Chapter 18: Book 2 Chapter 3: The First Elder

The day travels were uneventful, leading to the Elder’s forest. As they closed in, Bard guided Kai to stop at the edge and stepped down. He touched the ground at the edge and heard the token pick up volume. He stepped one step back and then pulled out her Token. He swung it around, causing it to hum its melody. The trees at the edge began to sway without wind, and then they partially parted.

“Interesting,” Bard thought as he finished his greeting. He half expected her to shoo him away after how they had left. What was her game this time?

He got on Kai’s back, and they rode into the woods. Though this was the shortest way in, with the trees beckoning them onward, they made it to the Elder much sooner, than he had anticipated. Kai paused at the edge, and Bard listened to Sen gawk at the Elder. It was short, having weathered many storms, but it was wide. Its leaves showed the damaged sections, and it gave it character.

“So, you’ve returned. And with a Dryad of his woods no less.”

“I have,” Bard answered as he dismounted. He helped Sen down, and she bowed before the Elder.

Time passed without words. The gentle melody of the Forest reverberated around them.

“She passes,” the tree said, and a token fell at her feet. Sen froze and Bard’s jaw dropped. Not only had the Elder not mentioned anything, but she got a pass just like that?

The Elder laughed.

“Your look is almost worth the silence,” her voice pealed in the air. “She already has what I had to teach you, and in spades. If anything, she should learn to temper it. But it will serve you both well.”

“Then, am I like Bard? An Elder?” Sen asked. It took Bard by surprise, and the silence was momentary before the Elder tree laughed even harder, her branches shaking.

“No, sweet thing. He is a bit special, and has full tokens. This is just my approval. If you wanted the full token, then you would have to study the other half of what I can teach you.”

“What do I have to learn then?” Sen asked as she grabbed the token before her.

“How to be like my namesake. Steadfast.”

“Steadfast?”

“Right. Steadfast in troubling times, in hardship, and steadfast in commitment. After you two are together, then I will teach you more.” She answered.

“But-”

“It’s enough, Sen. She is very true to her word.”

“That’s right. Now. Get out.” Her tone carried a bit of hostility. Sen looked about confused, but Kai quickly grabbed her and Bard scrambled up on top. He needed no persuasion. Perhaps they had only been invited because of Sen’s presence.

Only when they exited the inner glen of Steadfast’s forest, did Kai slow. Bard looked back and didn’t hear the anger growing in the melody. Perhaps she would allow them to stay at the edge tonight. As they slowed, Sen got loose from Kai’s mouth and jumped around, feeling her clothes. Bard smiled ruefully, glad she wasn’t asking questions yet, as he stepped behind her and checked for any tears in the fabric. There wasn’t any, and he noticed she still clutched her token. When she gazed into his eyes, he could see all the questions and confusion she wasn’t voicing.

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“Let’s set up camp first. Only grab the broken or dead branches. After we are set, then I will explain what happened.”

Sen nodded, though she was far from satisfied with that answer.

Bard thought long and hard over how to answer her. Some things he should explain in Dryadic since it would be easier for her to understand. But the rest he couldn’t formulate into what he knew of her language. This would take a while.

He explained in Dryadic about how he came here, running from that larger shade, with Kai guiding them in. They had run over several of her trees before they realized they were in a forest with an Elder, and by the time he heard her melody it was already hostile. Thankfully there are no Dryads here, otherwise he would likely be dead. But he also didn’t think an Elder Tree could get hostile like that, so he had just thought it was her nature and kept blundering around. His punishment was to care for all the injured trees he and Kai had trampled on during their flight. And it was a grueling task that had to be met to her expectations.

It became hard to explain in Dryadic, so he swapped to Teka. While she may be Elder Steadfast, she was also a heavy protector of her children. In heavy storms, she has the older trees shelter the young ones, even transplant them till they get old enough, and then they are on their own to weather the storms. It creates this broken forest, but the storms are also unnatural around here.

“Unnatural?” Sen asked.

“They’re like Shades. And since they are storms, they cause a lot of damage around here. When we barged in here, we encouraged a lot of storm shades to come after this place. She holds a bit of a grudge for that as well.”

“She doesn’t sound like an Elder,” Sen said at length. Bard was a bit surprised she didn’t follow up on the storm shades, but perhaps she wanted to focus on something else. He stared into the flames of the fires as he shifted a log.

“All Elders are different. She still protects, just like Defender, it just looks different. She has different things she has to face, and that doesn’t discount her wisdom in other areas. All I’ve shared so far is why she doesn’t like Kai and I.”

“Then why does Bard have a token from her? She doesn’t like Bard.”

“Tokens aren’t given out based on if an Elder likes you. Though she may give it more readily if she does,” he pointed at her own token, which she studied for a bit. She toyed with it before tucking it into a pocket.

She then propped her chin up with her palms and stared at the trees around them. They hummed a somber sort of tune, one that spoke of the perils they had survived through. In the midst of that song, a simple melody flitted through. It seemed to convey their respect for Steadfast, and their appreciation for her.

Sen seemed lost in the song for a while, so Bard mentally plotted out their route and took care of menial tasks.

Her words broke the lapse in conversation.

“What else does Steadfast teach?”

Bard paused and then came over and sat next to her. He batted away a bit of hair that seemed a bit fond of him before answering.

“One thing is the sacrifice a parent will go through for their kids. But she admits it is only one way of parenting. Another is how to watch storms, navigate them, and regrow afterwards. Both in the literal sense and the figurative sense.”

“But I don’t know any of that.”

“No, it’s likely because you are better than her at positivity. She does teach that as an Elder, but she has admitted that some she encountered from the silver forest were just more positive than her, so she couldn’t teach them much in that topic.”

“Posi… Positive.”

“Positivity. It means how to be happy and be able to handle hard times.”

Sen seemed to think about this for a long time, before looking at Bard. “And you think I am good at that?”

Bard laughed and leaned over to rustle her hair. He stopped himself before leaning back.

“Yes. You are very positive. It’s not that you don’t complain about hardships; it's just that you accept it and keep moving in spite of how hard things are. You also seem to be able to be cheerful when things aren’t going well and interact in ways that bring smiles to others.”

“That sounds good.”

“It is good.” Bard said as he rose. “So just keep being you, Sen.”

She smiled and looked away, embarrassed, which in turn caused Bard to feel a bit embarrassed.

The trees' melody changed to have a few notes of amusement, and Bard huffed. He was sure they would convey the interaction to Steadfast.

As the sun finally set, the settled in for a peaceful sleep.