“Yes, and no. I can only ask them to do things that are physically possible. Like, I can’t ask them to fly. But I can ask them to do a lot more things now, even the quite unlikely stuffs. I’ve been with Oldbark for a hundred years. I’ve learnt a lot.”
“Why do you use the word ‘ask’? It’s your magic that makes it happen, isn’t it?”
“Well, they actually have a choice. They can refuse to do the things I ask. It rarely happens, almost not at all. But they can. They have a choice. And, dead plants don’t respond to me. And the plants in Greymoor, they absolutely refused. They’d turned grey and black, a ghost of a plant, and they don’t putrefy. I couldn’t talk to them at all.”
“Let’s not talk about dark and ghostly matters, shall we. It’s already dark in here.”
“So, you’re afraid of the dark,” teased Elena. “You didn’t seemed so last night.”
“Well, I was … preoccupied,” he said.
“Oh, really.” She held up her hand and the palm began to glow. A few golden dusts floated upwards and bombarded the ceiling. A few small leaves began to incandesce. The dim interior lighted up warmly.
“Making leaves shine. How romantic!” With the light, Darius could see her face again. She was so pretty, especially now. Slowly looking down, he saw that defenceless pink nipples, though small but it stood up proudly. Darius gently squeezed her breast and she adjusted herself, laying herself on the soft comfortable moss, a gesture of invitation and Darius adjusted himself accordingly, getting on top. There, they began again the continuation of the unfinished story, part three.
Darius woke up around noon but Elena was already up. She was standing by the wall looking out. He got up and went over to her, hugging her from behind, kissing her neck and grabbing her breasts. He wanted to proceed to her mouth but she deflected away.
“You definitely need to wash up. I’ve some water for you,” she said giggling.
“Oh, do I stink.”
“Yes, you do.”
“But, why don’t you stink?”
“Cause I don’t perspire like you.”
“Huh.” Darius turned and saw the bunches of fruits growing out of the whole wall. They were more bountiful than yesterday. And this time, there were a few large pitcher plants hanging among them. Darius was curious and went over. He saw that they were filled fresh water all the way up to the rim. “Now, this is innovative.” Each one of them contained about several jugs of water.
“They are just … hanging there. So, you can pour the water out or you can poke some holes at the base and it’ll spray out. You know, like a watering can.”
“Huh. Is this standard magic or you can just invent them as you go?”
“Not really an invention. I just grew the plant and asked the tree to fill it with water.”
“Alright. That’s really neat.” Although she had said that she could only grow things, but up till now, the possibility of her magic was limitless.
He started to bath by poking the holes and he found out that the tree replenished the water quite quickly. The pitcher was never empty.
“I see that you did some renovation.”
“Yeah, I did.” She had been doing some modification to their nest since she woke up. She had opened up the top so that the sun and the wind could now come in. More importantly, they could stand up and stretched and look around the forest. Darius noticed that they were further high up than the last time he looked out to the forest.
“I raised it higher so you can look further.”
“I really like that. Can you raise it further, like above the canopy? Then, we can see how vast the forest is.”
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“I can, but I don’t want to.”
“Why? Don’t you want to see that? It’ll be the best view in your whole life. Unless, you can grow wings. Then, you’ll see it every day.”
“No, I can’t grow wings. But I’ve seen it quite a few times.”
“Well, I’ve seen it from the mountains near my home. But not from here. Please. Can you raise it? We’re almost at the top already.”
“No. Just in case you haven’t realize. We’re naked. I don’t want to be seen naked.”
“Who’s going to see you naked up there?”
“The birdpeople. They nest on the canopy. At least, some of them still do.”
“Oh, birdpeople. Why didn’t I think about them? But, why do you care if they see you naked?”
“Cause I happen to know them. We’ve a … relationship. All the beings of the forest have a relationship with each other.”
“You know them? Like there are really birdmen and birdwomen and you know them and speak to them. Hmmm, and, you also know the old croc. And they’re all from different races. And this far out.”
“They’re not actually neighbours. We’re housemates, or family. We stay in the same land. Don’t you know your neighbours?”
“Not really. Only those I see every day. I don’t know of any elves from the next clan. And they don’t live very far away. A half day walk, maybe. Sometimes, we all have these combined drills. But still, we don’t really know each other. At night, after the training, we have a party and do the things together and then we go home and forget everything about each other. Not exactly friendship.”
Darius was suddenly very sad and downcast. The issue had been plaguing the elves for hundreds of years now and it had only gotten worse. Every night, back home, he used to see his father deep in thought while smoking his long pipe and looking out the window to a clear sky, worrying about the fate of the elves. Without unity, the elves were as good as gone. And some clans did leave. Their number was diminishing. And the worries aged him considerably. He looked older than he should be. The lines had carved up his face.
Darius knew the question that his father had always been tormenting himself, “Is everything going to come apart on my watch?” Darius had once seen them leaving when he was out hiking, the long line of his kind marching along the valley. Perhaps, they are tired of the forest, he thought. They left through the mountains in the northwest of Everglades. In those mountains, there was a cave that led to an underground river which flowed through the mountains and into the icy land of the North and all the way to the North Sea. Centuries ago, the Council had commissioned the dwarves to build them a shipyard in the cave. After that, the elf clans could build their own ships or hired the dwarves. But where are they all going with these ships? Obviously, the information, if there was any, was not shared. After all, it was only a legend that the elves came to the Great Plains from the North Sea many thousand years ago. Are they going back to the lands of the Ancient Elves? What will they find there? Peace? Or, ruins?
“Oh, don’t look so sad. Come here,” said Elena looking at her poor pet. She held out her hands and Darius walked over to her, hugged her tightly and kissed her. Her soft body was comforting. He was suddenly in the mood. He had an urge for Elena, the urge to penetrate her, to be with her.
He turned her around and she obliged. Her back was facing him and he started to kiss her, first her neck, her shoulders and down her back. He pushed her shoulder, bending her over the edge of the vine wall, her upper body was outside the nest, her breasts dangling in mid-air. She held on to the vines while Darius devoured her from behind. She was consumed by the sensation. The fact that she may tumble down did not even register.
Slowly, he began to work her. He gasped for air. He increased his tempo. Elena tried to pull herself up. The pleasure had taken over. She seemed lost, floating in air. Then he said breathlessly, “Come on … come … on … raise the nest … please … raise the nest … I want to see … to see the sun … to see … the sea of green.”
She heard him. She felt his intensity. She was lost. She was not sure of anything anymore. They no longer mattered. She heard him again. “Please, raise the nest, please, I want to see.” He was lost too. Her hands began to glow, involuntarily. Her thoughts were no longer hers. Golden flame licked her hands and spread to the nest. Then, he felt it. The nest was moving, moving up. He was getting more excited. The nest trembled like a small earthquake. The vines from the spiderweb below pushed the nest up. New vines growing down from above weaved through the nest and pulled it up. They all ascended. He heard the rustling of the leaves and the creaking tension of the vines. He held her tighter. He was getting more and more excited. The branches above moved away creating a hole. Sunlight came crashing through, beaming on them. And out came the nest on top of the canopy, And Darius stopped. It was over. He looked around. His whole body was tensed, and he was out of breath. They were in full view of the sun, the clouds, the winds and the birds. He softened up. Slowly, she slid down, sliding against the wall of vines. She was panting too. She just sat there, dazed, recovering, recollecting, what just happened. Darius put his hands on the edge, still breathing hard and looked around. The panorama of the foliage extending all the way to the horizon, limitless like the sea, and the brilliance of the sun, the all-embracing breeze, they all struck Darius deeply and made him want to cry.
From far away, a little fairy, who was busily flying through the leaves and bushes in search of something, saw the emerging nest, and said, “You naughty girl.”