Leaving the Forest, Part II
Nourd walked through the forest alone, thinking about his conversation with Gorkle. Invited to the human nest, this “court”, to stay? Away from Mother? Away from the forest? The forest was the only home he’d ever known. He didn’t know how he could possibly live among the humans.
You belong among humans. If you stay here, you cannot truly belong.
Mother had said that after Gorkle had left. How could Mother think he couldn’t belong in the forest? It was the only place he belonged. If he left, if he tried living with the humans, then he would never belong. They were humans.
He looked down at his hands. He was already different from them. His skin was lighter than theirs. It looked like Oshal’s skin.
Oshal. He would be there. Were there others like him? The birds said the humans were all different colors. Maybe he would fit in with them.
He didn’t understand what he was. He’d always been a creature of the forest, but he didn’t look like any of them. But if he was a human, why didn’t he look like any of the humans? Their ways were strange. The birds had told him about the human caves, built up from the ground instead of into a mountainside. And their strange smells, and their tools. Some of the creatures used tools, but not like the humans did. They wielded pieces of metal to kill creatures of the forest.
What about their magic? It wasn’t like the Power of Nature that Mother had taught him to wield. It moved and made things, changing them, disrupting the balance of nature. Would he have to use it too? Would he have to disrupt the balance of nature, simply because he was a human?
Nourd decided he didn’t like being human. But every time he thought he was ready to stay in the forest, he thought of Oshal and wanted to be near him.
The shifting of leaves behind him made him whirl around. He smelled the air, searching for the scent of a human, but it wasn’t a human he smelled.
Elder Deer leaped through the woods, then came to a stop next to him.
“Elder Deer.” Nourd spoke with the tongue of the forest, something all of Mother’s creatures could understand.
“Nourd. Chatter has begun to travel about you leaving.”
“Nothing’s decided yet. I was invited to the human nest.”
Elder Deer always held his head high, towering over Nourd. Creatures of the forest were never arrogant, but if any of them ever changed, it would be Elder Deer. He strutted around Nourd, who kept his own head high. He wouldn’t let his indecision show.
“Why don’t you go there?” Elder Deer asked. “Go to the humans, live with them. That’s where you belong, isn’t it?”
“This is my home.”
“You are the son of poachers. That’s all you’ll ever be. Like the other humans, you will hunt my people for sport, to sell our antlers and skins. You have never belonged here, human.”
Nourd took a step back. He’d grown up with Elder Deer’s fawns. He’d looked after them, warned them when danger was near. He knew the deer tribe didn’t trust humans, but he’d always thought they’d trusted him.
“You smell of betrayal,” Elder Deer said. “Did you think you were one of us? That you could ever be one of us? You belong with them, not with us.”
“Not every human hunts you. The forest-smelling humans don’t. They live among us peacefully. I would be one of them.”
Elder Deer tossed his head back and let out a barking laugh.
“No, you wouldn’t. Poaching is in your blood, human. You can’t escape it.”
Years ago, Nourd had noticed many of the older creatures shying away from him, keeping their young away from him. He’d asked Mother why, and she’d told him about his parents. How they’d been hunting animals in the forest. She’d used a word, a word he’d never heard then, “poaching”. She said that humans hunted them for food, but carefully, just like creatures hunted each other. In return, humans that didn’t hunt carefully — that’s what “poaching” was — were in turn hunted by the creatures of the forest. This had happened to his parents, but they’d left him behind.
“I’m more than that,” he said, as he’d said then. Mother had told him many creatures believed that he’d become another poacher, just like his parents. He wasn’t, and he didn’t intend to become one. He loved Mother, her forest, and all of her creatures. He didn’t understand why any of the creatures would think otherwise.
Elder Deer glared down at him.
“So you say. What will you say when you return here? Will you say the same? Or will you be too busy killing us? Will you make friends with the dragon human?”
“Never,” Nourd growled. “That thing isn’t human. It’s not like me!”
“So you say, but—”
“No creature of the forest would ever be friends with that thing.”
Despite spending his entire life in the forest, Nourd was never able to be as quiet as Elder Wolf. She stalked through the forest, leaving no trace, making no sound. When they needed strength, they sought out the bears or the boars; when they needed stealth, there were no better creatures in the forest than the wolves.
“Elder Deer, I thought we’d talked about this,” Elder Wolf said. She lied on the ground, her head picked up, her eyes trained on them. While she spoke, her ears swiveled, picking up every sound of the forest. “Nourd is no more a poacher than I am a human’s pet. Just because we share blood doesn’t make us the same.”
Elder Deer looked down his snout at them. He glared at Elder Wolf, knowing what would happen if he tried arguing with her.
“You will regret defending him, Elder Wolf.”
“I doubt that, Elder Deer. Why don’t you run along?” She stood up. “I would hate to see something bad happen to the deer tribe.”
Elder Deer looked from Elder Wolf to Nourd, then turned and leaped away through the trees.
Elder Wolf walked over to him.
“Come with me, Nourd. We have much to discuss.”