Chapter Eleven

Silas

You stayed away too long this time.

“I know. I know. It wasn’t intentional.” Silas groaned as he flung off his town clothes, kicking off his boots, hanging his new top carefully on one of the lower branches, before clicking himself up one of his regular shifts—light material that left his legs and feet free, covering just enough for modesty’s sake.

He waited until the limbs of his tree contorted into a ladder, letting him climb up to the sweet hollow his tree created for him—his resting spot. His limbs could barely move, but he persisted, resting his head on the smooth wood that waited for him. “You heard him, didn’t you? You know why I took longer to come home. Do you know why that demon behaved that way? Was it my fault?”

It had taken the last of Silas’s strength to wait in town long enough for pizzas to be made and collected, George grumbling as he waited in a drive-through. Silas knew it was George’s concern about him that made him grumble and didn’t take offense. Between the screaming and the panic of so many humans, plus spending so much time soothing the demon so he would listen to him—Silas was confused and turned around in so many directions he didn’t know which was up anymore.

“I feel like I left a piece of myself behind tonight,” he whispered, so only his tree could hear. Silas opened up his senses, allowing the strength and durability of his oak to seep into his soul. “Can you feel it? Is there something wrong with me? Was I so wrong to take my gift to town? Can I be fixed, or has this demon broken me in some way?”

Oh, Silas. Silas was sure the tree was laughing at him. So many questions for a troubled mind. Breathe. Listen to the sounds of the night in the forest, focus your eyes upon the stars, fill your nostrils with the clean air, rest your ears with the tranquility of nature at night.

“You know what’s wrong with me. I can tell by the way you’re speaking to me now.” Silas went to sit up, only to get gently nudged back into position by a stray branch. “Surely I would rest more easily if I knew what I’ve done wrong.”

You’re always quick to think you’re the one in the wrong. The leaves of the tree rustled as if his oak was sighing. If you did as I asked, you’d see the answers for yourself.

Silas tried. His tree was an old soul, and when he’d been young, sent out to see which growth would make his heart sing, he’d wandered past the giant oak three times, unwilling to believe the old oak was interested in someone so untried as a dryad as he was. Eventually, the oak had taken matters into their own hands, grabbing Silas up in their lower branches, settling them on a sturdy branch more than ten feet above the ground.

Silas smiled as he remembered that day now. It had taken him a bit of time to realize he wasn’t annoying the tree by walking past—he was just oblivious to how the oak was trying to gain his attention.

You’ll see the answer for yourself now if you just calm your soul. Don’t think about the demon for a moment. Share your story about Jennifer and Oliver.

That was easy. “She was a kindred soul. Did you hear her say she felt she could see nature’s blooms when I sang? And her gift was truly thoughtful. Jennifer has clearly been mocked just for creating my lovely top, and yet she has the strength to do it, anyway. She is an incredible lady.”

And you trusted your instincts, calling on Oliver to protect your friend. Silas basked in the oak’s approval. He came into that club wondering if he’d ever have a purpose again, and you gave him one. They will form roots, those two. Of that, I am sure.

That was his tree’s highest compliment. “I hope so.” Silas laid back, staring at the night sky. “She is so creative. I really felt that she just needed someone in her corner.”

The oak didn’t reply, but then they didn’t need to. Once Silas and the oak had formed their bond, they had no secrets from each other. His tree was right, it was a beautiful night. While Silas had a perfectly good bed down in his house, whenever he felt off-centered, he knew he could spend time in his tree. It never failed to make him feel better. Ignoring the hole in his heart, Silas breathed slowly and evenly, taking in the sounds of the surrounding forest.

If he strained his ears, he could hear Wanda, Dougal, and George about half a mile away, most likely enjoying the pizza he’d bought, and talking about him. Silas hated to worry his friends, but he couldn’t be untrue to himself if he tried. That just wasn’t who he was.

The oak picked up on the way his thoughts were going. Why do you feel the need to spread your song beyond the forest?

Silas chuckled softly. “You know why. I have always believed that we forest folk have such a blessed life. Oh, I know not every dryad has the same good fortune, and many forests get plagued with wildfires, decimation, and the cruelty of man. But here, in this place, we are so fortunate. I just want to share that good fortune with others, even if it is just for a short while.”

Your songs bring joy to many, and that is indeed a gift. But why do you think you stray beyond the forest boundaries, when so many of your kind never leave their tree, or at least the forest they are in, not even for a moment?

“I know it’s wrong of me.” Silas sighed, his neck arched as he searched the stars. “My family would tell me so often that my only purpose in life was to be with my tree, to be with you, and yet… you know how I feel. And you know, more than anyone that those feelings, the urges inside of me to sing for others, to explore beyond the forest boundaries—it doesn’t belittle or take away from what I have with you.”

I am not an insecure sapling questioning my place in this world, so why should you be any less secure in who you are?

“I’m not sure I did any good tonight. My intentions were good, my execution of those intentions was clearly lacking.” Silas sighed and rubbed his chest. “I didn’t want to leave that demon.” He chuckled briefly. “I don’t even know his name, and to see him calling on another, to do what? Show me how insignificant I was? To throw my song back in my face, after all I did for him…”

You’re getting off track, the oak said gently. Breathe deeply and focus on what happened before the second demon was called.

“He was tormented,” Silas whispered the words because they seemed so wrong to even consider them in the peace of the forest. “It was just as Dougal said. It was as if the human and demon sides of this one being were fighting each other for control, and I don’t know why.”

That’s because, in all your searching, you never once considered how valuable you are, how special you are, on your own merits.

“Special?” Silas thought back over the conversation he’d had with Dougal. How there were rare cases where a demon would find someone and want to commit to them, if that person was special enough. “He didn’t want that bond with me. He was fighting it. He called in someone else to stop him… oh .”

The leaves rustled as the tree shook with laughter. Think about how you feel, as the days roll around to when you are due to sing again. You get edgy and excited, because you know what you’re doing is a positive thing, even as you know others would try to talk you out of it.

Now imagine having twenty times the energy, twenty times the need to always be proving yourself in a world already viewed as harsh and calculating. Can you imagine the torment a being might go through if they suddenly realized their future was not their own?

“It would be intense, and it was.” Silas thought for a moment, and then added, “But I would never want to be with anyone that wasn’t fully committed to me in a way that honors us both. He would need to come to that decision on his own.”

It would seem your demon has done exactly that. However, he shouldn’t have relied so heavily on myths and fairy tales about our kind.

“The demon is here?” Silas whispered, rolling to try to see the ground below where he was lying. “What do you mean?”

He’s knocking on my trunk as if he expects a door to open. The leaves were shaking in earnest now. Can’t he see the house?