Gweince walked down the hallway, softly humming to herself the song of the forests that her mother had taught her when she was just a sapling. The soft call of birds as they sing the morning awake flew from between her lips. Each step of her feet was more like a bounce as she passed by the classrooms, making sure not to disturb the classes within.

She was only half dryad, the product of her mother and a human traveler, who she had paid for her tree’s transplantation with a night with her mortal form. It didn't bother her that she didn't know her father, or that she was the product of what was basically a business transaction, her mother had known and planned that she would get pregnant, Gweince was actually her 123rd child, and was actually the first she had with a human, all the rest of Gweince’s sisters were saplings made within her mother’s old grove, most of which were now planted in the Grulik grove just outside of the western gate. She had born Gweince thinking that the girl would make an excellent gardener, helping to keep all of her sisters healthy and keep the grove in the best possible condition. This plan, however, failed miserably, she was a naturally clumsy girl, she would miss prune a branch, or trip over a root and hurt herself. They had originally thought it was a phase she would grow out of, but that had been well over 70 years ago.

She had made herself useful, working as a custodial staff member in the school while classes were in, cleaning and dusting the unused rooms, but in that entire time she had always been somewhat lonely, she had once wondered if she was not human enough in regards to her looks, perhaps she drove off people. Something told her it wasn't that either, however. Shaking the idol thoughts out of her head she walked into the abandoned room and snapped her fingers, hundreds of torch bugs sprung from within the folds of the supple leafy dress she wore and flowed around the room, lighting it.

It was then that she discovered she was not alone, and that the room was not abandoned at all.

Inside two people were intertwined on the floor, one was a very handsome man, looking to be in his early twenties with red hair, a close-cropped red beard, red eyes and a pair of black horns that swept back across his head from forehead to crown. The other was a woman with dark skin, white hair, blue markings and what looked to be wolf ears and a tail.

Gweince stopped in her tracks, the songs of birds dead on her lips as she took in the scene with wide green eyes that lacked both the whites and the pupils. The woman was sprawled, one leg draped over the man, her arm across his chest gripping his far shoulder, the man had one hand behind his head using it as a pillow.

They were both stark naked.

As she watched in horror a thin line of something white dripped down the woman’s inner thigh, following the curve of her leg as it left a glistening path in its wake. Gweince sucked in a shuddering breath, and when she did the smell hit her, it wasn't entirely unpleasant, it was this earthy smell, musky, pungent, and oh so damned exciting.

They both watched her in silence as her nostrils flared, neither moving or making a sound, in her stupor Gweince looked directly into the man’s eyes, something in her stomach heated up, and she felt like she could be lost in those eyes forever when a sound broke caught her attention. It was a soft warning growl, she looked over at the women, who was now up on her knees, one hand still on the man, but she had her shoulders hunched, it wasn't exactly an attack position, simply a position of dominance, warding off another female from her mate. Gwenice knew this, instinctively, it must have been some sort of knowledge all dryads had, even half dryad like herself. Something changed in her, she had seen couples before, never in the act, she always gave them space when she saw them in the grove, which was a popular place for dalliances. But this was different, for some unknowable reason once she had looked into those red eyes she had felt something.

She laid her deer-like ears back, the spots on them showing that she was still young by dryad standards and lowered her head, her rack of horns had just reached 15 points and was covered in soft velvet, the leafy gown she wore parted, revealing a strong leg that was in no way shape or form human, but rather more like that of a deer as well. She was not actually prepared to charge, she was just showing this woman that she was not afraid of her or her warning.

The growling stopped, and Gweince looked up to see the wolf-woman was no longer in a crouch but was rather sitting there with a smile on her face and her tail swishing back and forth looking for the entire world to see like a happy puppy. The man shook his head and stood up, grabbing the edge of a robe he yanked, nearly bowling over the wolf-woman who had been sitting atop it happily not a second before.

The dark-skinned woman also started dressing, it was this that seemed to break Gweince out of her trance, gone was the woman who was ready to fight, in her place was a timid half dryad, who upon reviewing the last few minutes of her life in her head promptly turned bright red and bounded out of the room much like a frightened deer would.

As she was leaving she heard the female call out to her;”Bye, bye brave little Roey!” with a good-natured laugh.