As Lyssandria arrived in Wild Wood, she could see the first symptoms of maginopia. The leaves of some trees were curled up from both sides. They had peculiar mutations on their surfaces. They weren't yellow, yet the spirit of autumn seemed to reign around. Not all of the plants were ill.
Maginopia developed slowly and still hadn't had too visible consequences. Despite the disease, the forest seemed like such a peaceful place that it was impossible for Lyssandria not to feel good, especially bearing in mind the difficult life she'd had.
"Can't you find a way to cure maginopia?" Lyssandria wondered. Elyre had just introduced her to her sister Phyllada.
"For the time being, all we can do is externally influence the illness... But in this way we do not remove the cause of maginopia, only the symptoms." Phyllada answered.
In a moment, a bird came near the wood-nymph princess. Soon she said,
"Excuse me, I just got a message that I have to help avert one storm and I cannot be late. Weather can easily get out of control. I'm really sorry to have to leave you. We'll have time to chat later."
"What are you going to do after that?" Elyre asked her.
"I will talk with some trees," Phyllada answered and explained to Lyssandria, "I'm also a tree psychologist."
"You are a tree what?" Lyssandria stuttered as she believed she must have heard wrong.
"A tree psychologist is someone occupied with the psychological problems of trees," the wood-nymph said.
"Does this mean you hear their thoughts?" Lyssandria asked.
"Yes, I do," Phyllada nodded. It was one of the abilities of the Princess of the Wood-Nymphs.
"Huh? But… do trees put their thoughts in some sort of a little basket or something?"
"Do you put your thoughts in a basket? Of course not," Phyllada replied.
Lyssandria felt really incompetent.
"We'll come with you and help you," Elyre said. "Anyway right now I don't want to be here alone with Lyssandria. And we're still not sure what happened to those mage-guards we escaped from. We'll probably understand from the newspapers."
So they set off for the place where a storm was forming.
When they arrived, Phyllada joined a group of wood-nymph "storm cleaners." A ray of light shone from the Sunstone tiara to the dark clouds above. Soon after, the clouds began to scatter. Normally this was an easy task for the princess.
"Wood-nymphs' power is hidden in their attire," Elyre told Lyssandria. The clothes and items which belonged to the wood-nymphs were quite powerful.
For example, the dress of the Princess of the Wood-nymphs had great magical value. It was sprinkled with pollen from all kinds of forest flowers, with sap from the oldest tree in the forest, and over the chest there was a fine plate in the form of a phoenix made of gold. Because of these features, the dress endowed the sylvan princess with knowledge about every leaf in the forest and every living or dead creature.
Just as it seemed that the storm was disappearing, suddenly some people appeared. They were wearing different kinds of clothes and at first a person could not understand they were working together. They were completely unafraid of the wood-nymphs and they attacked them in their own forest!
They were very strong. They seemed to gather near Elyre, trying to kidnap her.
The situation seemed quite tense, but then a beautiful woman appeared, covered from head to toe in precious stones. She was very powerful and soon the bandits ran away.
She wasn't a wood-nymph.
"The Princess of the Perfects," Phyllada said. The perfects were yet another Allyrian race who lived in the Proud Mountains near Wild Wood. They used the power of different precious stones as their source of magic.
"Well, well," the Princess of the Perfects said. "Princess of the Wood-Nymphs, you are here and yet there is such a commotion. My people informed me there's been a storm here for quite some time and nobody's taken care of it yet. I came and what do I see? ...Thank the Dryads I came to help you with this 'difficult' task." The Princess of the Perfects smirked.
"Princess of the Perfects," Elyre said, "you could see very well this wasn't your ordinary storm. No need to blame the Princess of the Wood-Nymphs."
"Elyre," the Princess of the Perfects said. "Yes, I saw it all. You seemed to be attacked by mages disguised as ordinary people. And then I saw *you* here. Wherever you are, Elyre, there always seems to be trouble. As far as I noticed, they tried to kidnap you."
"Princess, must I remind you," Phyllada said, "that Elyre belongs to the royal family of Wild Wood. She is also a princess of the wood-nymphs. You shall not allow yourself to use such language when you speak to her. Moreover, it is not her fault they tried to kidnap her."
"You are a princess of the wood-nymphs, Phyllada, not her," the Princess of the Perfects answered. "She is not even a wood-nymph."
"Many times in history the Royal Tree of Wild Wood has given birth to more than one princess at the same time. I am the Crown Princess. Elyre has been long adopted by my mother."
"Yes, yes. Adopted Princess of the Wood-Nymphs," the Princess of the Perfects narrowed her eyes. "My apologies."
***
Meanwhile, Aristhaeus was also observing the situation from the shadows. Who were these anonymous attackers, indeed? They did not seem to be the Queen's or Mage Ademon's people. Ademon had no reason to disguise his mages. One thing was for sure - they were not Aristhaeus's people either. Did this mean someone else also knew about Elyre's amulet?
The archmage turned to his pet eagle,
"Leritte, I guess Ademon's people will be here soon trying to catch Fierce Wind again. But just in case, can you make sure that they search for Fierce Wind in Wild Wood?"
"Sure, if this is what you want," the bird replied.
***
"Elyre, your amulet," Phyllada noticed once the Princess of the Perfects left. "It's become invisible?"
"Yes," Elyre answered. "It happened yesterday after we escaped..."
"Strange. This hasn't happened since you were a child. I wonder what could be the reason for it?"
"I know, right? I'm not sure... Maybe I was really scared yesterday."