The Dryad 53 Sleep Over

"You can sleep on the bed. I will take the floor," Leafia said with a slightly resigned but determined look. I started to laugh at this. "What are you laughing at?"

"Why should I be taking the bed?"

"You have not been able to have a proper night's sleep in such a long time." I had to start laughing harder.

"Leafy, I have not had a full night's sleep for ten months since the snow melted. I have no need of sleep. You will be taking the bed. I can rest on the floor."

"But I can't have you sleep on the floor. I might be killed if the other elves ever found out about it," Leafia said with only the resignation left in her voice.

I pondered for a moment trying to solve her plight. "Well as I see it, we have two choices. Either I rest on the floor while you sleep in the bed and we never tell anyone. Or we both sleep in the bed."

"Are you really ok to share this little bed with me?" Leafia asked while turning slightly red. The light of the lamp almost made her face look like it was glowing. I really had a hard time believing that no elf men had tried to approach her. Especially in the fire light she would rival any spirit's beauty with the light making her fair skin glow and s.h.i.+ning off her smooth black hair. Her blus.h.i.+ng brought out this fact even more. Do men not like strong women? Is it really that much of a turn-off for them that they feel they have to ostracize her just because she is stronger than they are? I still must be a long way away from understanding the different roles that men and women were supposed to play. Did that mean I was never going to find romance myself?

"You really are beautiful. If I didn't know better, I might almost think you were a spirit," I said voicing my thoughts.

"Wha, what do you mean," she said, her voice trembling a little.

I guess I got Leafia caught up in my wandering thoughts this time. "I was just thinking out loud." I said trying to clarify things. "Don't worry so much about the bed. We are both small so there should be plenty of room if we sleep on our sides," I said with a smile. "Didn't you ever sleep in the same bed as your siblings growing up? I thought that was common. It will be just like that."

There was a slightly longer pause than I would expect before Leafia answered. "I don't have any siblings. My father always felt rather distant to me and my mother died when I was very little so I do not remember her much," she said while looking at the floor. "I have always been on my own. I never fit in with the others from the village. I had no friends that I could sleep with." Her breathing became more nasally and her shoulders trembled softly. "Once you find Faun I don't know what I will do. I do not want to go back to that village." I could see a trail of a tear glistening down her cheek in the light of the candle. I must have struck a sore point with my last comment.

"You are welcome to stay at my pond if you want," I said trying to comfort her.

"But how long would that last? You kicked us out from your pond because we were bothering you too much. After few months I will become just as much of a nuisance as they were," she said no longer trying to hide her tears.

I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around her. "Leafy, I know it won't always be easy, but you are my friend. I will not cast you out just because we have not yet figured out how to live together. We will just have to work at it. And if you find someplace that you would rather be you are free to leave. I never meant to tie anyone down with obligations. I did not know what was happening, I am sorry. I just wanted the annoying Elders to leave me be and stop wors.h.i.+ping everything I touch." After a pause I added, "You are not going to start wors.h.i.+ping me again are you?"

There was a little snort and I felt Leafia shake her head as it rested on my shoulder. "Then I am sure that we can figure everything else out." I said. Once she had calmed down a little she separated from my hug. I asked her, "We have about twenty minutes until we should head down to meet up with the others. What do you want to do?"

I watched Leafia as she pondered my question and saw a brilliant smile appear on her face still streaked with the residue of her tears. I was a little nervous but there was not too much mischievousness mixed in her smile. "Since I'm invited to stay at your pond, I want to know more about my new neighbor. Can I ask you some questions?"

"Only if I can ask you some back." I responded while sitting on the bed and started playing with some of my currently brown hair that had drifted in front of my face. Leafia sat down next to me.

"I will start off with something easy. What is your favorite color?"

Not this again, "Do we have to start off with a question about my hair? Mist and Faun never leave me alone about this." As I said that Leafia burst into laughter which confused me.

"I was not asking about your hair. I just wanted to know what your favorite color was."

I felt my skin turn green. "It looks like it is not just Ivy who can turn a lovely shade of green," she said seeming pleased for some reason.

"My favorite color is green," I whispered.

"That's too obvious." Leafia sighed. "What shade of green?"

I had to think for a moment. The obvious answer was the color of the laurel tree. It was such a common green color barely being different than the color of any other tree. "I really like the color of the laurel tree. But I think my favorite is the yellowish green color of the buds of what you call the cherry laurel. It is short lived and different." I could not think of a better question to ask so I simply said, "What about you?"

"You want to know my favorite color?" She asked. I nodded showing that she was right. "Purple," was all she said.

"You can't just leave it at that. Why purple and what shade of purple?" I said in mock exasperation. My over acting manage to draw another smile out of her.

"Almost any shade of purple. I like it because it is hard to find. I used to want my eyes to be purple."

"Why would you want that?" I had to ask.

"I always knew I was different, but yet I looked just like so many of the other elves. We all have blue or sometimes green eyes. If I was going to be different, I wanted to look different, too. I thought that changing my eye color would be a nice way to do it since it would only be something people noticed when they got closer." I thought that there was more meaning behind her words but I did not get the chance to ask before she said, "What do you like to do for fun?"

"I have been stuck in the same place for the last 500 years. So I have not had all that much fun." I could not help having some irritation mix in with my voice.

"You did that to yourself, you know. But what did you do for all those years? I know you did not sleep the whole time."

"Besides talking to Mist and Faun, I spent most of my time trying to grow my domain."

"How did you do that from your pond?" Leafia asked in surprise.

"You know how you were always able to feel my power?" She nodded to my question. "That is what I was doing. I was trying to grow the trees on the outer edges of my forest."

We continued this back and forth until it was time for us to head down for dinner. I can't say that I learned anything important but it was fun getting to know her a little better. I should probably do that with the others too. But the thought of trying to have this kind of conversation with Istan only made me shudder.