Whispering Oaks

A small layer of snow crackled merrily underfoot as Alana made her way through the forest. Ancient branches shifted in the wind and the girl stopped for a moment to place her hand on the trunk of an Oak.

'Hello Sister' It rumbled beneath her touch. 'What brings you to the forest? Nothing is wrong I hope.' The bark was warm beneath her hands, full of live-giving and warm energy. A small electric zap travelled through her body and she was no longer tired.

"Nothing is wrong Apache." Alana stepped back from the tree, lest her hand disappear into the gnarled trunk. "I just came out for a walk. It's different here then it was at home, but at least the tree spirits are friendly." Having moved several different times in her life the female had met quite a few tree spirits, not all of which were friendly. It had been many centuries since the nymphs walked the earth freely

'You will not find many who are unfriendly in this forest Little Sister.' Apache shook some snow off of his branches, being careful not to hit the girl below. 'But that is just in the forest. I have no knowledge about those landwalkers who dwell in the school. Word travels slowly out here.' The oak paused for a moment, as if considering something. 'But it gets here allright. Tell me, are you adjusting well? Any new landwalker friends?'

Alana shook her head. She hadn't been here that long, and friends were hard to make. She was so used to being detached from her life that her social skills were not that great.

The shock of seeing someone else appear in the forest so suddenly made Alana jump backwards. She slammed into Apache and immediately sank into the wood, her fear making the transition faster. From inside the oak she watched as the offendor coughed sickly and the tree healer in her made her poke her head back out of the trunk.

'It's alright Little Sister, the landwalker caused me no harm.' The oak chuckled, as if the thought of a landwalker hurting him was a big joke.

Next thing she knew, Apache had pushed her out of his trunk and she sprawled rather unceremoniously onto the ground. Alana sat there for a moment, stock still until his words broke the confusion in her mind.

"Hello Ren." She tilted her head as she spoke, her words sounding like falling leaves. Furiously she counted the days in her head and a lump appeared in her throat. Today was another fifteen and her transformation would take place soon. Though it only lasted for a half an hour it was still a pain, and was hard to do in front of strangers. Besides, this boy seemed friendly enough, and it would do to have some friends in this place.

Thankfully she had already gotten a small zap of energy from the tree spirits. As it was she would have been to startled to do much. Only her human half made her stay out in the open. THe nymph in her wanted to run as fast as she could and dive intot he largest tree she could find.

"Where did you come from?" She puzzled aloud wondering about his sudden appearance. "And shouldn't you be inside if you're sick?"

Alana was a little surprised that he noticed her fear, seeing as how he was fairly sick. She noticed how cold he seemed to be and fished around in her pockets for a moment and withdrew a scarf.

"Here." She handed it to him with a small smile. "If you're going to stay outside with your mouth wide open you could get even sicker. Might as well bundle up before you get a fever." Alana pointed out and rummaged around in her pockets again. She was sure she had some gloves in there somewhere.

"There's gotta be a way to stop you from teleporting when you're sick. Otherwise you'll end up infecting a lot of other people." Noticing that his eyes seemed a little glazed she wondered if he already had a fever. Maybe Apache could help?

'Sorry Little Sister.' The oak read her mind. 'But my energy is for you only.'

Shy as she was she couldn't let Ren stand outside in the cold for much longer, she didn't want to be saddled with the blame of making him even sicker.

"So just teleport back. Or walk, you'll probably warm up faster." She realized with a start that she hadn't given him her name. "I'm Alana by the way."

"So much for that plan." Alana sighed and pushed her hair back. "Did you take any medication?" She was running out of suggestions and wondered why he had popped up here again. Weren't the teleportations supposed to be random?

"I'm going to head back inside. You're welcome to come if you want." The temperature had dropped a few degrees and she couldn't stand the cold. It was the nymph in her. "I doubt it'll make much of a difference though, you'll probably just pop back outside next time you sneeze."

Turning to say goodbye to Apache she could feel the old oak laughing at them. She placed one hand in farewell on his gnarled trunk then turned back to the path leading to the school.

"I tend to not carry medication around when I'm not sick." She shrugged, searching in her pockets anyways. "The best I'll have is something for a headache." Wrapping the scarf around her own neck Alana cast him a sideways look.

"Do you always teleport when you're sick?" For her part she had never met someone with those kinds of skills. For the most part, she had rarely met anyone with gifts at all. She really didn't like her present situation, as ALana was the type to analyze everything before diving head first into the fray. She was just a careful person like that.

"And what are the rules of what you bring when you teleport unexpectedly? Like, what comes with you?"