[Kuzan POV]
I wanted her to look me in the eyes as I decided her fate.
"Stand up straight."
Her body tightened at my command before she followed my words and got up from her kneeling position.
"I know what you did."
Her eyes darkened at my utterance, before becoming monotone at my forgiveness.
"Despite that, I absolve you of your guilt."
I let my right hand rest comfortably on the Dryad's shoulder, "I'm actually pretty impressed by the strategy, all things considered."
After all, what would you do if you had caught the attention of a rabid animal whose mere presence spelled trouble?
Would you confront such a creature yourself, risking life and limb in a vain attempt to scare it away, or would you go with the much simpler and more effective route of simply diverting its attention?
'Was it cowardly?'
From a layman's perspective, sure, but I didn't consider it so, especially when it was an act of desperation by the forest spirits to protect the prosperity of their home.
Although the strategy was effective, it was not without fault, as could be seen by my continued presence in the forest.
The Dryads liked this strategy so much that they had even put it to use twice since cooking it up...
Once against me, and once against that snake.
I had drawn my conclusions about their plans from my review of Isabel's memories...
'The poor girl had been unable to piece together their plan, despite it being crystal clear from the facts.'
At first, they had planned to instigate a confrontation between the Basilisk and the nation that Prince undoubtedly represented.
"You all should really be grateful, you know. I solved all of your troubles and this is the thanks I get?"
I had saved the spirits the hassle of further headache and deceit.
They had undoubtedly been pushed against a wall, to risk an instigation between a human nation and a beast of such strength, especially considering the risk they undertook as the perpetrators of this confrontation.
'And in their own home at that.'
I had made it clear to Isabel that I would solve their little problems. However, it seemed that despite what I had assumed from Isabel's personality, they were a scheming bunch, not happy to let the river flow uninterrupted as they say...
"So let me get this straight," I spoke, as my eyes drilled deeper into hers, "you bunch were so afraid of my presence in the forest, that you considered ways to get rid of me despite my promise to your youngest sister that I would leave your big 'surprise' in the middle of that ginormous cave system alone?"
I let go of her shoulder, having found my answer by looking into her eyes.
"And you really thought the best way to get me to leave would be to force me to chase after my runaway cat?!" Their grand plan, having been revealed to me by Garfield long ago.
'These poor Dryads, having been betrayed by Garfield for a few peices of that dragon's meat.'
He had been absolutely frious when I had told him the truth about what lay in that Queen Basalisk's chambers.
'Still, I guess I understand why they would keep it's presence a secret, wouldn't want that little glutton stealing their catch, espically not after they had worked so hard to save it from it's previous thief, that little snakey snake.'
Instead of facing me head on, they had gone the long way around of trying to lure me away from the forest by trying to bribe my new kitty cat.
'They would have nearly succeded too if Garfield had not told me about their plan from the start. After all, it took more than a few promises of treats to make it abondon it's owner.'
Despite my thoughts, I knew that I was giving the creature far more credit than it deserved as I knew that it's actions where more motivated by greed rather than loyalty.
'Such a moody kitty.'
I snapped out of my toughts to pass judgement on thier trangressions...
Their leader held her head down in what I now presumed to be shame, not guilt, at having had her plan fail instead of just being caught.
In response...
I patted her head.
"Nicely done."
She again raised her eyes, this time filled with deep confusion at my behavior.
She wasn't wrong to question my unusual switches.
After all, as a being in-tune with nature, I was sure she had some natural foresight in the dynamics of such things...
My mood, which I was constantly forcing myself to flip between hot and cold, no doubt left her in great confusion about how to proceed with me...
Unfortunately for her, I was planning to continue this farce for some time, especially considering that I was still in the initial steps of gathering the necessary information surrounding my 'change', ever since I devoured that monster's blood.
A change even I could hardly put my finger on despite being so clear to me...
[Hizel POV]
I stayed still, even as that demon patted my head—an act that would undoubtedly calm someone down only made me increasingly worried for my well-being.
Try as I might, despite my wealth of knowledge and experience due to my long life painting the balance of the forest, I was unable to see through this 'thing' in front of me...
'It can't be real.'
As a Dryad, I possessed the innate ability to hear the whispers of the forest. Every animal, every creature, their nature being clear as day to my subconscious.
Whether it be the ferocity of the Goldfang or the nobility of the Unicorn, not even the most legendary of creatures could hide their true nature...
But I found myself at a loss, for even with the All-Mother's gift, I was unable to see past the veil covering this creature's heart.
I finally undertood why Isabel was so shaken after meeting him again...
'I'm afraid,' I thought, while barely holding myself together in front of this 'thing.'
I had always been afraid, afraid of the unknown, afraid of what may come, afraid of losing this peace given to me by the forest.
Usually, when I felt like this, I would find solace with the All-Mother.
Even when that Basilisk Queen had caused havoc to our home, by breaking in and stealing away our treasures, I had found safety in my beliefs.
My purpose.
Even when faced with the threat of extinction for both myself and my family, should the council learn of our shortcomings and subsequent deceit, hiding the truth of our faults, I had once again put my faith in the All-Mother's will.
'But this time...'
I found myself at a loss, for I could tell, with my connection to the All-Mother, that even my savior was hesitant to acknowledge this threat...
'To life.'
I clenched my teeth, remembering the future that I foresaw...
'To this forest.'
An abomination not from this world...
'To this world.'
I finally faced reality, that I was too cowardly, too weak, to end this threat.
'I'm sorry Isabel.'
I had chastised my sister for going against the All-Mother's will, when I myself had been the first one to fall into that devil's temptations.
I had lied, for our well-being, with only Isabel having been left out of my machinations for being too pure, and too smart to be misled by following my commands.
Despite the All-Mother directing me to make the council aware of his presence, I had refused, wanting to protect my sisters from my failures as a leader.
'Lies beget lies...' first I had covered up my sister's mistake, by not informing the council of the Basilisk, for I knew that we would lose their trust, and our treasure along with it.
'One mistake leads to another...' then, my plans to fix my own mistake had been wrecked by the presence of this 'thing', who was now standing quietly in front of me while petting my scalp.
"Nicely done."
"Colour me impressed. In fact, all of you are free to go about your business as long as you answer a few questions of mine..."
I ignored his words.
'Everything would have been so perfect, if this thing didn't exist...'
My plans to instigate a fight between the nation of that Prince, and the Queen of the Basilisks had been ruined by his appearance.
'He shouldn't exist...'
I hated him, not for what he had done, but for who he was.
'This abomination of nature.'
I hated him...
My very heart burned with hate, contrary to my being...
"First of all," that thing spoke, as if reading my thoughts, "why do you hate me so much?"
[Kuzan POV]
Although I chose not to read her thoughts, out of caution for the 'All-Mother' from Isabel's memories, it didn't take an empath to see that the leader of the Dryads in particular had a problem with me.
Isabel's memories had been a treasure trove of juicy details...
'I had gone looking for copper and struck gold.'
Although I still had large gaps of knowledge regarding the common sense of this world, I was able to become privy to some world-shattering secrets that I was sure even the most powerful of Kings would be too weak to know...
Still, even with my current knowledge of the world, and my understanding of this 'creature', I was unable to understand what exactly I had done to earn such deep hatred from their leaders.
'She's not acting anything like what I expected from reading Isabel's memories.'
In place of a smart and resourceful leader, who could do no wrong, I found a woman whose fury had started overtaking her fear...
'She's certainly cut from a different cloth from the rest of them,' while her sisters continued to shiver while kneeling down in fear, I found nothing but deep hatred within their leader's eyes.
'There's a reason,' my sixth sense was urging me to satiate my curiosity...
'If she was just angry at me for how I treated Isabel, she wouldn't be any angrier than the rest...' My mind worked quickly in its deductions, 'there has to be a reason...'
A small glint of understanding flashed between my eyes.
"What're you hiding?"
There was no use in beating around the bush.
"Tell me everything, in all and in truth, and I will consider your debt to me repaid."
Still, despite the great restraint and goodwill that I had shown, she maintained her silence, much to my annoyance.
I refused to read her mind, for the risk outweighed the potential reward, especially when I had no idea what I was digging for...
The system had given me a warning, to not 'search' her forcefully as there was a 'potential of attack by foreign influence'.
'And I have a feeling that the rest of her sisters don't know anything about it either, considering how they're acting towards me...'
They were acting normal, afraid, but that was normal, considering their current predicament.
'A new normal...' one that I would need to learn to live with.
At least around them, considering their senses were somehow able to peer through my mask...
"Speak."
My command once again being met with silence.
[Hizel POV]
The creature shifted his eyes to my sisters, causing my fears to heighten. Without saying a word, I could understand the thought he was conveying.
A thinly veiled threat.
However, his threat to hurt my sisters not only caused my heart to tighten, it also deepened my hatred for his existence.
My fury overtook my fear.
"Leave."
My head raised to meet his gaze.
"YOU MONSTER!"
I snapped.
"LEAVE THE FOREST!"
"LEAVE!"
"LEAVE!"
"LEAVE!"
[Kuzan POV]
'Well, I certainly didn't expect that,' even I was a little shocked at her outburst, to say nothing of her sisters who looked like they were about to have a heart attack.
In fact, some of them even tried to get up, to save their leader from what they considered would be my retaliation for her disrespect.
"Kneel."
I increased the pressure, forcing all of them to once again grovel on the ground, despite my distaste for this new technique.
I bent down, my hand now softly caressing the side of their leader's face, who would rather face death than answer some simple questions.
"Sigh," although it made things more difficult, I could work with it...
'Plus, I have a feeling I know what she so desperately wants to hide from me...'
[Hizel POV]
'No matter what, I can't let this thing meet them...'
It was the entire reason I had abandoned my faith in the All-Mother's decisions.
The All-Mother wanted them to meet, while I wanted to delay. To earn more time, to come up with a solution, a solution to the thing that I foresaw in my vision...
'No being should be allowed to earn that much power.'
It went against nature.
'No being can be trusted with such strength.'
To protect my sisters, to protect the All-Mother, to protect the balance of nature itself, I would sacrifice anything to ensure this creature never learned of their existe—
"Is it about the council?"