Leaving the Forest, Part I
Nourd awoke under Mother’s protective branches. The sun was just peaking out over the horizon, filtered through the budding leaves of the trees. Day returning to the forest.
He’d dreamed about the human he’d seen. Oshal, the boy with no eyes. He’d smelled different from other humans. He hadn’t smelled of fear or greed, but of curiosity and kindness. Nourd had thought that only animals could smell kind.
With Mother’s help, he found breakfast, roots and nuts. Fruits weren’t growing yet in the forest. He hated hunting, since he knew all the creatures he’d be hunting.
Nourd sat in the rising sun, absorbing its rays to nourish his body. Warmth spread from his head to his fingertips. He bent down to one of the streams in the forest and drank from it. After splashing water on his face, he stood up and listened to the forest.
He heard every living thing around him. The trees, the insects, the birds, the creatures, big and small, they were his family. They told him when they needed help, and he helped them. Mother had told him it was his purpose.
Mother called out to him, and he returned to her. He climbed into the treetops and swung between the branches. He moved like the apes, but he wasn’t one of them. What made him different?
He’d once asked Mother why he was different, but she’d told him he was no different from the deer than they were from the birds. Being human didn’t mean he wasn’t one of the forest’s creatures, one of Mother’s children.
When he reached Mother’s branches, he heard a voice. A human voice.
“Who is this boy you’ve been hiding?”
Mother told the human that she hadn’t been hiding anyone, merely protecting him. She told him that humans had been in the forest without a druid — that’s what Mother called the forest-smelling humans — present. That the creatures could’ve been confused.
“I know. After Lady Durwey’s last apprentice, I’m afraid she’s a little flustered, and this one’s quite different. Even so, she stayed within the neutral zone. Why did the boy approach?”
Mother told the human that, as it’d said, it was the neutral zone. Nourd had been allowed to be there. Then she called to him again, asking him to approach.
He climbed down from the treetops, and found the human with her. Nourd sniffed the air, but couldn’t tell if it was a male or female human. It smelled of the forest. It had peach-colored skin, lighter than Nourd’s, but still darker than the humans that usually lived in the nest.
“You must be Nourd,” it said. “My name is Grand Master Gorkle, but you can call me Gorkle.”
It stood up straight like a tree, then bent down for a moment. Nourd believed this was what the humans called “bowing”.
Nourd frowned at the human. He kept Mother’s roots between them. He didn’t like this strange-smelling human.
Mother told it that Nourd didn’t like to speak to humans.
“I see. I’m told you saw Lady Durwey and Apprentice Oshal yesterday.”
Oshal. He’d mentioned Oshal. Was he there? Nourd looked around, but couldn’t see anyone else.
“They aren’t here,” Gorkle said. “I’ve been sent by the court to assess the situation. You frightened them yesterday.”
Nourd shook his head. Oshal hadn’t been frightened. The other human, Lady Durwey, had been frightened, but not Oshal. Oshal had smelled of kindness and love. It was so strange to smell a human like that, a human not full of greed or fear.
“Oshal… smells different,” Nourd said. Mother had taught him long ago that as a child of the forest, he could communicate with all living things, and that included humans.
Gorkle smiled. “Yes, he does.”
Then Mother brought up the dragon human. As the elders had told Nourd, she was Oshal’s sister.
“That is correct. Apprentice Roshil is Apprentice Oshal’s sister. Before you say anything, I know she’s caused problems here. She isn’t well liked in the court either, but you know we accept everyone, and the court believes she can be trusted, even if she must be watched.”
Mother told Gorkle to keep her out of the forest.
“We have. I insisted to Lord Grund that she not be brought into the forest, and so far, he has taken my advice. But this isn’t about her, this is about the neutral zone. And Nourd. I want to return to the court with assurances that he won’t harm anyone.”
Mother told it that Nourd would only harm trespassers in the forest, just like every other creature of the forest.
“Good.”
As it turned to go, Mother asked it to wait. She had a request to make of Gorkle.
“You know I’m happy to serve the forest, Mother. What is it you would ask?”
Mother explained that Nourd was of the age of change in humans. That he would be seeking out a mate before long, and that he wouldn’t find one in the forest.
“By the looks of it, he won’t be of ‘mating age’ for another few years, at least in our society. How old is he?”
Mother told it that Nourd had seen the seasons change 13 times.
“And you want the court to take him?”
Nourd drew a sharp breath. Mother wanted him to live with the humans? Why? So he could find a mate? He didn’t want to leave the forest for so insignificant a reason.
Yet he thought of Oshal, and felt a longing to be closer to him. To smell that strange kindness again. Was that what it’d be like to be around the humans?
“We will take him. I can assume the role of his guardian and master if need be.”
Mother would accept no others.
“I didn’t think so. I will bring this offer to the court. He must be ready to leave tomorrow morning. Like me, he would serve the court and the forest.”
While Mother understood, Nourd did not. There was so much he didn’t understand, but Mother thought that this was for the best. If she believed it, then it must’ve been so.
“I’ll return then. Farewell to both of you.”
With that, Gorkle turned and left, leaving Nourd to wrestle with his offer.