The Dryad - Chapter 103

The fire spirit had calmed greatly while I was helping Mist. She did not seem to be wandering around the grove that remained inside the field of rot. As I walked nearer to her I saw her smoldering on a fallen log. To my suprise hot tears were running down her face, letting off steam. Why would she be crying? I am just protecting my family and my home. The scene surprised and confused me so much. My mind blanked out for a second. The step that I was halfway through faltered. I quickly adjusted my footing to catch myself, but doing so my foot landed on a fallen stick, causing a loud snap.

The only other noise in the woods was the crackling sound of the fires that had died down greatly while I was focused on Mist. The snap caused the spirit to jump. She turned to look at me. Her face turned ugly. “Why?!” She shouted and picked up a fallen pine cone. It burst into flames in her hand. My eyes were caught for a moment by the sudden conflagration. Before I realized it the fireball was rushing through the air towards me. I quickly swatted the pine cone away, not sure what was happening.

“Why what?” I found myself asking despite myself.

“Why did you do this?” Still not really clear but I thought I could take it from here.

“You were destroying my home much too quickly. If you kept this up for a few more weeks you and I would have nothing left and would just dissipate,” I said calmly, trying to help her see reason. To my surprise she just looked at me like I was an idiot. Her face then turned to the north. I already knew what she was looking at. A small man was flying his way around the clearing I had made.

Once Rine got me between the fire spirit and himself, he flew up and stood on my shoulder. “Where are Mist and Ivy?” he said looking around the clearing.

“Mist got hurt.” I tried in vain to keep the worry out of my reply.

“What What happened?” Rine’s voice wavered.

“She used far too much energy.” Remembering how close I was to losing her shook me again. “We managed to stabilize her for now. Ivy is taking her back to the pond to rest.”

I looked at Rine. I could see that he was torn between staying and helping me or checking on Mist. “Mist will need you more than I do. Go be with her, make sure she is safe.”

He turned to look at the fire spirit one more time. She had been watching us quietly while we talked. I thought that it was oddly courteous of her. But the longer we talked, the more the flames around her grew. A hot flow of tears continued to pour down her face. Her anger was not enough to phase me. She was trapped until I would let her go. “I can handle her. Go be with Mist.”

The silence in this new clearing continued until Rine was back into the woods. The fire spirit was glowering at me the whole time. Once we were alone again the silence was broken with her spite filled voice, “Do you just hate fire spirits?”

Her statement came right out of the blue. I had no clue what she was getting at. This caused me to hesitate a little when I replied. “I don’t hate fire spirits. I don’t see many of them but I have nothing against them.”

“You are such a liar,” she cried. “It is all too clear that you hate me! Why would you work so hard to save that water sprite but you just abandoned me in a pit with nothing?”

“Pit?” I said in confusion. What was she talking about? I do not know if it was just the situation, but that did not make any sense. Maybe my mind was just not functioning after spending all that energy to help Mist.

“I never thought that you would be such an idiot,” she said, her voice full of scorn. “To think that I looked up to you for all those years.”

Her remarks hit me hard. “Give me a little break, will you? I have been circulating more energy in the last few hours than you have handled in your whole life,” I snapped back defensively. “It might be expected that I am a little tired. It would make things easier on me if you could actually state things clearly.”

“Sorry for not being able to talk clearly,” she spat back at me, “You are only the second person that I have talked to in the last I forgot how many thousands of years. I might be a little bit out of practice.” She then stood up and started walking towards me. “Do you have any idea what it is like to be stuck in the same spot for thousands of years on end with no one to talk to! No where to go! And nothing to do!” The fire spirit verbally raged at me. “Would it have been that hard to visit me? A few times a century would have been a miracle. But you left me there with nothing.” She fumed. “All I had was the spiritual energy from the vent. It gets rather bland after a while. All I really wanted was a few branches. Was that too much to ask? I wasn’t even important enough for you to think of me! But you were willing to give up your woods for the stupid little water sprite that didn’t know her limits!”
for visiting.

While my thoughts were sluggish, I felt my body tensing as she piled accusations on me in her rage. Her anger was contagious. “Of course I would do all I can for Mist. I have been with her since she was born. She is one of my dear friends.”

“You were with me when I was born! But the help you gave me in my time of need was dropping me in the middle of nowhere, leaving me alone with only one food to eat for as long as I can remember. You think I’m worthless! Just because I like to eat plants!”

My mind finally figured out what was going on. This was the fire spirit that I had brought to the pit all those years ago. I do not mean to sound callous, but I was surprised that she was still alive. Those vents often only last for a few decades before drying up.

“I was just trying to find a place that you could live in safety for many years,” I said hesitantly. I was not sure how much of that was to her and how much was trying to convince myself. Fire spirits were predators to me. I would not choose to have one in my woods if I could do otherwise.

“Your lies are so easy to see through,” she glowered back at me.

“Do you really blame me? How would you feel with a water spirit wanting to dump rain on you all the time?” I said feeling some anger make its way into my voice. “One wrong move on their part could mean the death of you. How do you expect me to not be hesitant around you?”

“There is no way I could harm you that much if you wanted to stop me. I have been watching you today. If you really wanted to you could snuff out my life in a few seconds. When I was running rampant as a sprite you froze me in place. But today, you were only fighting me in my strongest area. It is like you are just playing with me! You think that my power is so far beneath your notice!” She spat back at me, her anger rising further. The more angry she grew, the more the fires around her grew.

She was right. There was a part of my power I was reluctant to acknowledge as my own. I knew it, but I have always denied that ability. It is something that Mother Earth and that naiad of the sea both had the ability to do. But if I was to fight this fire spirit on spiritual ground she would not be able to stop me from unravelling her.

I hated this ability and had never practiced with it. Today this was almost my downfall as this ability was exactly what I needed to help Mist, but I could not control it. Mother Sea was always being so pushy trying to get me to learn this power. She said it was part of being the firsts. But I still hesitated. My hesitation to embrace my power nearly cost my friend her life.

I tried to push aside the painful thought of Mist. I looked back up into the fire spirit’s eyes and saw a trace of fear in them. Much like what I saw all those years ago. “It’s not like you would have wanted to live with me,” I said, with insecurity mixed in with my anger. “You were so frightened by me that day. I used just a little of that power to get you to stop, but you were cowering so pitiably I thought you might exhaust yourself. You were terrified of me. What choice did I have but to take you to that pit?”

“I WAS A FEW DAYS OLD!” she shouted at me and threw a flaming branch at me in anger. “It was the first time I ever had a reason to be scared! You could have given me a chance.”

“I gave you a chance to live.” She glared at me as I said that. It was clear that she was not satisfied with my response. “This is not going to get us anywhere,” I said resignedly. “You are free to stay in this grove until you run out of food. I am going to check on Mist.” I turned and started to walk away. “Let me know when you want to go back to your pit.”