90 Parting and rejoining

It was a little before midday and we were approaching one of the many little streams that crossed the landscape when Sir Gerald said, "My Lord, I think it is time that we should rest our horses. They have already traveled further than is normal outside of times of emergency."

"Lady Laurel," the Prince said, "Would you care to join us for a meal?"

"I will not be stopping until I have reached my woods."

"Surely even you must need to take breaks," Sir Gareld said in disbelief.

"I have not stopped in two days, and when I did then it was only to search for clues. I found signs of Maximus attacking the dryad in the woods to the west. It appears that she managed to escape from him. I am hoping that she made it to my woods and was able to find safety there, but I will not rest until I can confirm this." I did not feel like I needed to tell them that I had been traveling for nearly five days without any real rest.

"I will be off then," I said with a wave as I waded across the stream. "As long as I am not plunged into conflict as soon as I get to my woods, I will tell the elves of your coming."

"Wait just a second," the prince said, hopping off his horse and rushing across the stream. I did not really want to wait, but he and Sir Gareld had done me a good service of helping to lighten my mood, so I could give him a few seconds. I didn't stop walking, but I did slow down my stride so we could walk together. When the prince caught up to me, he was shorter than I expected, barely taller that I was. I watched him fumble around patting his clothes, seeming to be looking for something. Then he reached for the end of his sleeve and undid the clasp that was holding it together. "I wanted to give you this… " He then held up his arm. "See, I have another… It's a set... Um… This way you can know that I … Am wishing you luck."

"Won't you need this?" I said looking at his sleeve that was now hanging loosely. "Shouldn't you keep sets together?"

"Well the set does want to be together… so when you find your friend and the luck has done its job, you can bring it back to me." This must have been some odd human tradition. But it would not be hard to take such a small thing and it seemed like it was important to the prince that I take it. I could easily grow a pocket in my clothes and store it there.

"Thank you for the token," I said grabbing it, "I must be off now." As I turned to face the road and continued my walk to the woods, I looked at the thing in curiosity. It was a small golden button-like thing with a maple leaf carved on one side. I wondered at the oddity of his passing this object to me, then shrugged and placed it in my newly-grown pocket.

As I was walking the prince called out after me, "I wish you well in your travels until we meet again." I just waved my hand to acknowledge I heard him as I continued walking.

Humans really were exceptionally loud. As I walked away, I overheard Sir Gareld and the prince in conversation after he crossed back over the stream, clearly about me. My curiosity won over my sense of decorum and I found myself listening. After all, what were the odds I would ever meet these particular humans again? Even with this little maple leaf.

"There goes the better part of my heart," sighed the prince. I could hear a few of the men giving raucous cheers, seemingly of approval, at these words

"You would be a fool to pine over a fey," Sir Gareld's more practical voice came.

"Then a fool I suppose I am. I have never met another like her. Nor, I think, will I ever again."

Sir Gareld sighed. I could almost imagine him shaking his head like Emily would at one of Gray's awkward statements.

Speaking of awkward, my face had flushed a vibrant green. Maybe I should not be listening after all…. Just before I cut off the part of my power aiding my listening, Sir Gareld muttered to the grass, "You are just like your grandfather."

As I was expecting from the Sir Gareld's words earlier in the day, I was able to start sensing my forest by mid afternoon. I panicked when I felt the blight spreading over my woods and much of the adjacent farmland. I did my best to sense how long ago it was that Maximus was here. I was confused when I found that the blight was at least a month old until I remembered that I never cured all the blight before I left. I felt a little ashamed at my own forgetfulness. Did I really have the right to scold Istan for forgetting things after a few weeks? My emotions had gotten the better of me at that time.

Calming myself down, I slowed down my pace a little and started a detailed search of the area. I wanted to see if there were any new signs of Maximus or Ivy. I did not stretch my powers out all the way since I was afraid of Maximus slipping away again. After about ten minutes of searching, I could not find any new signs of Maximus nor a trail left by Ivy. At this point I decided to be cautious and suppressed my powers to the point I knew Maximus would not be able to find me. This did hamper my abilities a little but I wanted to be sure I was close enough before he noticed me. That is one thing I had learned from watching predators over all my years.

Besides more strange looks and offers of a coat to wear (but I was wearing clothes now so why did he offer me a coat? Did he think I was cold?), the rest of the trip to the village where I met Emily and Gray was uneventful.

I reached the village as the sun started to set over my woods. The golden sunset caused the few trees still holding onto leaves to be aglow. Again I avoided the town itself and skirted around the village. While I walked through the surrounding fields, most of which were already harvested, I found myself thinking that I really should start paying a little attention to the names that humans gave to places. There were several times that I could have simplified the conversations I was forced into if I just knew the name of this village. I really did not need to return to this village. There were several small villages along the border of my forest with the duckdum I mean dukedom. But when I thought about it there was some surprising comfort heading to a place I had already been.

It was dark out by the time I entered my woods. The moon was hidden and no one would be able to see me, but regardless, I walked until the view of the fields beyond my woods was completely obscured by the trees. For the first time since I had left Ivy's woods, I stopped walking. I would need to not be distracted for the next part.

As quickly as I was able, I spread out my powers to their normal state. It was the first time I had allowed my powers to be completely unrestrained since I left my woods and it felt wonderful. However, I could not let myself be lost in this blissful feeling. I needed to focus on two tasks. First, unlike what I was used to, I did my best to keep a hard edge on the range of my power. I did not want my power to extend beyond what I would be able to perceive. The second task was much harder. I needed to process the flood of information coming to me. I needed to find any

information I could about Ivy and Maximus.

The first thing I felt was Mist. Mist! I quickly sent her a feeling of concern but was answered with a comforting feeling. I felt another spirit's response to my power. I thought at first it might be Faun after feeling her presence in these woods for all those years, but I quickly realized it was Ivy. Sadness washed over me at the thought that Faun was still missing. But at the same time relief that Ivy was safe bubbled up in me. This confusion of emotions swirling inside me brought tears to my eyes, but I was unable to tell which part was causing them.

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I did my best to just send my relief through my power to Ivy and Mist. Ivy's response was a mixture of scared and awed. I could understand the scared after all that she must have gone through to get here. The thought that her blood was drawn by the fight still shook me to my core. But her awe was a bit of a mystery to me. My woods were not all that much different from hers. Just bigger. The size largely came from the age of my woods. I had no real way to ask her about it until we met up so I pushed it out of my mind to search for any sign of Maximus.

***

Jewelers in the Franklin Dukedom had become busy over the past few seasons. A new fashion has been spreading quickly throughout the country. To show a girl his affection, a man would give her one of his cufflinks. He would then be walking around town clearly showing all that half his heart was taken by another and that he would not be whole again until the cufflink was returned at their marriage.

It was rumored that this was even started by the second prince himself. But no one knew who the girl was. The only evidence to this claim was the undone sleeve.