Elyre sat under the Royal Tree. She rarely had an opportunity to be alone here. She pondered upon the Princess of the Perfects' words. Was Elyre something like the black sheep of Wild Wood, causing trouble even when she didn't mean to? After all, she was Fierce Wind, too -- she'd escaped from the Dungeon of the Lost just yesterday.
She looked at the leaves of the Royal Tree and then at its bark. The names of all princesses of the wood-nymphs from the past were written on it as a way to commemorate them. The letters were shining with sap from the tree.
They said under the tree's roots there was a dragon heart, which had blessed the magnificent plant with strength, solidity, and might. Indeed nowadays its trunk was so enormous a hundred people could easily join hands around it and its bark was as thick as dragon scales. The names of wood-nymph princesses were shining on it.
Elyre looked at the names again. Princess Nymphica.
Suddenly, she realized she'd stopped in front of the name of Princess Nymphica Svetlidaris. Nymphica...
Elyre remembered from her history lessons at school that this princess was known as the Healer. She'd managed to cure the forest from an illness as dangerous as maginopia. All of her magical prescriptions were kept in her diary, but it had been destroyed in the turbulent times of wars. Some of her prescriptions were kept safe in the biggest library of Allyria, the Library of Vahara Arta.
"Perhaps I should go to Vahara Arta. This may also be a way to save Wild Wood. I will definitely try to find Princess Nymphica's legacy..." Elyre thought. Who knew maybe Princess Nymphica could give them an idea how to deal with maginopia?
At that moment, Elyre heard a noise. Lyssandria came to see her.
"How did you find me here?" Elyre asked.
"Your sister sent me to call you inside. She said you'd be near the Royal Tree... We will be having dinner," Lyssandria answered. As she'd heard all that happened earlier during the storm-cleaning, she tried to calm Elyre down. "Elyre, actually, I think it is very nice that you have been adopted and you have such a good family. You've been blessed. It is a good thing. Don't pay too much attention to the Princess of the Perfects ...Some people never have a family to belong to. And some people, though they have relatives, are never close with them..." Lyssandria looked at the ground. She didn't have anything more to say. She didn't want Elyre to feel out of place because of that Princess of the Perfects. "Well, I will go back. Take your time."
Elyre nodded. Lyssandria returned inside. Elyre stayed for a little longer with the tree. The Royal Tree had two colors of leaves: purple and green. Legend had it that when a purple leaf fell down that meant a disaster for the kingdom, and when it was green -- happiness for the kingdom. What color was the last leaf that had fallen...?
Elyre heard a noise again.
"I'm coming," she exclaimed. "I am just not hungry yet!"
She turned around to return to the manor, but the shadow of the person behind her was surprisingly unfamiliar. It wasn't anyone from the Sun Manor.
"Saying goodbye to trees?" he said.
Who was this person?.. She could not understand him.
"I am not saying 'goodbye,'" she said. "Why would you say this?"
He half-smiled as if this was something she was supposed to know,
"...Because it's a matter of time for you to leave the forest."
She frowned. He continued,
"I heard an important prisoner escaped last night... You tell me, will the Queen's mages come to look for him in Wild Wood?"
She froze as she realized he must know she was Fierce Wind. Moreover, he was a mage! She wondered if she should just escape or try to understand what his intentions were. Wasn't he one of the Queen's mages too?
"I would think you'd be in a hurry to say 'goodbye,'" he added. Then he came near the Royal Tree and Elyre. He looked at the names of princesses carved into the trunk. He said, "I came to offer you a deal."
"Nymphica Svetlidaris," he continued. "Is this the name you were looking at? The Healer. She wrote many books."
"This is the Royal Tree of Wild Wood. Don't touch it," Elyre said when it seemed he was about the touch the trunk.
He just smiled. What would happen if he touched it?
"Alright," he said. "Think about my offer. I can help you go to the library of Vahara Arta. You... Ah, I am afraid you're not going to have a lot of time to consider it."
Suddenly, they heard a voice coming from the manor, "Elyre, are you coming or not?"
"Coming!" Elyre shouted back quickly. So she ignored the mage and whatever offer he was talking about. Vahara Arta? Had he read her mind? She just looked at him one last time and hurried to return to the manor, leaving him behind.
***
"Are you not hungry at all?" Phyllada exclaimed.
But Elyre's mind was elsewhere. She wondered if the mage was right, if the Queen's minions would come to find her.
She knew that her crime was not so big and as such it could've been easily ignored. This often happened to petty criminals.
However, if they had meant to imprison her in the Dungeon of the Lost... then they'd obviously considered her crime grave... In that case, maybe they would indeed come to look for her... The thought really made her lose appetite.
She quickly went to her room. She had to hide all of Fierce Wind's clothes... or maybe even better, throw them away just in case. Otherwise, she could implicate all people in the Sun Manor.
Initially, she had created the alter ego of Fierce Wind simply to help the forest, to organize protests against digeniche gathering and remain anonymous. Who would have thought... that her actions turned her into a "criminal" but with no great success as far as digeniche was concerned. She put the clothes into a box. Unexpectedly, she heard some noise so she quickly kicked the box under the bed, but then she realized it was Bayan.
"Are you going to put on these clothes?" He pointed at Fierce Wind's clothes. "So cool! You look so manly in them!" Haha, he meant it as a compliment but she stared daggers at him. He laughed, "...But you are very beautiful when you are a woman, too."
"I am throwing them away. Can you come with me?" Elyre said.
"Who would have thought that 'Robin Hood' is afraid of the dark..." Bayan shook his head.
And so they went down the road, a bit further away from the Sun Manor. They got rid of the clothes.
As they returned, they saw unfamiliar silhouettes against the lights of the manor. Elyre was shocked and her heart sank as she was almost sure these were the Queen's soldiers looking for her.
She immediately drew Bayan aside.
"Why don't you go somewhere and hide," he said. "I will check what's going on."
"Alright. I will be somewhere near the Royal Tree. I will hide. When you come, I will appear."
And so, she went back to the Royal Tree and hid somewhere between the trees. She thought she was alone, but then a strange head appeared out of one of the trees and almost scared her. It was Melfie, one of the local elves.
"Are you looking for that mage again? ...He left... and he also left a lot of food for thought," she was a girl who laughed childishly.
"Melfie!" Elyre exclaimed.
"I am sure they will talk about Fierce Wind's disappearance in the new issue of 'SHOCK! in the forest!' ...Aren't you curious if the mage left any messages for you?"
"...Did he?"
"I will tell you if you tell me how you got to meet him?" Melfie raised her eyebrows.
"Look, I don't have time to speak now..."
"Well... You're just hiding in the trees! Why are you pretending to be busy?!" Melfie exclaimed.
"I am HIDING in the trees."
"Ah, alright then. I just want to let you know had he left any messages for you, I would not tell you, because you are so impolite!!" Melfie said and hid back into the tree again.