Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Four — Tree Time
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Four — Tree Time I landed with a thump atop a big old rock, my knees bending with the impact and my ears flopping down so fast they tapped my shoulders.Standing up slowly so as to not spook anyone, I took a moment to look all around me. The last thing I wanted was to be ambushed while my friends were still above. Actually, I wouldn’t want to be ambushed even with my friends around.Ambushes were no fun.The nearby stream gurgled and did happy little stream things, and the woods-despite seeming rather dark and foreboding from above-were actually real quaint when on ground level, with big trees as far as the eye could see and the occasional bush and scampering squirrel. It was a bit cool in the shadow of the Beaver but not so much that it was uncomfortable.The only truly worrisome thing was the trees looking at me from within the forest. I could make out maybe six or seven dryads, some half hidden behind trees or boulders, others disguised by bushes.If some of them weren’t moving a little, there was no way I would have noticed them at all. They certainly had an advantage when it came to hiding in a forest.I wondered if this world had a variation on ‘missing the forest for the trees’ and whether it took into account dryads being a thing.The rope ladder smacked the ground a couple of meters away, dragging my attention up to the Beaver where a couple of the lumberjacks looked like they were ready to come down.Not to be outdone, Amaryllis climbed onto the rails, stuck her arms out next to her, and stepped off. She glided down nice and gently for a bit, then landed on top a pile of stones that shifted and clattered beneath her.“Anything interesting around?” she asked as she brushed her feathers straight.“Not really,” I said. “Lots of dryads in the woods, but none have stepped up yet. Is everyone coming down?”“Not everyone, no. We’re supposed to meet with some dryad leader first, then head over to the important trees. A huge waste of time, if you ask me. They’re trees, it’s not like their opinion matters.”I shook my head. “I don’t agree,” I said. “They might be trees, but they’re still people. This is their home. I'm actually kinda glad that they can defend it. It means that we need to take them as seriously as they deserve.”“Well, whatever,” Amaryllis said. “That five percent discount on goods, even if just applied to wood and lumber, will be worth any number of talking trees.”I rolled my eyes, making sure that Amaryllis could see it, because what was the point of rolling your eyes otherwise? “We should go say hi to the nice dryads before the lumberjacks and company guys get down here. I have the impression that they’re not the best of friends.”“You think?” Amaryllis asked.I made sure to bump shoulders with her as I passed by. “Come on, let’s go talk to some nice trees,” I said.We approached the stream, across from which I could see the largest number of dryads gathered behind a small pile of rocks and a few tightly knit trees. “How do we call them over?” Amaryllis asked.“We could go to them?”My harpy friend hummed. “I don’t know. It’d feel safer to meet halfway.”That was fair. And if they didn’t want to, then I’d go and meet them myself. Sometimes, to make new friends, you just had to put yourself out there a little. “Hello dryads!” I called out.Amaryllis’ head snapped around to stare at me. “Are you okay?”“Huh?”“You sounded like someone just hit you in the chest,” she said.I patted my chest, still covered in intact armour, then looked back up to her. “No? I’m fine. I was just calling out to the dryads.”“That was their language then?” she asked.“How did it sound like?” I wondered.“Like someone wheezing. I’ve heard old birds who smoked pipes their whole lives speak more clearly,” she said.Shrugging, I turned back to the woods. “It doesn’t seem to have worked,” I said. Cupping my hands over my mouth, I tried again. “Hey there! My name is Broccoli, and I’m a friend! We want to speak with you, please!”The trees rustled, and some of the dryads that may have thought they were hidden tucked themselves behind some trees and bushes in a hurry. The gesture was somehow very innocent and child-like. Were they young dryads? They were certainly smaller than Oak had been. Very cute! I approved wholeheartedly of little tree people. The only problem was that with bark-like faces it would be hard to pinch their cheeks.Movement from nearby had me turning just in time to see a bush split apart and a pair of large dryads move out from hiding. They had been surprisingly close the entire time.One was shorter than the other, with a curvier body and a distinctly willowy look. The dryad had long, braided branches atop its head that fell down in a long cascade along its back. I was tempted to call it a ‘her.’ She was definitely very feminine, with a few flowers in her ‘hair’ and an outfit of sorts made of woven leaves.The other, larger dryad was...“Oak!”Amaryllis eyed Oak, then me. “This is that dryad you know?” she asked.I nodded as Oak stepped up and placed the butt of his spear onto the ground next to him. He was a bit bigger than I remembered, with a few more scars along his tough bark-y skin. He was wearing a sort of toga made of woven leaves, with bits of wood placed along it. Armour of sorts?“Sister... Broccoli?” Oak said.“Hey!” I cheered before bouncing across the stream. A few of the dryads flinched at the motion, and I saw bows and spears rise, but no one did anything rash as I crashed into Oak and gave him a big hug. “Oak!”Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.Oak didn’t so much as step back from the force of my hug. “Sister Broccoli,” he said before he started to pat me on the head. “Ears?”“Yup!” I said. “I grew ears since last we met. Do you think they’re cute?”Oak looked at them very carefully, and seemed to ponder his words. “Growing is... good.”I felt my cheeks warming up, and I stepped back from Oak. “Thanks! I kinda like them.” I clapped my hands. “Oh, you need to meet my friends. And I need to hear everything that happened to you. And who’s this willow dryad? Is she a girl-dryad... is she your girlfriend?”Oak let out a long sigh, but it sounded like a happy sigh. “Still talk fast,” he said.I couldn’t help but giggle. “Sorry! I just have lots to say.”“Hello, Sister Broccoli,” the dryad next to Oak said. She had a big smile on, and a bunch of flower bulbs in her outfit started to open up to reveal all sorts of pretty flowers. “I’m Wisp.”“Hi Wisp!” I said before opening my arms wide in the optimal hugging position. “Can I hug you too?”“Yes!” Wisp said.I wanted to be careful not to squish her flowers, but Wisp didn’t seem to care at all and gave me a tight squeeze. “Whoa, you’re strong!” I said as I let go of her.Wisp let out a breezy laugh. “Yes.”“So, are you a boy dryad or a girl dryad? You’re very pretty,” I said.Wisp seemed to think on it for a moment. “I’m Willow,” The dryad said. “Girl, but mostly tree.”“That’s so cool!” I said. “Are you the ones that we’re supposed to meet here today?” I asked.Oak seemed to hesitate before nodding. “Meeting with the Destroyer,” he said. “Peace instead of war. And no more cutting of brethren.”That sobered the mood up a little. A glance over my shoulder revealed that not everyone was down yet. Awen had joined Amaryllis on the shore though, and they both looked nervous in their own way. “Do you want to meet my friends?” I asked. “We’re here to help make things better.”“Sister Broccoli will help?” he asked.“Yeah, of course.”“You already helped much. Weapons to fight the tree-cutters.” He raised his spear.It took me a moment to add things together in my head and realize that somewhere along the way, I may have maybe made a little mistake. “L-let’s talk about that in a bit,” I said.“New weapons?” Oak asked.“Ah-haha, not quite,” I said. “Did your littler friends want to come out too?”Oak shook his head. “They stay here. For protection. Wisp can come.” He gestured to the willow dryad.“Alright.” I gestured to Amaryllis and Awen. “Come on, I’ll show you to my best friends, and maybe later we can check out the Beaver together?”“Beaver?” Oak repeated.“That’s my ship!”He looked up to the ship, a frown growing across his brow. “So much wood. So many brothers. But... to fly.”“Flying is pretty cool,” I said. “Maybe Amaryllis can show you how to make a glider or something. It wouldn’t be flying-flying, but it would be pretty close. And I bet there are magics that could help.”The thought of flying trees was too amusing not to imagine.Oak nodded very seriously. “I will learn,” he said. Then, with a sweeping gesture, roots speared out of the ground beneath us and arched over the stream before planting themselves in the cracks and crevices in the rocks opposite. Soon enough, there was a nice bridge spanning the running water.“Neat!” I said as I skipped over the bridge to my waiting friends. “Guys! It turns out I know this dryad.”Amaryllis seemed completely unphased, which was somehow a little disappointing. “Of course you do. Will you be adding some trees to the crew next?”“I was just thinking that!” I said.She whapped my head with a wing. “You idiot, I was being facetious. We’re not going to have an airship crewed by trees of all things.”“But it would be so cool,” I said.“Um.” Awen said. “It would be pretty, ah, neat?”Amaryllis tossed her wings up and stepped past me to greet Oak and Wisp. “Hello,” she said.I turned to find Oak looking at Amaryllis with his brows furrowed. “You... hit Sister Broccoli,” he said.Amaryllis nodded. “She was being an idiot.”He seemed to consider this, then nodded as if it made perfect sense.“Hey!” I protested. Huffing, I jumped over to the two and stationed myself next to them. “I didn’t know you could talk, uh, human-ish, Oak.”The dryad nodded. “Have learned. For... communicating.”“I’m impressed,” I said while giving him a thumbs up. “So, this is Amaryllis, my best friend. And this over here.” I reached out and pulled Awen closer. She came, then gave the two dryads a shy little wave. “Is my best friend Awen.”“This one flies?” he asked while gesturing to Amaryllis.Wisp stepped up to her, and very carefully reached out a branching hand to touch her wings. “Nice,” Wisp said.“She can glide a bit. Like a chicken.”Amaryllis poked my side, right under where my breastplate ended. “I understood that,” she said. “You’re still speaking common.”“Oof,” I said. “Don’t worry, I’d never insult you without you being able to understand.”She poked me again.Oak’s wooden face carefully twisted into a small smile. “Sister Broccoli still makes friends,” he said.Grinning back, I nodded. “Yup! I’m glad to see that you’re well, Oak. I was a bit worried for a bit when I heard that there was trouble with dryads around here.”“Lots of trouble,” Wisp agreed. “Oak caused much of it.”“Oh?” I asked. “Well, that sounds like there’s a story behind it. Do you think you can tell us what’s going on? Before we need to meet with the others? If we’re going to help, it’d be nice if we were all on the same page.”
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Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Five — Negotreeations
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Five — Negotreeations “It started a long time ago,” Oak began.Then he paused for entirely too long.“Um,” I said.“Yes. Many years ago, when I was a sapling. The Destroyers came. They cut down our brethren. Then I learned of weapons. Now we fight back.” The dryad sighed, as if that had taken a lot of him.“Oh,” I said for a lack of anything else to say. We all kind of just stood there, the awkward silence partially drowned by the gurgling of the stream and birdsong from the forest.Wisp whapped Oak. “You’re being too rigid,” she said before turning back to us. “We lost a lot of our forest. It started many years ago, and the elders thought it would stop, because it had before. Sometimes people took some trees, but they only took so many. Now they kill more and more trees, without stopping. The elders didn’t want to do anything, not even when Oak wanted to try. So he did, and now the cutting has stopped.”I didn’t know how to feel, exactly. That was a bit strange, really, usually I didn’t have any difficulty feeling things. But in this case, should I be sad that the dryad’s home was being cut apart, or happy that they stopped it?I decided on happy, on account that being happy for a friend’s success was never the wrong move.“Good work!” I said as I hugged Oak as tight as I could.“Thank you,” Oak said.“So what are you doing with this situation?” Amaryllis asked. “I doubt that the East Mattergrove Company will just step aside and lose one of their better sources of income.”Oak’s face carefully set into a very serious, and very handsome, scowl. “Then we continue to fight.”“Oh no,” I said. “That’s awful. I’m sure we can figure something out.”“Figure it out quickly then,” Amaryllis said as she glanced to the side. The lumberjacks were all down, as were Sebastien and Geoffrey, and they were all looking our way.“Right,” I said. “You arranged this meeting, Oak?”“It was... both arranged,” he said.I took that to mean that both sides had agreed to a ceasefire and discussion. That was probably for the best. If everyone wanted to talk things out, then the chances of a peaceful resolution being reached were pretty good. This wasn’t one side forcing the other to the table.“Are we having the discussion here?” I asked.“It’s either here or aboard your vessel,” Sebastien said as he approached. “Which, frankly, would be quite annoying to climb back into after we took the effort to come down.”I laughed and nodded. “That’s fair. Maybe we can bring some chairs down?”Oak stirred. “I will make them.” He raised a hand, and from between the rocks beneath us came little roots and branches that wove themselves together, forming first one chair, then two, then three, all of them around an open, roughly oval space.Oak lowered his arm, and Wisp took up the slack, pushing more roots through the ground and forming a big table in the centre of the circle. It was a nice table. A bit crooked, and so low that we’d risk banging our shins against it, but it was definitely a table. “This is how tables work,” she said with the certainty of someone that had never seen a table before.I plopped myself down on one of the seats after tucking my skirt down. It was a bit rough, and could have used a cushion, but all in all it was certainly a chair.Amaryllis and Awen and Bastion sat down next, then Sebastien and Geoffrey and finally Edmund, leaving a few seats empty at the far end of the table. Oak and Wisp looked a bit awkward sitting down, because that wasn’t a thing trees were known for, but they managed!Oak hadn’t made enough seats for everyone, but the lumberjacks didn’t seem keen on sitting down anyway. They instead moved over a ways and stood around, talking in low voices and staring off into the woods.No one said anything for a bit, so I decided to kick things off. “Alright, from what I understood, you guys both want the same thing, and of course, you can’t both have it. On Oak and the dryads’ side, you want the forest to be left alone. And on the side of the East Mattergrove Company wants the forest to chop it down.”“We wish to exploit the land that we have rights to,” Geoffrey said. “I have a copy of the deed, signed by the previous monarch himself, as proof.”“Right,” I said. “So before we get into the nitty gritty, we should probably make sure everyone’s on the same, um, wavelength.”“What’s a wavelength?” Awen asked.“I mean, on the same page.” I gestured to Oak and Wisp. “When you guys talk about the forest, you mean all of the Darkwoods, right?”“Yes?” Oak said. He didn’t sound entirely sure, but that was good enough for me.“And the East Mattergrove Company. Surely you have an idea of where your, um, thing stops?”“Our exploitation rights stop on the far side of the forest,” Sebastien said.“Wait,” Amaryllis said. “That’s very much in Deepmarsh territory. I don’t know exactly where the borders are, but you’ll end up stumbling right into a grenoil patrol who might take your cutting down of the entire woods about as well as the dryads, only Deepmarsh has a proper army, one that makes Mattergrove look like children playing with sticks.”“Awa, Amaryllis is right,” Awen said. “You can’t go all the way to Deepmarsh. The borders of Mattergrove stop to the west of the Darkwoods, Deepmarsh’s border stops on the east.”“So the woods act as a sort of natural border?” I asked.Awen nodded. “Yes. It’s probably okay to take lumber from the edges, because it still keeps the border intact, but if they start going too deep, they’ll run into Deepmarsh roads and infrastructure.”“Like Rockstack?”“Is that an outpost?” Awen asked.I nodded. “I can’t remember its official name. But it had a nice inn, and a stack of rocks in the middle. So they call it Rockstack.”The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.“I think we might be going off topic,” Amaryllis said. “Let’s just touch on all of the obvious solutions first. Mister Oak, you made this table. Could you make lumber in the form that these guys want?”Oak titled his head. “I can make this much.” He gestured to the chair. “And a little more.”Amaryllis tapped her chin. “That seems... about as much as... one one-hundredth of a tree in terms of pure mass alone. From one dryad. There are about a dozen here, probably more of them around... hmm.”“We’ve considered that,” Sebastien said. “Even if there were twice as many dryads as we think there are, they still couldn't make enough lumber to out-produce the mill.”“Not to mention that would be me and my boys out of work, miss,” Edmund said.Amaryllis nodded. “I’m just exploring the obvious solutions. Maybe some of the dryads could supplement your gathering operations to an extent. It would cut down on the number of trees you need to... well, cut down.”“What about bringing trees that were cut down back?” I asked. “Could you heal them from the stump up?” I asked Oak.The dryad thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “If the tree brother still lives. We can heal it back.”“Then they could cut down some trees while your bring others back, and you could like, rotate it, maybe?”Oak’s face scrunched up, but it was Wisp who answered. “That would be hurting a tree again and again,” she said.“Ah,” I said. That wasn’t a much better solution.I think that Oak noticed that we were about to run into a wall of sorts because he raised a hand and carefully set it onto the table. “There are trees that can be cut,” he said.Wisp looked at him weird.Oak continued. “Old trees. Sick trees. Trees that grow in bad places. We could lead the cutters to these. That would be... possible.”“I don’t think that would cover the company’s needs,” Sebastien said.“It would be some,” Oak said.“We could help regrow some trees too,” Wisp said. “Even if that means being cut again and again. We could help them grow with more branches for cutting.”“That would seriously cut into our margins,” Sebastien said.“How would those margins react if the Dryads continue to fight you and you begin to lose men?” Amaryllis asked. “Or do you not care enough about them for it to matter?”The lumberjacks were looking at the company representatives now, who both shifted on their seats. “Well, the shareholders won’t like it,” Sebastien said.“You could just tell us who those are,” Edmund said. “I’m sure we could explain things.”“So!” I said to try and clear the air. It was too nice a day to be bogged down by bad feelings. “We have three solutions. The dryad could make some wood, maybe they could even directly make some furniture and planks and the like. They can also show you to some trees that can be cut down here and there. And finally, they can help regrow some of the cut down forest with trees that are shaped to be better for you guys,” I said. “And in exchange... well, I guess you’d have to pay the dryads a bit, and you’d need to cut down fewer trees.”Geoffrey harrumphed. “None of that would keep our production as high, and we still own the rights over this land,” he said.I frowned for a bit. They did, kinda, own those rights. But the legitimacy of that was very much up to debate. Which... actually gave me an idea. I smacked the table and grinned. “I know!” I said.“Sister Broccoli?” Oak asked.“We’ll help you, or the elder dryad, ask for the rights over the Darkwoods,” I said.“We already have those rights,” Geoffrey said.“Ah, but did you ask the grenoil for them?” I asked. “I’m sure we could help the dryad get the rights over their own lands officially recognized in Deepmarsh.”Geoffrey looked both flabbergasted and downright indignant. Oak didn’t seem to get what was going on and... and Amaryllis started cackling.“You can’t do that,” Geoffrey said.“We can ask Booksie to help,” I said. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind, and I bet she knows who to ask better than we do.”Amaryllis started laughing even harder, with the occasional hoot and whistle breaking out where a human might snort. “Oh, oh, I bet Rhawrexdee would jump on that opportunity. A small nation right under his nesting ground. He could, he could make Booksie one of the regents.”“Oh my,” Awen said.“It’s a solution,” I said. “And it wouldn’t stop the dryads from working with the company.”“But we’d lose a lot here, Captain,” Sebastein said. “I thought you were here to assist us.”“Um, no, I’m here to make things fair. And your bottom line is the least important thing here, so it’s normal that it’s the one that should be sacrificed first to make everything okay.”“I don’t understand, Sister Broccoli,” Oak said.I smiled over at my tree friend. “It’s simple, sorta. See, the East Mattergrove Company has the rights to exploit these woods, but Mattergrove only kinda controls this area. So if you approach Deepmarsh and ask them for help, maybe through one of my friends, Booksie, then you could get them to say that you own this land.”“It is ours,” Oak said.“This would make it official,” I said. “And on top of that, you could also help the company by providing wood, like this table, and by doing the things you and Wisp mentioned. It means the company would be cutting fewer trees, and making less money, but it means less people fighting, and it’s a lot more fair.”Oak looked to Wisp, who seemed blissfully happy. “Okay. I trust Sister Broccoli,” he said. “We will need to explain this to the elders.”I hopped to my feet. “Then we should get to that,” I said. “I’m sure all of this kerfuffle can be solved in a way that will make everyone happy.”“But not our bottom line,” Sebastien said.“A bottom line isn’t someone,” I said.
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