Eli POV

_________________________

Pushing out past the vines I arrived onto to a grassy knoll. The wave of sensations rushed over me like a tidal wave overwhelming my senses before I could fully intake the surrounding forest. Living my whole life without having ever seen a plant out side of a hydroponics bay, the deluge was made up of smells that I only ever consciously knew existed but never experienced, had an instinctual knowledge of on the most primordial level but never had experienced through the non-lizard sections of the brain, and saw in commercials as part of expensive experiences that only people who made more in a day than I would ever see in my life could ever hope to afford.

The world swirled as my eyes rolled upwards and I fell ass first onto the dirt. I sat there for a few minutes just tasting the air, which to my deprived senses, provided what felt like the freshest and wettest oxygen to ever grace this tongue of mine. It was at this point I noticed the tree a few feet to my right.

I got up to my feet, still slightly shaken from the sensory overload. As I groped the rough bark of the trunk of the oak tree in awe I wondered at the vast wealth that I beheld before me and beyond in the rest of the forest. One of the draw backs of advanced civilization was that while humanity zoomed forward, nature did not. As humanity spread through out the stars wood not silver, platinum, or gold quickly became THE luxury material for the well to do trillionaires and quadrillionaires. Countless attempts with quintillions of dollars went into experiments trying to make the precious material grow faster. But all of the products came out too soft or too hard, too smooth or too rough,etc. It seems somethings can only be done with time and in a universe where companies could make small stations the size of planets before a tree could reach the prime age of harvest, time was the one of the few goods the industries of the mega-corporations couldn't reliably provide in mass quantity.

Of course there was the voice of reason telling me that in this new world, wood couldn't be as valuable as it was in my old world as no one would leave such price less treasure unguarded. It would also not make sense for a pseudo prisoner to have such luxury items in his not-really-but-still-very-much-so cell. But this small voice was contending with a thousand plus years of data driven luxury salesmanship and decades of bragging relatives who boasted of having actually touched the aforementioned treasure.

Eventually I managed to extract myself from this reverie and head out down the creek, not forgetting to take a souvenir branch of course. Over the course of many ship crashes I learned there was only one constant in civilization, people built along water. The stars could change and maps could be poorly drawn or rendered inaccurate under extreme circumstances but following water was the most reliable path to civilization. Well aside from internet assisted map tracking but I wasn't holding out hope for that.

The sun was getting low and I wanted some progress in this trip before I set out.

'Does this planet have a similar rotation and day/week/month cycle to Earth?' I wondered. That schedule had been implemented through out the galaxy with mixed success. The corporate heads were mostly still stationed on earth as a status symbol, so the rest of the universe had to turn on their time. It wasn't always the most efficient but somethings are too deeply penetrated into the

minds of the leadership and general public to allow fractions of efficiency saved to matter.

So many variables and too few common reference points for any of it.

After an hour into my trek a voice called out " Mighty one, what has provoked you so?". I jerked alert at the intrusion and looked around but couldn't find the source of the question. Suddenly, there was movement on a small tree a few feet to my left. No, the tree itself was moving.

The tree gradually shifted into the visage of a beautiful woman. She had light green skin, sharp eyebrows and chin with a very generous proportions in her figure. The grass skirt she wore could do little to contain the jiggling flesh. Overlaid on her body was hip length, very dark and rich brown hair which spilled about with no concern where it landed.

"Could you repeat that?" I asked somewhat shyly. I supposed looking at the pseudo human face, which presented itself in fantastic colors pulsating in her irises with bits of bark around her jowls, made what would have been an agonizing experience somewhat bearable. I must have been making a face because she quickly looked down.

" I am sorry Great One, I just saw the waves of your mana when I woke up. It was too late to flee your presence so I tried hiding but I my sense of your pace and stride told me you were not perturbed". She said in a voice that had some tones that swung between flute and the pitches of singing birds.

'huh?' I thought to myself. I hadn't the foggiest notion of what she was talking about. Still, this was a golden opportunity to extract invaluable information about this environment and the world at large. I began to think about what kinds of bullshit I would need to keep my ignorance hidden yet still keep myself in conversation with this woman to learn anything, no matter how insignificant.

"It is I who is at fault, dear girl. I am from a land where constricting mana outflow is a sign of evil intent. I will be honest it was never a skill I bothered learning." I said with my best imitation of authority and innocence.

" Oh, I am sorry but to we nature spirits such outpouring of mana is a signal of danger to warn our fellows. I would not keep you Great One, but might I press a question upon you?" she asked in an innocent enough tone, but her face spoke of serious intents and topics. I better keep this as vague as I can during this verbal dance.

"How do you manage spells then? I thought humans needed to store Gaia's mana to cast their intent upon the world." she asked. At this I started getting a headache but it was light enough that I could press through.

'Spells.... magic. Right, it looks like that is really a thing here'. I quickly resorted to the quickest and most straight forward lie I could think of, 'None of your damn business'. What I actually said was:

"I am sorry to say I cannot divulge such important and sensitive information to anyone, even one as beautiful as you." I replied with what he hoped was perceived as respectful force. The slight disappointment on her face was clear as was the slight blush at the compliment.

"I seem to be lost, could I trouble you for directions to the nearest settlement?" I gambled. There was a sense of contentment being developed in me that helped to instill a sense of ease, if not something close to trust, in the conversation. The warm smile she gave me showed her intent to recuperate this not quite trust.

"I can mi-lord, but from what I know of humans this outpouring of mana would be threatening. Could I instruct you as we venture?" she stated with mirth in her eyes. Like there was joke in her question only she was privy too.

"Wouldn't that be too much of an inconvenience? I wouldn't want to take you out of your way." I responded with surprised sincerity, letting the lordly act slip just slightly.

" I am a druid. Our 'way' is wherever green things grow and our home is marked by the dirt under our feet. We are at ease in the forest and on all the paths with in it as a human is relaxed in the great structures he dwells in." she replied mildly.

She lead me out into the forest." What is your name?" I asked as I stepped over a log, " I am called Lilly, Great One" she said over her shoulder.