Aeons came and went. Jahreszeiten slumbered deep in the earth, blanketed by warm soil and embraced by the roots of ancient trees. Thousands of years ago, a kindly druid had helped lull him to sleep when he roiled in pain from the humans chopping down trees and plunging stakes and stones into the earth. The development necessary for man was agony to the nature spirit, but Jahreszeiten couldn't bear to level his wrath upon the humans.
He had not tolerated millenia of insects eating through his trees and rodents burrowing through his soil just to give in to violence.
The bugs and animals were all too cute to crush. They could nest amidst his body if they wanted to.
But finally, Jahreszeiten's long dreams were ending. He awoke aching and sore, many of his trees plucked and large swaths of soil hollowed or packed tight. The pleasant chill of winter soothed his discomfort, and he found the will to extend his sight for the first time in ages.
Most of the forest critters were slumbering as he had been, but he noticed a human out and about and investigated closer.
'My oh my, humanity has changed quite a lot while I slept. They used to be such scrappy creatures.'
The human Jahreszeiten saw now had millenia of evolution working in his favor. He was an upright and refined creature, well fed and nurtured since birth, clean, and with hypnotizing bilateral symmetry. He walked on two legs with confidence. His skin, hair, and eyes were a landscape of summery hues. Elegantly crafted trappings made precisely for the human body protected him from the winter sleep.
But most of all, yes, most thrilling of all, the dull flickers of intelligence Jahreszeiten had seen in the gaze of the human's ancestors was a clear and shining light now.
He must let the humans know he had awakened. Now was a time for communication and cooperation between spirit and man.
Jahreszeiten created a typical sign: a green sprout in the winter. However, the human's gaze was fixed straight ahead. The nature spirit raised a tree root to ensure he wouldn't pass by the sign without noticing it.
The human tripped, and Jahreszeiten peered up at him from the sprout's perspective.
'What a soothing appearance…'
The human's eyes were like two clear pools under the summer sky. His lips, cheeks, and the tip of his nose flushed like spring tulips in the cold. His snow was glistening white as winter, and his hair was a golden autumn bounty.
Jahreszeiten allowed his spirit to feel refreshed by the lovely enlightened ape, but prepared to say goodbye to this particular specimen. He had seen the sign, and he would go and communicate the forest's awakening to the others in his tribe now.
A puff of warm, misty air came from the human's lips, setting the sprout's leaves and catching Jahreszeiten off guard.
"You're early," he murmured. "Winter's only just started."
'Heaven and earth, what a beautiful voice…'
Jahreszeiten quickly shook himself out of it. 'More importantly, behold the strides language has taken while I slept!'
Of course Jahreszeiten understood the human's meaning, language or not. But it was especially clear because of how clear-minded the critter was.
'Anyway, he has certainly understood, so now he will go.'
The spirit felt a slight pang of regret, wanting irrationally to further observe the enchanting mortal creature. But he accepted their imminent parting as he had countless times in the past.
But then, Jahreszeiten was stunned when the human scooped the sprout out of the soil to take with him.
'He wants to transplant it? He didn't want to let the cold kill it after I withdrew my influence? … How cute.'
Overtaken by whim, Jahreszeiten exerted his powers a little more, despite only recently having awoken.
'One good turn for another, human. If you'll care for this sprout, then it will care for you.'
As the sprout fed on the mortal's feelings of compassion, it transformed into a ring that would fit upon the human's head. Since the human wore textiles, he should easily understand how the gift worked. Jahreszeiten watched in mild anticipation as the beautiful creature debated before curiously put the Autumn Ring on his head.
The nature spirit's gift promptly rooted itself to his skull.
***
"Wh-what?!" Aurelius panicked when he realized he couldn't take the crown off as easily as he'd put it on. When his fingers dug around under his hairline, it felt like the wooden band had fused through his skin. The strange wooden antlers and leafy, crown-like horns had seemingly become part of him! He even felt pain when he pulled too hard trying to remove them!
As Rory's panic levels were rising, a telepathic message nestled into his mind, urging him to be calm. It wasn't in any language at all—let alone any he knew—and the voice sounded more the ordinary rustling of a forest than anything with intent, and yet he understood it with utter clarity.
"Be calm, human. My gift will not harm you."
"Who… What are you?" Rory demanded.
"I am the forest and its four seasons: the trees, the soil, and your home. Your Druids of yore named me Jahreszeiten."
Rory furrowed his brow. 'It… it can't be. A spirit? An awakened nature spirit?'
The first human sorcerers had lulled all the spirits into a supposedly endless slumber in ancient times, since by building tools, homes, and other things, they angered more of them than they had the power to contend with.
He was lucky that he hadn't been killed on the spot by this Jahre nature spirit thing for having a house on its land!
"A… a gift?" he belatedly recognized what the spirit had said.
"You intended to shelter the sprout I had sent as a sign from the seasons," Jahreszeiten explained. "Now, the Autumn Ring will shelter you."
'It's a ring?' Rory tipped his head, wondering by what logic the spirit would call his gift that. Calling it a crown, diadem, circlet, or even headband made more sense. "Don't rings usually fit on the finger? You know, like a wedding ring."
"Wedding ring?"
Rory could sense the spirit trying to reframe his human language into meaning it could understand. He began to feel a pit of anxiety for some unknown reason.
"Did you don my gift thinking it was part of a mating ritual?"
"N-no, not at all!" Rory avidly shook his head.
His spine chilled when he sensed disappointment from the nature spirit's presence in his mind. "Such urgency to refuse. I think you are beautiful, kind, and wise, but it seems I have not left a similar impression on you."