Many weeks later and many leagues of forest thereafter, Dacia eventually found herself skirting the south-most reaches of the Arelith forest. She had criss-crossed the southerly expanse of the forest in her search for whatever it was she felt she needed, inevitably finding nothing but emptiness. She was torn, now ; she felt instinctively that what she needed was farther south, but was loathe to leave her forests. For if she were to continue south, she would have to take to the plains. While she didn't particularly dislike the flat grasslands, it meant something more to her, the leaving of 'her' forests ; it signified for her an irreversible closure and irrevocable end to something she held dear.
Looking up, she noted that the morning had almost passed ; midday was almost upon her. Exhausted both mentally and physically from her long search, she wandered about the nearby area for a place to rest before breaking out into the grasslands. It wasn't long before she chanced upon a grove that somehow seemed different from others she'd crossed ; sublimely beautiful and rich with greenery, it was perhaps the most serene of places she'd ever known. She stood agape for a moment or two, then joyfully nestled herself up to the trunk of a large oak tree and began to organise her thoughts. She opened a parcel of food -- fresh mushrooms and fiddleheads she'd gathered the day before -- and ate hungrily whilst planning her journey.
After finishing her meal, the thought occurred to her that she could try once again to practise her exercise, to 'go inside' herself and calm her mind. Although she'd grown despondent at her continued failures to do so recently, perhaps this time something would be different. For the umpteenth time, then, she began her ritual. She placed herself into a comfortable position. She closed her eyes and began again to relax her body, to still her mind. She followed her breathing. Slowly, she felt her awareness begin to coalesce into a small, fine point, as the darkness grew deeper and her breathing faded slowly away, until she was no longer conscious even of that. For a brief while, the flow of time ceased to mark her world as she floated into nothingness.
She awoke from her trance to find a small grey rabbit nibbling at the laces on her boots. The creature looked up at her, its tiny nose twitching in the wind, its black beady eyes regarding her silently, as if waiting for her to speak with it. She looked down at the rabbit with puzzlement. 'Why isn't it running away', she wondered.
The rabbit sat up on its haunches, twitching its nose in the air and placing its paws delicately on its chest, and looked at her a moment, thoughtfully. 'Or it
would be looking at me thoughtfully, I think... if rabbits could actually do that', Dacia thought to herself.
'Tsk!' the rabbit replied, turning its head aside in an obvious snub. 'As if rabbits can't be thoughtful!'
'W-what...?' Dacia was stunned. 'You... h-how can you be
speaking?!'
The rabbit snickered -- or would have snickered, if it had an anatomy appropriate to snickering. Instead, Dacia somehow had the
impression that it had snickered ; as though she'd somehow 'felt' it snickering, in her mind. For in truth, the rabbit's physical expression hadn't changed in the slightest.
Dacia shook her head. 'I-I'm going bonkers. That's it, isn't it? Grief has driven me round the bend.'
The rabbit sighed testily. 'Are you done yet? With your private pity parade, I mean.'
'Uhm...' Confused, Dacia shook her head rapidly back and forth, as if to dislodge whatever it was that had suddenly settled upon her and rendered her version of the world obsolete. She then took a deep, decisive breath. 'Then... Yes ?' she said finally in surrender.
'Very good', the rabbit nodded in approval. 'Then I shall notify her.'
' "Notify..." ? Who ?' asked Dacia, more confused than ever.
'Oh! Well, you really didn't think that
I -- I mean, well, I'm just the
herald, after all!' The rabbit retorted, closing its eyes. It stood quite still for a moment, its last 'words' echoing off into space most peculiarly.
As the last echo died away, the form of the rabbit began to change, quickly elongating into the shape of a full-grown woman. She was extraordinarily beautiful, with long ash-blonde hair and startling blue eyes that held a deep wisdom. She was garbed in a simple dress coloured in dark green and gold and, surprisingly, her feet were bare. She might've been an elf, Dacia thought, had her ears been long. She looked far too delicate to be a human, or at least what Dacia had been told humans looked like. She was young and fresh, appearing to be in her early-100's in elven terms, but Dacia had the impression that she had somehow lived far, far beyond those years.
The woman looked at Dacia and smiled, as two songbirds flew to her and landed on her shoulder, peeping and cocking their heads expectantly. The woman's smile grew broader, as she moved her hand to stroke the birds' plumage gently before turning her gaze once again upon the young elven girl. 'Dacia', she said, as though it were more of a declaration of fact than the question most people would ask upon first meeting someone they didn't know.
'How do ye know my name?' Dacia asked.
To Dacia's puzzled frown, she continued 'I have been watching you.'
Dacia regarded the woman with more suspicion now. '
Watching me? Ya do realise how absolutely creepy that sounds, right?'
'Rest assured, I bear you no ill will', the woman replied.
'...and yet, ye've been spying on me', Dacia retorted incredulously, arching a brow.
The woman's smile faded as she pursed her lips and shook her head seriously. 'No. Not spying ; watching over you. Because you interest me.' For some reason, her voice -- smooth and mellifluous -- reminded the elf of a pure, dark brook, wending its way through rich, loamy humus. Her plain, soft words seemed to Dacia to be tinged with a certain sadness, as though she somehow knew of the tragedy that had transpired and was aggrieved because of it.
'What do ye mean, "watching over me"?' Dacia asked sceptically. 'I haven't noticed anyone in these parts aside from m'self, and -- well, you could say I'm usually pretty good at noticing that sort of thing.'
The strange woman's smile returned, as she nodded slowly in apparent agreement. 'Usually.' Her stress on the word, however, made it clear it was more of a rebuttal than an agreement.
Dacia could feel herself blush. 'Well... Yeah... I...' she turned aside before finishing her phrase. '...haven't been in top form lately.'
'No', the woman agreed knowingly. 'You bear much scepticism toward the world. Many have betrayed you. I know this. But I ask that you believe me ; I have been watching over you, whether you have noticed me or not. Ever since that night in the village', the woman concluded, nodding gravely as if remembering something unpleasant and far away.
Shocked at the implications of the woman's revelation, Dacia unslung her bow in an instant, nocking an arrow in one fluid motion and pointing it at the stranger. 'Enough!' Dacia challenged, her voice edged with flint. 'Just who are ye, and why are ye here?' There was a chance that the woman wasn't a source of danger, but if she were somehow connected to the coming of the dead, it was best that Dacia be on her guard.
The startled songbirds that had been resting on the mysterious woman's shoulder quickly took flight and disappeared at Dacia's hostile act. Nonplussed, the woman pursed her lips thoughtfully a moment before replying. 'Do not worry ; I am friend, not foe. I am
concerned', she ventured, 'and I --'
'Don't know ye!' Dacia interjected. 'Never heard of ye! Never even seen ye before!' Dacia's mind was reeling as the implications of this woman's words began to burst and pop within her mind. This person who refused to identify herself, who claimed to be a 'friend', who'd just simply appeared out of nowhere -- literally by magic -- and had been spying on her ever since the night of the massacre -- had she been the cause of the calamity that had befallen her kin? Had she been the one to send the throngs of walking dead against them?!
The strange woman said nothing in reply, simply fixing Dacia with her calm, unwavering blue eyes that suggested nothing less to Dacia than an endless, fathomless expanse of serene blue sky. All at once, and for no particular reason she could explain, Dacia felt profoundly her complete insignificance in the face of the tremendous power reflected in that expanse. She also felt her fear begin to fade, her anger to edge away. She became conscious of the wind skipping lightly about her, unconcerned with the drama roiling inside her head, as if none of it really mattered all that much anyway.
'I... don't understand', Dacia said, lowering her bow. 'Why... do I get the feeling that I...' She shook her head, leaving the phrase unfinished, then sighed. 'Well. In any event... Getting back to what you were saying. Somehow ye've been "watching over me" all this time -- without me noticing
anything at all, just like that, have ye? What are you then, some sort of "Ultra-Powerful Being" or something?' she continued, somewhat tautly. 'Or maybe you're like "The Queen of the Forest" or something, eh?'
Once again, the woman said nothing, choosing simply to regard Dacia patiently.
Despite her silence, Dacia felt once again the incredible presence of the woman before her, felt it even as a palpable pressure against her skin. The birds fell silent. The wind grew calm. The trees ceased their shifting motion. The presence of the woman in front of her filled the entirety of her consciousness.
Feeling her confidence flagging, Dacia reprised, '...And
this is the part where
you're supposed to say, "Oh, no, nothing like that, ta be sure!" and maybe laugh lightly or something -- ye know, ta reassure me, or... ye know...
something... and then tell me who ye really are.'
The woman chuckled softly. 'No, Dacia, that I cannot do. To do so, I would have to lie, and that is something I will never do.'
Dacia was stunned. 'Oh. You're some sort of god, then, are ye? You run this place, do ye?'
The woman smiled ruefully, seeming to feel poignantly the accusations hidden like barbs behind the young girl's words. 'No, young one, I do not. This place is of all the world. And while I may be what some might call a "god", my choices do not dictate, only guide.'
'Ah', Dacia replied open-mouthed, nodding in understanding, her eyes narrowing to slits. 'Huh', she replied ever more vehemently, a bitter smile now wending its way slowly across her lips. 'Yeah. You're a god, then. You're a
god!' she repeated, her voice beginning to crack. '
You could've stopped it!' She shook her head in amazement, the absurdity of the situation settling over her like a shroud. 'You could've
stopped it! And ye
didn't!' Her sneer disappeared as she gave voice to her accusation, and her eyes began to well with the tears she'd been holding back those many months, as she suddenly felt the full impact of realising that all of the rationalisations she'd been fabricating to build up a careful defence around her heart -- that gods didn't exist, that the plight of her people had been beyond all possible hope, and therefore somehow inevitable -- was a complete and utter sham.
There might have been another outcome -- but there wasn't. '
You could've come -- and helped! Or you could've sent someone to help! You could've done
something -- anything!' Dacia's voice rattled and hic'd with her growing torment. 'And
You. Didn't. Come!' The force of her reprisal practically hissed through her teeth clenched with rage and indignation. 'Not you, not some bloody avatar, not an emissary... not even the
smallest of creatures did ye send to our aid! NOBODY!' She was practically shouting in her grief now, the tears streaming freely down her cheeks. '
Nobody came! ...and we all... died!
Every... last... one!'
The woman waited a moment before replying, her lips clenched tightly in sympathy. 'No, dear one', her soft words carrying some consolation to the girl. 'There is one left.'
Consoling as they were meant to be, the strange woman's words did little to warm Dacia's spirit or wash away her grief. '
What does it matter?!' she screamed. 'I am now the last of my line, alone in the world! And
all that I loved is
gone! You might as well have taken me along with them!'
The older woman regarded the young elf silently for a moment, her eyes filled with pity. 'I am sorry, Dacia. I, too, feel your pain -- truly! You know not how deeply I feel it! And though you may believe me to be the cause of the downfall of the village that night, I tell you truly, it was not I who took those whom you love, but another. And know also that you are not alone -- for I am here, and there are others of your kind as well.'
The maelstrom of Dacia's thoughts and feelings began to calm at the softness of the words spoken by the mysterious woman. Indeed, her very presence was like a balm to Dacia, somehow gradually healing the terrible, tremendous pain of her recent loss. She felt as if her heart were being bathed in the radiance of the beautiful woman who stood before her, that she somehow gradually eased some of the pain inside her. Dacia wondered briefly if she might be under the influence of some sort of charm, forgetting for a moment that she, like all elves, was immune to those enchantments. No, she realised, this was something else ; this was the filling of an emptiness that she'd felt inside her for much too long, and the easing of a strange constriction which had bound her heart like leaden shackles.
The woman took a graceful step toward her. 'Now. Let us talk.'
Despite her approach, Dacia felt no fear ; on the contrary, she longed for her presence, felt a deep yearning for her closeness. She nodded once and took a step toward her.
'What happened that night, no one should experience', the woman continued. 'There was no rhyme nor reason to the events of that night ; no basis for it in nature whatsoever. Indeed, it was a blasphemy against all that is life and the flow of nature. Do you understand?'
Dacia nodded.
The woman stood directly in front of Dacia now. She reached out her hand and touched her cheek gently. All at once, something within Dacia gave way, and all of the torment and the fear and the rage that she'd cordoned off within herself, all of the grief and terrible sadness that she had repressed so absolutely for so many months on end, came pouring out of her in a flood, and she wailed, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably in her grief.
The beautiful woman took her in her arms and held her head against her chest, stroking her hair as she sobbed, her warmth filling Dacia with soft reassurance, her whispers falling delicately around Dacia like a breeze in springtime. 'I know', the woman said, consoling. 'There was no justice there that night, and you have suffered much....' She continued stroking her hair, as her tears eventually began to slow.
The woman continued finally. 'But you should know also that there are limits to what all beings can do, even immortals -- for good, but also (fortunately) for ill -- and there are reasons for all things, even the unjust ; and even those which you cannot see. Perhaps one day, all of this will become clear to you. If you continue your search, certainly, you will find that which you seek.'
Dacia wiped her nose and, after a moment of thought, she replied quietly, 'I... don't even seem to know what it is I'm looking for'.
'But you do, dear one. Serve me', the woman replied matter-of-factly, looking Dacia in the eye and holding her by her shoulders before her. 'Serve me, and together we shall right this injustice. Together we shall reset the balance. I am that which you seek. For it was I whom you called to you, whether you know it or not.'
Far-fetched or vainglorious as those words might be in any normal situation, they rang true for Dacia in this one. Somehow the honesty and ingenuousness of them left no doubt in her mind ; she felt the truth of them in her heart. She stared at the moist earth by her feet, considering them, then nodded and smiled weakly.
'You shall carry on south from here', the woman continued, turning southward and pointing as she spoke. 'Along that path, far to the south, at the edge of the sea, seek me in the city of men. For while the forests are mine, I too am everywhere there is life, even unto men. Go there, to their towers and their tunnels and their houses of stone. Go there, and find me. For there you shall know me as I am more than I am now, and there -- if you choose to serve me -- you shall find that which you seek : your allies, and your arm!'
Dacia nodded again, dumbly, and when she looked up at the woman, there was nothing before her but an empty grove ; only the stand of oaks stood many yards away. It was dark, she noticed ; apparently the sun had gone down as they had stood there talking, or perhaps the forest had somehow grown darker still, or...
She awoke from her trance to find a small grey rabbit nibbling at the laces on her boots. The creature looked up at her, its tiny nose twitching in the wind, its black beady eyes regarding her silently -- and scampered off.
Dacia frowned in puzzlement and rubbed her eyes, and was surprised to find tears there. She had been... crying? In a flash, she remembered. Jumping to her feet, she looked around her quickly, but there was no one there ; only the endless forest, stretching on before her in the midday sun, just as before. But for the first time in months, it didn't look quite so dark and quite so endless, and Dacia felt not quite as heavy and not quite as impotent as she had throughout all her travels.
'What a strange... dream? Was I dreaming, then?' she pondered. Regardless of what it was, the experience filled her with an inexplicable sense of purpose. She knew at last, on an instinctual level, how to gain the support she needed to achieve her goal. Turning southward with nary an additional thought to the world she placed at her back, she took a deep breath and set out.
~=*=~
Somewhere deep along the twining darkness of the virgin forest, one could almost imagine a voice which seemed to whisper softly, gently, like the wind passing through the boughs of ancient, ageless branches.
Go now, tiny floret... go, and be brave...