Bryce

“What do you mean, ‘is somebody missing’?” Rosie, the dryad asked. “You’ve been missing for months, and you have the nerve to show up here and ask if somebody is missing? Just consider yourself lucky that Esme isn’t here to give you an earful for asking such a stupid question. Gods below, you’d think a celestial of Inim, even a fallen one, would have more sense. But no, that glorified bird never did know how to raise a child.”

“Um, Ms. Rose,” Esme interrupted the dryad’s seemingly endless tirade. “I am here.”

“And who might you… oh.” Ms. Rose—because she definitely carried herself much more like a Ms. Rose than a Rosie—seemed to calm herself after recognizing Esme. “This doesn’t seem like the sort of conversation to be had while standing in the receiving hall. Follow me and I’ll make us some tea, then you can introduce me to your elf friend.”

“That’s Bryce, she’s my girlfriend.” Thea’s abrupt introduction caused the dryad to pause.

“Like I said, we should discuss this over tea.” Ms. Rose guided us to the room that she had been in when we first arrived, which turned out to be a neatly kept kitchen.

It was smaller than I would have expected for a house this size, but was well maintained. The only blemish to the cleanliness was a pile of glass on the floor that looked like it must have once been a cup.

“Pardon the mess,” Ms. Rose apologized. “Thea, be a dear and clean that up while I prepare some tea for your girlfriend.”

“Um, sure, I can do that.” Thea started to make her way to a closet in the corner of the room before she was interrupted by another of Ms. Rose’s requests.

“And take out the garbage when you’re finished,” she ordered. “It’s been piling up while you were gone.”

“I, uh, yeah okay. I can do that, too.” Thea looked worriedly toward me, which only served to increase my anxiety. I looked to Esme for some form of reassurance, but she was very deliberately avoiding eye contact.

“Esme, I have cookies in the oven that should be done in a few minutes,” Ms. Rose explained. “Would you mind bringing them out to the atrium when they’re ready?”

“I don’t mind, Ms. Rose.” Esme nodded before rushing to pull a pair of small cups with saucers from the cabinet to hand to the Dryad. “Here you go, Ms. Rose.”

“Thank you, dear.” She took the cups and saucers, before primly walking towards a door on the far side of the room. “Thea, when you’re finished with the garbage, take a look at the chore list and see if there’s anything else that needs doing.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Thea shouted after the dryad before hurriedly turning to me. “Babe, listen. That cup that got smashed was Rosie’s favorite, and I’ve never seen her this angry. Whatever you do, don’t drink the tea.”

“I, uh—”

“Bryce, are you coming?” Ms. Rose asked from the doorway.

I nodded to Thea before following the dryad. “Of course. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Ms. Rose led me to a glass door about midway down a hallway, which I opened for her.

“Thank you, dear. Please, have a seat. I was already preparing tea when you arrived and all that’s left to do is pour it.”

“That sounds wonderful.” I followed her into the atrium and was stunned by what I saw.

The sheer amount of green was a stark contrast to everything else I had witnessed while in Hel. The only other plant life that I could remember seeing was the ivy that was growing along the fence surrounding the grounds, and I was beginning to believe that Ms. Rose had been responsible for that as well.

There were an uncountable number of flowers growing beside a stone path that led deeper into the garden. More of the ivy from the fence was covering the walls up to the open ceiling on the second story.

But most amazing of all was the massive tree at the center of everything. It was easily a dozen meters thick, and the canopy covered the entirety of the atrium, making it impossible to tell how tall the tree actually was. It should have been incredibly obvious from outside the house, but I hadn’t seen it coming in. Which told me there was likely some sort of illusion hiding it.

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“This is gorgeous,” I said as I took in the greenery.

“Thank you.” The dryad was beaming with pride. “There are very few groves left in the lower planes, and as far as I’m aware, mine is the oldest.”

“It's refreshing to be amongst this much plant life." I inhaled the aroma from the flowers and felt a weight lift off my shoulders. "I’ve spent most of my life living in cities, and it’s been nearly half a century since I was last on Meridoth.”

“Oh, that is a tragedy,” Ms. Rose paused near a glass table at the base of the tree. “A child of Yggdrasil shouldn’t be away from her home for so long. It must be hard for you.”

“I had a falling out with my family, which would make going back home difficult,” I explained. “Although I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it.”

“Family can be difficult, but you’re still young, which means you have plenty of time to reconcile.” Ms. Rose placed one of the cups across from her before indicating towards it. “Please, have a seat. I’d love to hear all about how you and Thea met.”

She was speaking in a calm and pleasant tone, yet she somehow managed to make the request feel menacing. So, I quietly obliged and took a seat across from her. Ms. Rose then filled the cup using an elegantly sculpted teapot that I hadn't even noticed at the table. After filling her own cup with the same tea, she sat down and took a purposeful sip.

I didn’t want to be rude, but I also wasn’t careless enough to outright ignore Thea’s warning. My nanites would be more than capable of handling any mundane poisons. So, I lifted the cup to my mouth and mumbled the incantation for a spell to detect magic.

“Is there a problem with the tea?” The dryad asked with a knowing grin.

“Only that it appears to be enchanted. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me what the spell is?”

“It’s nothing harmful, just a simple truth spell,” Ms. Rose explained as she took another sip from her tea. “In fact, mine is enchanted with the same thing.”

Sure enough, with my detect magic spell still active, I could see the enchantment on her cup was exactly the same as the one on mine. I silently apologized to Thea as I ignored her advice and took a sip of the tea.

I was prepared to lower my magic resistance to allow the truth spell to take hold, but I didn’t even have the opportunity before it completely overwhelmed me. My entire body felt light, and I carefully set the teacup back down on the saucer.

“How are you feeling?” Esme asked as she sat a plate of cookies down on the table and joined us.

“Anxious,” I replied. “Thea warned me not to drink the tea, but I ignored her advice and now I’m worried that I’m going to regret it.”

“Well, you’ll only regret it if you haven’t been entirely honest about what you did to Thea.” Esme smirked, but her smirk turned to a frown as Ms. Rose sat another cup of tea in front of her. “What’s this? You don’t trust me?”

“Drink it,” she demanded. “You’ve been missing for nearly as long as Thea, and you show up at my door with an entirely new body after your father told me you were dead.”

Esme cringed as she lifted the teacup and drank from it. “Gods, I hate this feeling.”

“I don’t dislike it,” I admitted. “Feels like I’m buzzed.”

“Which is exactly what I hate about it,” Esme said. “I despise drinking.”

“How in the hells is Thea even friends with you?” I asked. “She’s fun, caring, and actually pleasant to be around. You’re the exact opposite.”

“Fuck you elf, I’ve been there for Thea ever since she fell three centuries ago,” Esme said. “You have no right to take her from me.”

Esme and I just stared at each other in surprise. She seemed mortified at what she had just said.

“I don’t like you Esme. But for some reason Thea does, and I love her. So, I’m willing to tolerate you. Hells, I even resurrected you after you tried to kill me.” I sat back into my chair. “I don’t expect, or even want, you to like me. But if you care about Thea at all, then you’ll respect her autonomy and let her make these decisions for herself. Which means tolerating my existence, for at least as long as it takes for Thea to realize she’s too good for me.” I hadn't exactly meant to add the last part, but apparently it was how I felt, so I didn't correct myself.

“Alright, girls, that’s enough,” Ms. Rose interrupted. “It sounds like you two have a lot to work through, but first I’d like some answers.”

“Of course, Ms. Rose,” Esme conceded. “What would you like to know?”

~~~~

“I told you not to drink the tea.” Thea smiled at me as we met her in the hallway. Esme and I had spent well over an hour explaining the situation to Ms. Rose and answering every question the dryad could come up with. The evil plant lady then proceeded to lock the two of us in the atrium alone while she went to talk to Thea.

There was a lot of shouting, and even more arguing, but we eventually came to some sort of understanding. Which essentially just came down to putting our own personal issues aside and letting Thea be an adult.

“I love you so much.” I pulled the little devil into a tight hug, which she returned with a muffled laugh.

“I’m going to go sleep off this terrible tea,” Esme declared from behind me. “But first, I'm going to go to the bathroom.”

Thea pushed her way out of my hug to address Esme. “Go pee, but then meet us back in the main room. Apparently, Lilith is missing, and we need to go find her.”