The better part of the afternoon I fought against the perilous ascent's many twists and turns. I lost count of how often twigs broke below me, forcing me to tackle the situation from another angle.
Having already depleted what little energy I had at my disposal, there was little I could do to counterbalance the aggressive acts of all who called the upper layers of this sea of trees their home.
Monkeys sporting aflame tails, spiders a little less my size, a veritable coven of millipedes rushing all over me as I carelessly invaded their resting place...
Then there were the less frequent sightings of opossums, anteaters, ant colonies, snakes, snails, birds... and in between unhappy old me. So I often took breaks and hid away.
"Uwaaaahhh!" The youth wasn't happy either, but her discomfort could only be less than mine by nature of the contract binding us.
"Uhhh..." Which meant I was in a great deal of pain, both physical and psychological. Forcing my way up the tree by demonstrating all the tenacity I could muster, I slowly gained on height.
Little by little, the distance between me and the treetop was shrinking. "Uw...AAhhhaaAAA!!!" "Yes, yes. You're in pain, I get that."
"Uuuwwww..." "No need licking your swollen fingers. Better to listen and learn, than to experience trouble and howl."
"Ahhhhh.. uwwwwuuuuuuAAAAAA!" "Whatever you want to tell me, it's useless. You're useless, hear me!
Provoking the mother spider while she is laying eggs, biting into a flaming monkey's tail as it basks in the sun...,"
Naturally, trouble's greatest magnet in all of history, the obstinate youth brawling its eyes out atop my head, wasn't convinced of the virtue that we call paying attention. Not. At. All.
Among other ridiculous escapades, the silly thing kicked her own hands with her feet, claws extended too. Yet the itch obviously didn't abate and neither did the swelling.
On the contrary, many tiny wounds conquering the skin from her fingers all the way to the elbows were her reward.
And mine was the unforgiving contract raining abuse down on the hardworking me. "...sticking your head into a wheezing skunk's amiable nest, biting into a shrieker gecko when I told you not to...,"
One thing I certainly had to admit. Stale everyday life was impossible with her around. Not ten minutes passed before she turned to another ill-advised activity.
Which made me coincidentally realise just how good a match they were, Larissa and that collection of random, troublesome thoughts.
"...tearing on my precious fuzz while I was literally crawling on a perilous cliff made of bark, and surrounded by a swarm of dragonflies thrice your size taking it easy...,"
The sole memory made me shudder. I did crush some precious eggs, true... but I paid with the most hectic three hours I'd ever experienced while climbing trees.
Not that I ever saw a need to indulge in such a silly activity. There had only once been a tree giant enough to awe me, demanding real skill and a tenacious mind to get to the top.
That tree... was no more. "...you even tore out a wing from a random pursuer in the end!" Which led to the current problem.
The youth was suffering from the implications that came with bathing in brimstone-like blood, the very essence and container of this kind of dragonfly's tenacious lifeforce.
Only her earlier partial adaptation to my bloodline did prevent the worst case from happening. Therefore, it was very apt to state that I saved myself from certain demise.
If only she'd learn to behave... That was an ardent wish of mine doomed to remain a pipe dream. Yet not everything was bad.
At least I'd gotten the hang out of her primal needs and the clock governing them. The times she relieved herself all over me had passed! Mostly...
However, whatever I tried, the picky youth didn't want to consume anything nutritious. Even Larissa only managed to make her drink a few sips after many intensive rounds of coaxing.
For a vagabond, she sure was awfully picky! Finding something she couldn't resist was my biggest motivation to return home. If the youth starved herself to death... that wouldn't be fun! At. All.
"Hey, stay strong. Pull yourself together, we're reaching the top soon!" After about five hours of arduous climbing, it was just within reach.
The relief in my voice might've had some influence on her, for she calmed down, providing me with a moment of respite to catch my breath.
Then, the leaves parted. "...whoaaa." The view was simply majestic! Three streams flowed together into one bubbling current.
They meandered through the enormous forest, circling past seven mountains which from afar appeared to encircle this gigantic valley.
Above me, lush strands of clouds covered a small part of the forest. In the uncovered parts of the sky, the bright sun shone down on us in reddish colour tinged with orange due to the late hour.
By looking closer, it was possible to make out many tiny points in the distance, each a creature too dangerous for the current me to provoke.
"Uwaaaahhh~! Hihihi~" The youth too was stunned by the extensive display of absolute freedom shown to her. She even extended those tiny arms, stunned that she couldn't grab the landscape.
"Silly her..." Later, I sat out the better part of the sunset trying to match my fading memories with the changed lands in front.
This was undoubtedly Ghabira, the ancestral land of high elves. But at the same time, it clearly was not. Too much had been... broken?
I couldn't quite put my finger on it. But something awful had truly befallen these lands, though what exactly remained obscured to me. Anyway, I now wouldn't end up totally lost here.
"Now then, you little bugger. Let's return home. My home. ...maybe yours too, eventually." Embracing the whole world in front of me, I sang the song of homecoming.
As the tune as nostalgic as it was ancient rustled the leaves below me, my booklet took on a life of its own, spitting out matching letters to my song.
Then from nothingness, it grew. The contours of a door so imposing it dwarfed the very tree I had gone to such great lengths to scale.
From illusory all the way to reality, the door ended up materialising properly, opening up just enough to suck us two in.
While shooting through the air, I was happy finally coming back home. Too many millennia had passed, too many things left undone, too much research to catch up to!
Yet before all of that, I had to solve a certain problem first. Realy fast too...