You’re doing well, Cat. You almost didn’t tip me off that you were there this time.
Thanks, I try. Are you all right?
Yes, of course. Why?
Just wondering. You’re so far away, I worry that I can’t protect you if something happens.
Nothing will happen, Sath—and I can protect myself, thank you very much. How is Khujann?
Just the same. Less playful mischief, more sneaking out like Kazhmere used to do. He misses you.
Is Khuj the only one?
You know that he is not. When are you coming home?
Sath. I am at home. I am needed here. You could come to visit me.
There was a long silence. Gin could still feel Sath through their bond, but he was sulking and not speaking to her. She sighed loudly as she rose to refill her mug, almost running into a young wood elf female that was standing behind her in the shadow of the door to her hut. “Oh, dear spirits, I am sorry, little one. I did not hear you come up behind me.”
“My apologies, Nature Walker.” The younger elf took Gin’s empty hand in hers and pressed her forehead to Gin’s knuckles. It was a customary greeting among the druids, and Gin nodded her head and smiled. “I was sent to check on you when you did not come to evening devotion.” Every night at sundown, since Gin’s return to Aynamaede, the druids gathered at the stone circle. They meditated together, reminding themselves and each other of their loyalty in service to the All-Mother.
“Yes, I needed some time in private meditation tonight, my little one.” Gin moved past the younger female and opened the door to her hut. “Is everything all right?”
“Oh, yes, Nature Walker. All is well. Good rest to you.”
“And to you.” Gin entered her hut, flinching as the door slammed behind her before she could catch it. She looked at her mug and decided against another cup of tea. After placing it near the fireplace, Gin made a circle with her hand that ended in a closed fist. The torches that burned in the corners of the room extinguished. She wrapped her arms around her chest and walked into her bed-chamber, before searching the bond for Sath one last time. Gin did not find him there, so she wished him good rest and sat down on the edge of her bed to unwind her intricately braided hair and get ready for bed.
Outside her hut, the young wood elf lingered in the shadows, watching the Nature Walker through one of the small, rounded windows in her hut. As Gin unbraided her long, auburn hair, the young elf touched her own hair, braided similarly. She felt a strange tingle and pulled her hand down out of her hair, frowning at what she saw. Her oaken-tinged skin darkened before her eyes. The braids in her blonde hair melted into silky white waves that fell just below her shoulders. The leather tunic that she wore lengthened until the cobalt fabric touched the wood of the platform.
“I will have you, Ginolwenye of the Trees, for what you did to my A'chrya,” she hissed in D’leesh. Ellie whispered words in her language and faded from view, but remained on the platform watching Gin through the window. As she leaned on the wall, darkness began to creep in around her field of vision. “Not now, please, not now!” Elspethe straightened up and moved away from the wall, preparing to cast a spell to transport her away from Aynamaede. One last look in the window before the spell took hold, and everything went dark.
Gin reached up to rub the back of her neck as a painful tingle spread down into her shoulders. It was a pain she hadn’t felt in months, not since – no, Taeben was dead. She searched the bond for Sath but again found nothing but silence, so she snuggled down into her bedding to go to sleep, willing the nightmares away so that she could rest. The pain abated as she dozed off, but the dreams appeared right on cue. They were mostly images, nothing really concrete—but the content was always the same. The Temple to the Mother with Taeben—Sath as the Bane of the Forest—those she lost: Lairky, Cursik, her parents—Kazhmere as she looked standing outside of the Fabled Ones’ great hall.
Startling from the nightmare, she again felt the tingle in her back and shoulders. She sought out Sath in the bond and found him, but he was asleep, and she didn’t want to intrude on his dreams or wake him. She pulled back and opened her eyes, her blurry vision scanning the room for something familiar. Gin smiled as she spoke the words for the first spell she ever learned, causing a sphere-shaped bunch of magical fireflies to form above the palm of her hand. Using the supernatural insects as a torch, she rose from the bed and padded across her bedchamber to the window overlooking the rest of Aynamaede. She dismissed the fireflies and gazed out over her city—her people. Lamps burned in windows, torches on each level blazed, creating a path from the top of Aynamaede—the residence of the Nature Walker—to the lifts that led to the forest floor below. Everything was peaceful here, but Gin knew better than to grow complacent.
Since becoming the Nature Walker, Gin read the journals of
