The elves had retired to their ship, seeing as they were there for trading purposes mostly, and as the forward ship of an envoy to the Kindom of Revan.
The grey cloaked figure sat on the "deck" petting the wooden surface below them and whispering in a slightly feminine voice.
"You think I can find Phina here? I hope she's okay... why come to this weak continent? The magic density alone would weaken her magic and body." She sighed, and a sudden shiver went through the bark, a vibration transmitted to her.
"What?!" She exclaimed, standing up suddenly in shock.
She stepped along the deck, a not-quite flat surface with a slight curve toward the middle, and along the back hidden by the branches knotted at railings, many branches grew out of the deck, except they somehow grew and knotted into the shapes of buildings to make multiple levels to the deck.
She pulled back her hood to reveal a head of raven-black hair, unique among the blonde-green haired elves, get her pale skin and long ears still clearly showed she was an elf.
As she walked, the ship began to slowly move away from the port during the night...
And it breathed as it's magic fueled the crystallized sap.
The entire ship was a living tree that had moved its own branches and magic to become a ship.
An awakened birch tree.
"What's wrong?" An elf asked as they straightened up noticeably from his previous graceful reclining position against a trunk of a "tree" coming from the deck, which was really just a branch of the tree the ship was.
"Korryl says they could sense a powerful creature in the water, even stronger than her."
He frowned. "That's impossible, Korryl is the seedling of the Mother Tree herself. A magic creature can't be the equivalent of a demigod's will."
The raven-haired elf shook her head. "Not equal. Superior."
His eyes widened in shock as the idea of what that would mean finally clicked.
"Is it a mythic of the sea that followed us?"
A shiver went through the ship. [N-o... i-t... c-o-m-e-s... f-r-o-m... land...] A voice like the sigh of the wind through leaves had spoken, and the elves listened with a clear amount of respect.
"W-well... is it a danger?"
"Korryl didn't seem to feel any threat to herself, us, or the people of the town with her abilities."
The male elf frowned. "But then... why even mention it? Korryl isn't the type to speak needlessly."
"She seems to think the creature is... special? She can't seem to find the words for it." The lady shrugged.
Then a rush of air and power as Korryl below began to transmit something to every elf onboard her body.
Scenes of grass growing, a seed in a desert, alone, growing from fortune and rainfall only to pull the sand together and make soil, slowly creating more seeds and making the land of soil spread and become richer, as rain became more common until as thousands of years passed, finally a forest stood where once nothing had lived.
Every elf thought through the attempt to communicate by the tree they sailed.
A male elf sat with many others in a hall as they had been eating strange green and blue fruit rich with water and air mana grown from the awakened birch in a seemingly impossible way.
Finally he looked up. "A source of life?"
"A source of growth?" Another offered.
The woman who'd been the first to exit the ship earlier that day stood up suddenly!
"Nature! Life of the forest and wood grown from seemingly nothing! It's our God's power!"
Every elf froze in shock.
"But... our god's power is already slowly spreading and being converted into the lower forms as a principle of the world and creation. That's the reason we bothered to come here with so many powerful brethren and with a child of the mother tree: to spread that power into the far corners of the world."
The raven hair lady came in with the male elf she'd spoken to.
"Korryl just tried to explain the feeling a magic creature she noticed nearby gave her which made her actually notify me..."
She trailed off as every elf there stared at her with slowly widening eyes.
"...a seed of potential to make a world devoid of life become a forest."
None could tell you who first said it, but slowly mutters began to spread.
"Seed of the mother tree, source of life, our god of wood and forest, the Mother Tree's growth."
Again and again this line was spoken, until finally the elves seemed in a near-frenzy.
"Find it! Find the seedling! Find the magic creature who shall carry the power of our goddess!"
"Find the creature who shall carry the power of Demitra!"
The elves turned and rushed out, a few directly leaping off the deck who had expertise in water magic to help propel themselves beneath the notice of the lower races who lived nearby.
Some stayed to discuss and plan excuses and ways to exit the ship and explore the surrounding area.
"We must find the Monarch of the region-"
"Fool! A lower continent like this would be lucky to have a King Beast, much less a Monarch! We should search for the nearest Lord Beast."
Meanwhile, the creature the elves had now gone psycho for was currently relearning how to walk with a longer body.
~ ~ ~
Fucking... FUCK!
My front legs are further from my back legs and it makes walking so damn weird!
I seem to be more of a serpent-dragon now.
I mean... snakes move in a back and forth motion right?
Should I try that?
I began to sway, bending and flexing, and soon I found an easy rhythm of how my neck, body, and tail all united as simply my body, a serpentine body slithering in the air as my paws stepped and walked, balancing in a way strange yet effortless.
'Seems I can't just run in a straight line easily anymore... my running speed is probably slower now, but my wings are much bigger and flying might be better?'
I looked up at the night sky.
'...is today the day I finally fly properly?'
I shook away the thought. 'I need to get back to the tree and get some sleep at least!'
You know, I really wish I had noticed... that I hadn't stopped spreading my will until I consciously pulled it in to hide myself when sneaking back in.
So every bit of distance through the reef and up the shore I traveled, all the way to the forest and the tree of Avaya...
When I finally noticed, I had only one thought;
'Fuck that's probably gonna bite me in the ass later. Unintended consequences, lemme hear you sing!'