"Mom ?" Alice looked dumbfounded, she had no idea about the connection between Tania and the chieftain
"And how exactly is this our problem ?" The chieftain's piercing gaze went through the human girl. "She didn't threaten you into this did she ?" She signaled her guards to draw their bows.
"No she didn't, but she did push me to the ground..." Tania recalled the events and said them out loud.
Alice started to sweat, she fell to her knees and bowed begging for forgivness "It was an accident o great village chief" She could feel her chances of survival dropping.
"...But it was because both of us weren't paying attention, she then helped me get up and was very nice to me" The young dryad continued to tell her mom the events. Alice felt like she was on a rollercoaster. "But in conclusion she thought that some tree creatures are causing the ruckus within the forest."
"It seems i misjudged you human. But how will you solve this problem then ?" She stared at Alice
"I don't have any idea yet. But i promise to find a solution that will benefit both of us" Alice really meant that.
"How would it benefit the dryad tribe ?" The fierce chieftain asked.
"If we find a solution I will make sure that the guild will never cause trouble to you" Alice bowed. "I will personally arrange that when I get back"
"I will allow it for the time being" The chief said "But if we find out that you have any ulterior motives, I will personally get rid of you" She smugged.
"Ofcourse. I don't mind that" Alice said. Then got out of the building. Tania went after her. "I can feel my legs going weak, that was so scary" The adrenaline was just wearing off "Why didn't you tell me that she is your mom ?"
"I thought it didn't matter" Tania said.
"But now that I look closer, I can really see the similiarities" Alice stared at her face "...in more places than one" She stared lower. "Anyway now the harder part. How to solve the problem with mana beasts... Hmm..."
Alice went around the forest trying to brainstorm an idea, Tania was following her closely.
"Why are you following me" Alice asked.
"I want to see what you will do" She could see Tania's eyes shining with excitement.
Alice sighed and got on her tippy toes to pat the dryad "Okay, come with me then" She could see that the dryad was very happy.
After almost a day of thinking Alice could see Tania getting tired.
"Want us to go rest ?" She asked
"No... I'm not tired..." Tania was barely standing still, Alice took Tania back to the village and put her in the bed in her house, then went by herself to keep scouting the forest.
The whole night she was going around, at some point she found a huge green glowing rock. She got closer to it and could see that it looked like a beating heart, it was covered in veins and guarded by massive trees around it. She could feel the power of the green rock flowing into her body. It was a warm feeling. She felt at ease as her 2nd tear activated on its own, but it was no longer white but green. When her tear had a fill of this green mana she felt very exhausted, but she didn't have a place to stay. She climbed on one of the vines and went to sleep on the branch.
...
When she woke up Tania was sitting next to her.
"Do humans usually sleep for so long ?" She looked at Alice, the human girl was fully covered in moss and flowers.
"How long did i sleep for?" Alice asked.
"All day" She poked the sleeping girl.
Alice stood up. Shaking off the moss "Where did this moss even come from ?"
"It grew from you. Are you also a dryad ?" Tania asked.
"No I'm not. Why would you think that ?" She was confused why Tania asked her such a weird question if she saw that she is a human.
"Because only dryads naturaly grow moss instead of body hair" The dryad kept poking Alice.
"Huh ? But why would I be..." She remembered what happend last night. "Oooooh. It must have been that green rock." She figured.
"You mean the heart of the forest ?" Tania asked.
"I guess so. I got close to it yesterday and the mana coming from it got absorbed into my tear" Alice activated her 2nd tear, it glowed green and she could feel the moss appearing all over her body, she could also feel wooden horns appearing on her forehead.
"Wow you look just like us ! Minus the clothes part" Tania was fascinated with Alice's sudden change.
Alice and Tania went to the chieftain again to maybe get an explenation.
"I can't believe my eyes. Its the first time i see something like that happening." She also started poking Alice. "It could be because we dryads take our power from that stone. But that doesn't explain why your tear absorbed it"
Alice thought about it. It was the first time Monika saw a white tear, and she couldn't activate that tear for a long time. And now that tear changed color after absorbing mana from the heart of the forest.
"What if the fact that my tear was blank beforehand it absorbed the mana and gave me abilities of a dryad ?" That's the conclusion Alice reached after much thought.
"It seems taht this is what happend. Can you try using the nature power of dryads ?" The chieftain asked.
Alice activated the rend. She could feel the mana inside plants all around her. She tried to control it but it felt impossible. The way that the mana flew through the plants was just too fierce for her to control. She tried even harder.
"Even though you have our powers you can't control the smallest plants" Chief laughed.
Frustrated Alice decided to show off. She activated both rends at once. Her body instantly overgrown with moss and her horns became fully developed as she easily controlled the mana inside plants with her main rend.