Chapter 54
Valentine stood at her classroom door when Lauren and entourage came to class. "Hi. Um, why wasn't I told that a dryad would be in my class? Sari is not going to take kindly to seeing the dryad." She questioned.
"Professor Gavin set up all the meetings with the dark realm creatures. I guess he figured it would be good for you to tell me about her and to have her in the garden setting of your class." Lauren speculated.
"Oh, well, he is right about that. Sari, come here and put this collar on." Valentine announced as she rushed Sari. Before Sari could refuse Valentine had put a submission collar on her.
"Why?" Sari whined.
"It's for your own good. Let's enter the classroom now." Valentine instructed and she led Sari into the class by the leash and collar. Once they were in the room and seated, Valentine pulled Sari into her lap and pet her hair.
Lauren didn't understand Valentine's actions until Sari saw Shantel. "You!" Sari began to flame up. "Why are you here? You are the reason for my last death."
"Wait. Are you Sari? Oh, I have missed you so much!" Shantel yelled and ran up to give Sari a hug.
"No!" Sari yelled. Shantel stopped in her tracks.
"You are not allowed to touch Sari, Shantel." Valentine blocked Sari from Shantel. "You hurt her physically the last time you hugged her. I didn't want her to hurt you because you caused her death, but I do want you in class. You two have to make up though." Valentine said. "I don't think Shantel meant to hurt you Sari."
"Okay, but I am not ready for her to touch me." Sari replied. She was able to calm down because Valentine kept stroking her.
"Okay, now, let's start class." Valentine said with a smile. "Class excuse the delay. Though this happened in front of you, It is only between the two of them, so don't be nosey."
Shantel smiled and moved close to Lauren. Sari shot Shantel with fire darts and Shantel screeched and moved away from Lauren. That was Sari warning about trying to get close to Lauren. She knew her first.
"Now" Valentine said, "Shantel, please tell us about yourself."
"I am a nature spirit who lives in trees and takes the form of a beautiful young woman. We care for all nature. There are usually four of us per planet and we take care of our area. This realm of imagination has one more than all the other planets or realms. Most believe that our life only lasts as long as our tree lives, but that is not really true. When our trees are hurt or die, we feel it, but we are drawn back to the queen of the dryads and assigned another tree if we can prove we were not the reason for the trees damage. When people cause trouble in the forests, we must defend our land. We are not bad or evil at all."
"Dryads are not evil but you are!" Sari screeched. "You hurt people and don't even realize that you are hurting them. You were told to stop and you kept going. It was rude and painful." She cried and curled more into Valentine's shoulder. "You have no consideration for anyone."
Shantel stood still and lowered her head. "Okay. Everyone please go on to your next class, except Sari and if you please, Lauren, stay for a minute." Valentine requested.
Once everyone was gone, Lauren moved closer to Sari. "Sari, are you going to be okay? I don't want you to be uncomfortable. I know that Shantel might have hurt you in the past, but is there any way we can resolve this problem between you and Shantel?"
"I am sorry. I truly do accept her apology. I just don't want to be near her ever again. I came here to get away from her. She messed with my relationship and destroyed my reputation until I burned out and flamed up. I can forgive but I can't deal with her." She moved away from Valentine and crawled into Lauren's lap like she was a baby. She was as small as a child and very light. At that time, she reminded Lauren of a baby so much she rocked her. "Shantel, I am afraid I can't have you stay here. Sari is not comfortable and I don't like her like this. I am thankful for your link and we can stay in contact, but until Sari is comfortable, please stay at your tree."
"I understand. I am truly sorry, Sari. At the time, I was stupid and wrong. I was going through a break up and didn't care who I hurt. I am not making excuses but I really do apologize. I will be at my tree and always available to you, Lauren." With that, Shantel bowed and left.
"I'm sorry, Lauren. I hope I didn't mess things up for you." Sari said.
"I think things will be okay. She is willing to give you time and space so you can heal. If you need to be near to to heal then that's fine. Let's go to our next class." Lauren and Sari went to their technology class and joined the others. Shantel watched as they moved on. She hated that Sari was angry with her. She had to figure out a way to make things up to her.
Shantel watched as they moved on. She hated that Sari was angry with her. She had to figure out a way to make things up to her. Right now, however, she had to get in contact with the queen. She really wished she could have been the one to work with The Keeper. "I guess Le'Della will get the privilege instead."