Did she just…?

Rosa stepped away smiling and talking, with no care in the world. Her focus went to Melena and Neda, who for a moment seemed to be as dumbstruck as Jack himself. He couldn’t hear their murmurs. Which might have meant a lot of things. A Skill, Magic, their natures. Perhaps even the simple fact that they might have lowered their voices, if beings such as them condoned such subterfuge.

Not that it mattered to Jack. His thoughts were still going in circles.

Did she really just…? And… But why…

He hardly noticed Melena stepping closer, until she opened her mouth to speak with him.

“It is our elder's decision that you are allowed safe passage through our lands, on this occasion. Rejoice, young Jack. It is a greater compliment than most of your kind have ever been paid.” she said, smiling.

“Alright.” Jack said, still at a loss for words.

She seemed miffed at his lack of reaction.

“Are you not pleased? You have walked our lands and seen our glade. Furthermore, you have won the gratitude, of one of the greatest amongst us.”

“Uh… yeah, I am.”

A vine slapped Jack on the back of his head.

“I am! I really am! It’s just…” he said, hesitating.

“It is just what, young one?”

If Melena was miffed before, she was borderline angry now.

“It’s just... that was my first kiss.” he said, quietly.

He might have been blushing. He might have.

“Then you have double the reason to rejoice.” Melena said, irritation replaced by faint amusement. “For I can only see this as an omen of good fortune.”

“I guess… Sorry, I’m just a little out of it.”

“Worry not, young one. Greater men have trembled more, at lesser displays. But we should be going. The elder has instructed me to accompany you back home.”

He flinched at hearing that.

“So, I get to go home?”

“Of course.” She said, quirking an eyebrow. “Or did you think us savages, set to prey upon your body?”

“I… No. Of course not. I, uh-“

“I jest, young Jack. Come along.” she said, walking ahead of him.

Oh great, now she has a sense of humor.

He gave one last look at the old tree and the clearing before leaving. Rosa was still talking quietly with Neda, but she glanced at him, when he turned. Jack didn’t know what was appropriate as a farewell, to a being like her. He didn’t know their culture and the two nymphs seemed to hold her in high regard. He didn’t want to come off as rude, both because he was still wary of being turned into fertilizer and because he somehow gained a measure of respect for Rosa.

So, he waved.

Did I just fucking wave at her?

To his relief, Rosa’s reaction was to laugh, in apparent surprise and wave back.

Red-faced, Jack turned and went on to follow Melena, who had unsurprisingly not stopped walking. Looking around, he saw that most of the nymphs’ buildings were centered around this glade. The designs were more elaborate than what he saw at first, the wood being carved or simply grown into complex shapes, with grooves and waves of it decorating every piece of architecture. Bridges grown out of living branches spun between and, sometimes, into trees. Some structures seemed to be painted, while others had gemstones inserted into their surfaces.

Is that amber?

“You may ask questions, young Jack.” Melena said, startling him out of his trance.

“I may?”

“I have seen your gaze wander and mentioned as much to the elder. She has permitted me to answer what questions you may have, within reason.”

By now, Jack was walking next to the nymph.

“Alright. Uh…”

The problem was not asking a question. The problem was picking a question out of the multitudes swimming around in his head.

“Who is she?”

“She is our elder. The one who protects this forest and who protects us. We protect her, in turn.”

“I think I got that, but I meant… who is she?” Jack tried again.

A sigh might have been heard escaping Melena’s lips, if one listened closely.

“As she has mentioned, her name is unpronounceable to you. But ‘Rosa’ is… apt. As for her nature, she is a Dryad. You have mentioned you do not know what a Dryad is, young Jack. Would you care to guess?” she asked with a smile.

“I mean… If I’d have to guess, I’d say she is like a… a spirit of the forest? Or maybe the forest given form? Or maybe just that tree given form and the tree itself is the guardian of the forest?”

She slowed then and gave him a searching look.

“Not as distracted as you act, are you young Jack? I imagined this is part of what the elder saw in you.” She said, before resuming her normal pace.

“You stepped close to the truth. A Dryad is not a spirit, not in your understanding of the word. But she is more than substance. More than wood or, as you may define it, more than ‘flesh’. She both protects her domain and is part of it. What harm may come to it, will also apply to her.”

“Uh, Melena, should you be really telling me that?”

“Our elder trusts you, young Jack and for that, so do I. And I am telling you nothing that is not already known, if not spread to every settlement.”

“Alright.” He said, taken aback by the sudden trust. “So, you protect her because… your people are also protectors of forests?”

She pondered that question for a few moments, before answering.

“We are. We protect her for more reasons than you could know, young Jack, but that is one of them. Nymphs are of the forest. It is therefore right that we act as its caretakers. But it has not always been so.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nymphs are, by their nature, guardians of nature. Yet nature comes in many forms, from the rivers, to the forests, to the fields. And more. There was a time when my people acted as guardians for all nature. A nymph for every rock and every twig, it was said. Yet, that is no longer so.” She said, with a touch of sadness.

“Why?”

“…I do not believe I am allowed to answer that, young Jack. Simply know that what nymphs remain, are of the forest and nothing more.”

“So… if all the others nymphs are gone and the nymphs… uh… of the forest are all that’s left, that means you’re protecting the Dryad, but… she’s protecting you as well, right?”

She peered at him, curiously.

“She is. That much, I believe I have inferred.”

“In that case” Jack tried to put his thoughts in order “if the forest nymphs have dryads, then the other nymphs had their own kind of… well, Dryads too, right?”

“…wise. Since you have divined the answer on your own, I will tell you, young Jack. True, there was a time when our sisters had their own protectors. Not dryads, but beings who were parts of rivers and mountains, as much as Rosa is part of this forest. Yet, it wasn’t enough. Their downfall came all the same.”

Jack could see this conversation was causing Melena some amount of grief and, surprisingly, didn’t want to push it. Annoying her was funny, but this genuinely seemed to cause her distress. Still, he didn’t think he’d get another chance at asking his questions.

“Does this mean that Rosa is… well, you know, the last one?”

“No, young Jack.” She responded, with a small laugh. “It does not. There are other dryads, with their own domains. Some alone, some accompanied by my kin. It is only my people that have lost part of themselves.”

“I understand. Sorry for asking so much about this.”

“Ask away, young Jack. I will refuse to answer questions I deem unsafe, yet you do not need worry about upsetting me. What happened in the past, had happened long enough ago that only stories remain and our tears have run dry, well before you were born.”

Yeah, you say that, but you still look sad.

“So, is this why that other nymph was making fun of you? Because you left Rosa?”

Sadness was replaced by annoyance.

“Uh… sorry?”

“Sometimes wise, sometimes foolish. To be expected, when one deals with humans.”

“…did I get it wrong?”

“You did not. Yet I imagine if you had posed this question to one of a different temperament, you would have faced an entirely different reaction.”

Somehow, Jack believed that.

“…yet, perhaps the fault is partly of my own making. You do not know our culture and ask your questions as a child would, without a care for nuance. I did not leave our elder, young Jack. I set out to claim a domain of my own, with her blessing, so as to further our reach and help our cause. A day does not go by, where I do not feel loss and regret for being away from my sisters and ‘Rosa’. Yet I do it for them.”

“Alright, I get it. I’m sorry for putting my foot in my mouth. But how does a new forest help your cause? And what is your cause?”

“…I will not answer your second question. The information is known, but… no. As for the first, my people are connected to forests, yet not as much as dryads are. You could say that dryads are the forests. ‘Rosa’ has this forest as her domain and in her domain she is powerful. Outside of it… her influence wanes. Our cause brings nymphs outside forests and outside the reach of our elder. It is my wish to bring both more reach and more power to my elder. A new domain would empower her, through her connection to me, even if is far away.”

“I see. But… if you’re doing this for them, why don’t more of them do it? Or come with you, at least? And why did Neda, uh… treat you’re the way she did?” Jack finished, uncertainly.

“Because it causes them pain, young Jack. You have attachments to your ratling friend and to that young woman. Would it not cause you pain to be apart from them?”

“I… guess. Yeah, it would. Sorry, stupid question.”

“It was not foolish, for you are still young and the pain of loss and departure had not yet marred you. But know that to be apart from my kin and my elder is a continual loss for me. In more ways than you might suspect. I do this because I must, but do not judge those that do not.”

“…and Neda?”

“…her contempt stems not from lack of understanding. It comes, I would say, from a difference in opinion. She is one that would fight for our cause in a different manner. She would stay and help our elder in ways I would not. Will not. A difference in opinion. Yet she is my elder as well and I respect her opinion.”

Yeah, sure looks like you're ‘respecting’ it.

“She doesn’t really look like your elder. You all look young to me.” He said, before noticing the look she was giving him. “I mean, not young! Just, you know, not… old?”

“How ‘old’ do you think I am, young Jack?”

“Uh… older than me by a few years? Under thirty?” he tried.

“I will be two hundred, in just a few years.” She smiled. “But I thank you for your compliment, if that was what it was meant to be.”

“Two…? Right. So that’s where the whole ‘young Jack’ thing comes from. Could you please just call me Jack? It feels weird now.”

“If you so desire. Have you anymore questions?”

I do, but I can feel my mind trying to kill itself already from your answers.

“Why are you all naked?” he asked, saying the first thing that popped into his mind.

To his great delight, he saw the nymph miss a step.

“Is that truly what all males in your species think of?! I had thought you better, yet it seems-“

Jack cut off her furious rant before she snapped and decided to strangle him.

“No, no! Not in a… uh, sexual manner. Not what I was thinking. I mean, I did notice you were all female and you’re all naked and… yeah, it confused me a little!”

Confuse was, of course, not the correct word, for what Jack experienced.

“But I wasn’t asking the question in a lewd way. I was just… curious.” He said, shrugging.

“Yes. I noticed your ‘confusion’. As well as your eyes, roving to take in my body when we first met as well as the body of my sisters, just this day.” She said, a touch of anger still in her voice. “Yet perhaps, this is a difference of cultures as well.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, do not be.” She said, sighing. “Understand that this is the reason I wear clothes, when my sisters do not. So that men from the village do not step into my forest, simply to stare at me. I give them refuge. I do not give them myself!”

“Right, got it!”

She peered at him for a second, before speaking again.

“What need is there of clothes, Jack? We do not fear nudity, as you humans do. Our bodies are protected from the elements when in our domains and we have no insecurities. What reason humans and other species find in garments, we do without. It only becomes a burden when we make contact with others.”

“I see. Uhm… why do you offer refuge to that village? I never asked.”

She looked at him, in surprise.

“Why shouldn’t I? I keep my domain safe, from itself and from others. Should I not offer that safety to others, in times of need?”

“Uh… I guess? I just thought it was odd that, you know, you don’t request anything from them.”

She seemed amused by that.

“Perhaps some of my sisters would. Tribute, in one form or other. I do not see the need. A gift with a price is not a gift at all. As such, I let the humans hide in my forest when danger nears. It costs me little and raises their hearts. I see nothing wrong in this.”

“Guess so.”

Jack thought he and Mrk should really reconsider the entire ‘annoy the nymph’ plan they had going on. He was starting to feel bad about it.

Maybe only annoy the nymph sometimes…?

“Thanks for that, by the way. You giving refuge to the villagers and accepting me and Mrk.”

“No thanks are needed, Jack.” She hesitated, before speaking again. “And give my apologies to your little friend. My ire at him might have been more than was warranted for his acts. His people are… pests, sometimes. That knowledge clouded my judgement.”

“I will.” Jack said, thinking about this new piece of information. “Thanks.”

She only smiled in return.

Looking ahead, Jack noticed the two trees were visible. He didn’t feel it, but they must have walked the entire way back, during their conversation. So caught up as he was, he didn’t notice a thing.

“It seems we are nearing the end of our journey.”

“When we get back, could we still talk?”

She gave him an inquisitive stare.

“I just like talking to people.”

Perhaps seeing what she wanted in him, she replied.

“Perhaps.” She said, with a faint smile. “Yet my creation took a measure of effort and I wish to rest. Today’s… events have also tired me, if not physically.”

“Fair.” He said, trying to think about what questions he hadn’t asked yet.

And like a rock to the head, it hit him. The most important question. He’s been too caught up in the moment to think about it, but now that he thought about it, he couldn’t believe himself.

“Uhm, Melena? One more question. I forgot about it, but I should have asked it at the start.”

“I hoped you would remember, even dazed as you were. I would have told you, in any case. Such information you should know, at the very least.” She told him.

“Oh. Good. In that case, why are all nymphs women? Where are all the men?”

She looked at him with what seemed to be wonder, mouth slightly agape.

“That is what you think to be the most…?” she said, before giving out a small laugh.

First time I’ve heard you laugh. Would be good if I at least knew why.

“Very well, Jack. If that is your question, I will answer it.” She said, highly amused.

Why do I feel I’m the butt of a joke here?

“We are not women.”

…what?

“At least, not in the sense your own people understand the word.” She said, thoughtfully. “Humans have the words ‘man’ and ‘women’ to differentiate between your two genders. Other species have other words, but theirs also refer to males and females. We do not call ourselves women, because there is no need. We are nymphs.”

“I’m… not following.”

“Perhaps this would make it easier to explain. Jack, all nymphs are women, in your eyes, because nymphs can only be women. There is no such thing as a male nymph. One has never existed and never will.”

“Oh! But, wait, then how do you…”

“Reproduce? When the time comes or the need arises, my sisters find worthy mates.”

“So, you mate with other species? And the babies are all nymphs?”

“We can mate with most other species, true, including your own. Yet the offspring of such bonds are not nymphs, in most cases, merely individuals of said species. True, they are often-times blessed with a minor boon or they come to develop a stronger bond with nature, than what is considered normal for their species. But for such an union to produce a nymph… it is rare enough to make it not worth mentioning. No, for nymph kind to grow, my sisters must only mate with one other species. It is only out of that union that a true nymph may be born.”

“I see. What species is that?”

“That, I believe I will refrain from telling you, Jack.”

“What? Why? That’s the most interesting part!” He complained.

A smile touched the nymphs face, but it was not a happy one.

“Because it pertains to the struggles we face, Jack. And I do not believe it should be told lightly. Perhaps… in time.”

“Oh. Alright.”

By the time Melena finished answering Jack’s questions, they arrived before the two trees. Approaching them, Melena touches one of the two and the same veil as before appeared, revealing the clearing from which Jack came.

He could see a blurry shape, skulking about on the other side, moving frantically around the clearing.

Seems I’ve given Mrk another reason to complain. At least I haven’t been gone long, this time.

“Time has come to go back to my domain, Jack.” She said, looking back longingly.

“Yeah, guess it did. …say, what was the question I should have asked, if that wasn’t the right one?”

“Your query, young Jack, should have been targeted at-“

“Sister.”

Both turned to see Neda standing a few feet behind them, having made no sound on her approach.

“Neda.” Melena said. “I did not expect to see you again so soon.”

“Sister.” Neda stressed. “It appears that my discussion with our elder has borne fruit. She wishes to see you again and impart her wisdom.”

“The elder…? Yet-“

“I do not know of her reasons, sister. Only that she wishes to see you. Best be off.”

Melena looked the portal, at Jack and at Neda in quick succession. Perhaps sensing her hesitation, her sister spoke.

“I will see that the young human passes through the portal. There is no need for worry. But I believe our elders request is of more importance than this. I would say it is quite urgent.”

Hearing that, Melena’s eyes widened a fraction, before nodding her head.

“It seems we are to part ways, young Jack. Yet, should you be willing, I will continue our discussion.”

“Uh, yeah, sure. Happy to!”

Truthfully, Jack didn’t know if he was ‘happy to’ continue the discussion with the being who had frightened him so much before, but he developed a sense that the nymph was not as bad as he first made her out to be.

“Good. In that case, I will be off.” She said, nodding to her sister. “|Fleet Foot|”

She outdistanced them faster than Jack’s eye could follow.

“Nice Skill.”

“It is. Necessary, when one wishes to traverse large swaths of lands. Such as her domain.” Neda said, fixing Jack with a smile.

For one reason or another, he didn’t like the way Neda smiled at him. It wasn’t friendly or even alluring, for all she presented herself to him in all her naked splendor. The image it brought up, in Jack’s mind, was that of a cat, ready to pounce on a mouse.

“Have you enjoyed yourself, on our lands, young human?”

“I did, yes. It was very… exciting.”

“That was a lie.”

At a loss for words, Jack could only watch Neda, as she came forward and leaned on one of the two trees.

“Yet I take no insult from that. Your kind are always quick to judge and slow to understand. What our elder saw in you, I do not know and find myself not caring. Or… perhaps you would care to enlighten me?”

“…no. I’m not sure what Rosa saw in me. Should I be leaving… now?”

Neda’s smile wavered when he heard Rosa’s name, yet she was smiling again, by the time she heard Jack’s question.

“By all means, young human. Step through and I will follow.”

For all the hesitation Jack felt, his desire to leave all this behind him was that much greater. He stepped forward through the portal and experienced the same sensation as before.

Not going to get easier with time, I can tell.

Once back out again, he took a glance at his surroundings, expecting to find Mrk skulking about.

No Mrk.

…and this forest looks off.

Indeed, the forest that Jack had just stepped to was as dark as the nymphs’ lands he had left. Perhaps that was understandable, as some time had passed. What was not understandable was the fact that he was in a forest, surrounded by trees, whereas he remembered the portal to have been in the middle of a clearing.

And there was no trace of Mrk.

“No need to be so surprised, young human. My kin have gateways in many forests and places of interest.” The nymphs said, appearing behind Jack.

“But I was supposed to go back to Melena’s forest. To her domain!”

“Truly? I received no such instructions. Merely to help you pass through the gate.”

“But I was supposed to go back home!” Jack said, raising his voice.

“Shout at me again, human and I will do away with your nether regions.” She said, with a smile.

“Ah, but there is no need to worry. Our elder saw something in you, did she not? Are you not an adopted child of the forest? Owner of a Dryad’s gratitude?”

Her smile was growing crueler and crueler.

“I do believe you will do quite fine.” She said, turning around to leave.

Jack tried to step forward, but found there were vine entangling his feet.

“At least tell me where I am! Please!”

Halfway through, Neda turned to give him one last mocking smile.

“And were I to tell you the name of this forest, would you know it? As my people name it or even as your own people do? But, perhaps… I will tell you this child. Your home lays in that direction.” She said, pointing behind Jack.

“Reach it and perhaps you shall win a true amount of respect from a nymph. Not what you have gained before, through the tricks of man.”

Tricks?

“Farewell, young human.” She said, before completely stepping through.

The veil winked out of existence at the same time the vines snaring Jack’s feet withered away.

He looked around, but couldn’t find anything immediately useful. Even helpful.

He didn’t even have the energy to scream.

“Shit.”