping Leafia's body heat in.

In just a minute I could feel warmth return to Leafia and her s.h.i.+vering settled down. Not far away I could sense that Istan was still s.h.i.+vering. I felt a little bad just leaving him like that so I caused a blanket of moss to grow for him too. But as I was doing this I promised to myself that if he tried making it a family heirloom I would be sure to wither it for him. Checking one more time on Emily and Gray, it seemed that they were warm enough to make it through the night.

Once I was satisfied that my work was done for now I let myself relax. It had been a long day and my mind could really use a rest. I would have never thought that there would be six greater spirits gathered at my pond at one time. As far as I knew that was the biggest gathering of spirits that has ever been. I thought that dealing with mortals was hard, but it was not any better dealing with immortals.

Did that mean I was just bad at dealing with people? Part of me realized that this had to be the case. But maybe I was too tired and could not think straight right now. I decided to just relax my mind and wait till morning.