RP:Her Bark is worse than her Bite.

Summary: Chisel meets Odhranos after the latter wakes up from his perch in the branches of an ancient tree in the Sage Forest. After a scolding and learning about the origins of dryads, Odhranos finds about Chisel's curse and how they have already met.

Ancient Tree

Odhranos sat up from his hammock and yawned, while holding his arms up in a spine-cracking stretch. He sat back against the coarse fibres of the hammock and rubbed his eyes, peering blearily up at the leafy canopy above him. Odhranos had a distinct fondness for Sage Forest, it was definitely the best place to spend the night outside, the thick canopy trapped heat and under the vibrant emerald leaves, it was actually quite warm. Pulling his rucksack up onto his shoulder, the mage shimmied to the nearest trunk and set about untying the hammock. When he was almost finished, he glanced down and froze. There was a figure standing near the base of the tree. Unsure who or even what it was, Odhranos silently packed up his hammock and silently clambered down onto a branch just above the shadowy figure. Deciding that his position gave him room to escape should things take a turn for the worse, he plucked up the courage to make his presence known. "Hello down there!" he called.

Chisel was at the foot of the tree. As much as she can she has tried to return to this one in hopes that it would answer her questions. However recent events had made her hesitant to cross any sort of border in fear that night would crawl up to her and place her and the people around in harm's way. It was her curse. She could not find a way to end herself without putting anyone else at risk. If she leaves the forest, she can never be sure that her other form would not wander back into forest or into a town. If she try to kill herself in mornings however, attempting doing so inside the forest would cause flora to come to her aid and rescue her, making suicide near impossible. Her body is far too durable, exceeding normal durability strength of a normal dryad. She has to live alone, like an outcast, isolated from the world. She exhales and sat down by the tree and placed her instrument before her, it's a 17 stringed board known as a Koto, quietly plucking each string with her fingers when she suddenly heard a voice, looking around, highly alert, clearly unsure where the man is

Odhranos smiled, "I'm up here" he added, then, grasping handholds in the knotted and cracked bark of the huge tree, he climbed down to ground level. "I didn't mean to startle you, I was sleeping up in the branches and only saw you on my way down." Crouching on his haunches a few meters away so as not to seem alarming, the mage pulls back the rough fabric of his grey hood and smiles across at the dryad. "My name's Odhranos".

Chisel stares at him in horror, "What... What have you done to this tree?!" looking up at him, then at the tree, being a forest spirit, it was something that she cannot forgive. She started walking about it, as if looking for any damages the man may have done to it. Leaning her instrument against the foot of the tree as she turned to him and said, "What did you do to her?!" she looked at him in horror and disgust. The dryad was wearing a simply white dress, easily made out of plant fibers that mimics silk, she takes a step away from him as if worried that he would also harm her as clearly he doesn't care what happens to this tree

Odhranos held his hands up in alarm. "Absolutely nothing! I promise! I didn't damage so much as a single leaf!" He protested. He reached around behind him and pulled a small jar from his bag, which had holes poked in the gauze covering the open end. "I even took the liberty of removing a few bark-weevils that I found, they were damaging the tree, not I" he stepped back, concerned. Odhranos, being of peaceful nature, didn't like to harm anything unless it was in the strictest form of self-defense. Backing away slowly, he gently placed the jar on the lush grass that grew at the base of the tree. "I didn't even harm the bark-weevils, I was planning on letting them out as soon as I got down" the mage added. Looking up at the tree, he studied it. "It is a magnificent tree and I wouldn't dream of harming it". He made to place his hand on the rough bark, but thought better of it, considering the dryad's earlier response

Chisel blinks as she stared at him, then back to the tree as if waiting for its response, the man of course has no idea how plant-dryad communication works but the tree swayed a couple of times, most would simply think of it due to the wind but there was no breeze at all. She looked at him, still alarmed of his presence. "Why did you climbed this tree in the first place? Don't you know this is one of the oldest around here... this tree is sacred to us." biting her lower lip as she moved back by the tree and sat down, though still having her form facing him just in case he attacks her. "I somehow know you, have I seen you before?" scrutinizing him as she starts to get a bit of flashbacks, trying to scour through her memories

Odhranos shook his head, "I was aware it was old but I didn't know it was sacred. I am terribly sorry for any offense I have caused and if there anything I can do to make up for it, you need only tell me" he bowed respectfully, once to Chisel and once to the tree itself. He was somewhat puzzled by her question: "I don't believe we have met before, I have only encountered one other dryad, but that was in Larket forest and I should say I would recognize that creature again, after it tried to kill me" he added, his eyes widening as he remembers the desperate struggle and his very lucky escape. Returning his focus to the present, he looks across at the wary dryad, "so in answer to your question, no, I don't think you have seen me before" the mage concludes, unaware of the falsity of his statement.

Chisel merely blinked as she picked up her instrument once more, placing it on her lap as she quietly plays. "So you have met 'her' then." she starts to play a far more sorrowful tune, the fallen leaves around them started to whirl about in a slow, calm way, the browner leaves slowly turns into green before it lifts themselves back into their respective branches. "Any old tree is sacred to us... Trees takes decades to grow, but even longer for it to actually speak. Even longer before it can even move... we tree spirits protect such old trees as a payment for the life they have given to us." quietly plays her tune before saying, "I am Chisel, Mr Odhranos and yes... we have met before."

Odhranos sat, a puzzled look on his face. Clearly the dryad was greatly troubled by something. Something got to do with the feral dryad he encountered in Larket. Looking up at the great tree as its leaves spiral up, refreshed and rejuvenated by the dryad's song. "I would be most grateful if you could explain how we have met, Miss Chisel, and what it has to do with that other dryad?" The mage asked politely, shivering a little as he remembered the grasping vines and rasping, multi-layered voice that haunted his dreams for a month after the encounter. Crossing his legs, he lays his long crystalline staff on the bed of grass and looks across at the dryad, as she quietly plays her life-bringing lament.

Chisel quietly hums as she play. "Before I do so, do you know where dryads come from?" she turns her head as her melody shifted from sorrow into a much more... mellow tune, more like a love song of a parent to its offspring, tune of loneliness or Saudade, a feeling of missing someone special. "The birth of a new life is like how a tree bears fruit and the fruit falls and rolls into the ground to grow into another tree. For dryads however, old trees such as this." pointing at the ancient one behind her. "Every now and then coughs up a dryad, as life is fueled into its trunk or branch, a dryad soon forms from it and after decades.. even centuries of cultivating such life, a dryad begins to breathe." Looking up to him as if assuring if he is still listening.

Odhranos nodded intently, listening eagerly to what the dryad had to say. "That explains why she was so protective of the tree, it could be the parent tree of a dryad or could even be growing a dryad at this very moment." Odhranos glanced somewhat guiltily at the tree, then returned his focus to the dryad. Her song became more longing and he felt pangs of homesickness, which he pushes aside. Better to focus in the now than in the past, he decided. "So somewhere in a forest, there is a tree that you were born from?" The mage asked curiously, then his face blanched "N..not that I'm asking where it is, that's probably very private" he stammered nervously.

Chisel stopped playing for a full second. Thinking before playing again, "Yes... somewhere..." she tries her best not to cry as she said, "Have you ever ended a life Mr. Odhranos? Maybe not a person but an insect or an animal for hunting for food? These ways are acceptable, some people however hunt for sport in which we, the children of nature is against. But in your life, even indirectly, you may have killed something yes?" Meat or fish that ever landed on his plate is still an indirect kill. "However, have you ever killed someone who wasn't even born yet? A defenseless child within her mother's womb. Would an unborn child counted as murder? As it was not yet born into this world, does that count as 'not yet alive' and in which case murder cannot be justified to it?"

Odhranos sat in silence, pondering the question. "I don't feel that murder cannot be justified if the child has not yet been born, as the potential for its life has been ended and this is as grave a crime as ending a life" he stated finally. Looking somberly across at the dryad, he tilted his head to the side. "I have ended a life, and not a day goes by I don't regret what I did." He added, clasping a fold of his plain grey robes in his white-knuckled fist. "If you feel alright saying, Miss Chisel, can you tell me what happened?" The mage could sense that a great weight lay on the shoulders of the simply-dressed dryad sitting across from him

Chisel simply stared at her instrument and continued playing. Each note trembles upon the very air that fills their surroundings, "As you may have noticed.. or assumed, Dryads are pretty rare nowadays, It takes nearly a century for a tree to become old enough to bear... and a couple centuries more to even birth a dryad. The dryad you seek died before her birth... A man went to the forest to gather some wood, in a project of his own. He found an old tree and cut down its branch and brought it home." Soon enough the song ended and she placed the instrument to her side. "As the branch was severed from its tree, the dryad inside the branch died as well. The man found the spirit's corpse within the wood. A normal response would me guilt and horror about the life one has accidentally ended. But not this man. Instead of burying the corpse in hopes that it will turn into a tree, he defiled it. A dryad corpse tend to turn into wood after hours of death.. he turned this poor creature's corpse into a marionette. Now.. imagine this... you would be placed under a spell, or a drug that you won't be able to move or react in anyway shape or form and you can't die but feel everything still. Now.. someone would start carving your body with a dull knife. Repeatedly scraping off your skin, drowning you in different chemicals, drilling into your flesh and bones." she soon raised her hand before the man and remove her gloves, showing him the marionette joints upon them. "I have met you before Mr. Odhranos. I am Chisel."

Odhranos's eyes widened as the truth hit him. "Y..you...you're that creature from Larket?" He backed away momentarily, then stopped. "But, how? How are you so different? I didn't recognize you at all" the mage stammered, both alarmed and confused, unsure whether to run or to stay or what to do. He decided instead to remain where he was. This Chisel clearly wasn't interested in harming him, or she could have done so already. "I'm so terribly sorry Miss Chisel, I didn't know. To have gone through such torture, it must have been unimaginable" he said quietly, struck with sadness, that such a gentle person could have experienced such pain.

Chisel simply pointed upwards. "The sun. Dryads receive some sort of energy when the sun is up. So do I... However when the sun goes down, I become... incapable of coming up of the same amount of energy on my own... releasing my... curse. Normal dryads do not need any amount of energy to retain what they look like. As you may have guess. I am wood, not plant, I simply coat my body with plant fibers that mimics skin. However without the sun's energy, I weaken, causing my fake skin to wither... and with my wooden form exposed to the very air, it would surge pain into my system that is so great that I become... what you met." She picks up her instrument once again, "Have I also told you that I cannot hear my own mother's call?" biting her lower lip as a tear falls upon her cheek. "As much as I can, I come to this place and ask this tree if she knew where my mother is. I... I can no longer hear her... because she thinks I'm dead... because I really did died..." trembling as she can no longer play... simply pressing her fingers upon the string. "I don't know what to do... I can't die even."

Odhranos was struck with empathy as the dryad cried softly across from him. He had been cast out of his family and home as an exile and often longed for his home, but to know that your home is out there, but to never be able to find it? This was true pain. The mage's heart went out to the dryad and his fears of her feral curse were overwhelmed by compassion for this cursed dryad. Crossing the small gap between them, he placed a gentle hand lightly on hers, careful not to cause any discomfort or alarm to the weeping dryad. He paused in the silence and thought. "Is there any way that a human could learn the language of the trees?" He asked softly, the mage's drive to help coming to the surface.

Chisel bites her lower lip and tries her best to stop whimpering. "There are hundreds of thousands of trees in these lands... not counting those across the sea. Even if you become a druid, it would take nearly a century to speak with all of them. I am telling you this to apologize to what I may have caused you... I know no words of mine would prove my innocence to what I have done. I am sorry..."

Odhranos crouched down before the dryad. "There is no need to apologize. You have suffered greatly in your life and it was not your fault. I understand that now." He smiled sadly. "You have gone through a living death and to be as gentle a creature as you are, even for some of the time, shows that you have good in your heart, which will always overcome the darkness" he added. "I wish I could help more than my words allow, but know that I wish you every luck in life with finding your mother-tree and my assistance is always yours to count on." The mage solemnly swore

Chisel closed her eyes as she simply said, "I do wish it was that easy... In the mornings, I wander about, asking every old tree I can find... like a child asking anyone 'Are you my mother?'." with a pause she pondered deeply. "I have tried to kill myself multiple times... but you see. As long as I remain inside a forest, the flora will cure me even how much I resist it. I do not want to risk leaving the forest either as I might wander into a town and when the sun goes down I would cause havoc and risk innocent lives. I wish I could say anything else to help you Mr. Odhranos... Help you end me that is... I sure hope you do hold a bit of grudge against me." smiling at him as if already expecting him to kill her. With not a single sign of hatred upon her eyes and face in case the man actually does it.

Odhranos sat back on the verdant green grass and hung his head. "I'm not the man I once was, and killing was never easy to begin with. Besides, I couldn't, not now that I know your story... so i'm sorry. I can't help you die." A moment of silence passes as a light breeze passes through the forest. "I'm willing to help you in any way, but I cannot end you Chisel." The mage slumps a little in sadness. "I.. I wish there was some way I could help you. Not to die, but to live" he murmurs. A second later, his eyes snap upwards to meet hers. "That.. that song you played, that revived the leaves? Is there a stronger form of that magic? One that might free you from your curse, even for some time?". A hopeful look crosses his face: a way that he might help.

"It's the song of longing. It simply sings into the plant life in an attempt to make it come back home. Just like how the leaves returned to its branches. Of course I was unaffected by its spell but I did.. I did ask someone before to play it for me in hopes that I would suddenly blindly walk into the forest and find my mother while under the spell. Instead I fell in further despair and depression, filling me with heartache and yearning. My chest felt constricted and almost died on pure loneliness but the forest healed me." she wipes away her tears as she readies herself to play once more. "I tried chaining myself down before.. but the forest always comes to my aid whether I look like this or the 'other'. Apparently it tend to ask the nearby trees to help it escape its binds. I end up risking people's lives." She rubs her arm a little before she started playing again, more of a neutral tune for now, causing the trees around them to sway about and give her as much sunlight as she need. "Ridding the curse would not give me the ability to find my way home."

Odhranos sat and thought. There was no way to make the tree come and find Chisel, being a tree it was immobile, and Chisel didn't know where to go to find her tree, so they were at a standstill. Either the tree had to move or Chisel had to find out where it lay. A thought occurred to Odhranos. The tree couldn't move, but its children could. "Chisel, can a tree bear more than a single dryad? If so, your tree may have borne another, who would carry the memories of the parent tree and might know of the sister it lost..." the mage trailed off, unsure of where he was leading. If it was possible that Chisel's mother-tree had born another dryad, that dryad could be anywhere in the world, and as it could move, would be even harder to find than the tree itself. However, if theu could find it, it could lead Chisel home.

"Possible.. but my tree is wounded." Thinking that her tree would most likely spend its energy curing itself first before making another child. "I have not met any other dryad aside from my-self.. or maybe I did but ended up scaring them off or something." She continues to quietly play, tuning her Koto a couple of times before playing again. "I have no memory of how I got here.. All I recall is when I was dead and being constantly... 'chiseled' into shape... then when I was done, there was darkness... I can only assume that my curse took over and ended up murdering my creator. I started to wander deeper and deeper into the dense forest with its canopy being too thick for sunlight. I was savagely attacking anything for days.. not sure how long had I been walking. Then I woke up here.. in this land."

"I reckoned it wouldn't be that easy" the mage confessed. He leaned his head back and let one the small rays of light dappling the glade warm his face. "So, even though most of the sunlight is blocked out here, you are still in full control?" He inquired. If it only took a small amount of light, it might be possible for an artificial source to provide enough light to sustain the dryad in the dark hours of the night. He was doubtful though, dryads had a deep connection with sunlight and Chisel had already been damaged enough by mankind and its attempted synthesis of nature, to meddle further was to invite more suffering upon the unfortunate dryad, which was the very last thing Odhranos wanted.

"The forests here are not dense enough.. I am getting enough sunlight. Even if I stay under the shade, It would take me at least half an hour to deplete what's left of my energy before I go turn into 'that' again." Looking at the man as she wondered. "Would an artificial light be able to completely mimic the energy that the sun can provide?" She is doubtful. And even if such magic exist, it would be a miracle to maintain it as it would demand a massive requirement for mana. "If none can be done, I can only warn you Mr. Odhranos. It might be best not to know me.. or be-come anywhere close to me. Feeling sorry towards me may cause fluctuations upon your decision making. Just imagine me.. finding a pet dog.. feeding it... taking good care of it till finally one day I transform.. that animal's decisions would be delayed as it would ponder between running away from me or helping me. In which case helping me would only risk its own life as I do not have control on my own."

The grey mage thought on this. She made a good point, if she lost control, she could endanger his life. Then the mage smiled. He looked around on the ground and found a small sallow-berry, which had fallen from a tree. "I have been learning magic ever since I got to Hollow, Miss Chisel, and as of lately, I have been making inroads into learning the art of terramancy" the mage smiled across at the dryad. "I thought you might approve of such a magic, learning the power of the earth, it brings a new respect for one's surroundings" he added. Lifting the small fragile berry in his hand, he showed it to Chisel. "This berry is not strong, in fact, I could squish it in any given moment. However, I choose not to, as I have control over my actions" he stated, no doubt con-fusing Chisel as to the meaning behind his statement of the obvious. "Now, imagine this berry is in fact, me. You could destroy me, but you have control at the moment and decide not to. How-ever, were you to lose control, this poor defenseless berry is as good as juice" he smiled rueful-ly. Setting the berry back on the grass, he covered it with his hands and concentrates. After a minute, a little scratchy growl of stones rubbing against each other whispered out from between his hands. When the mage moves them aside, the little berry was no longer visible and a small, roughly round stone is in its place. Holding it aloft, he presented it to Chisel. "Now the berry is protected. Even if you lose control, it is safe." Odhranos stood to his feet. "Now scale that principle up. If I can master this magic, you need not fear for my safety. I can safely accompany you through the dark nights" he smiled, then wiped his forehead, "I do need to work on it a lot, I am a long way away from mastery".

Terramancy isn't something new to be amazed about. "It may save your life... save from the stress of the constant fear of knowing at one point I would be able to carve my way through your shield. But how would that affect me? Don't you think that... even though you can assure me that you are capable of surviving my company, don't you think.. that.. maybe I myself hated it? Won't I be feeling that... probably my presence alone harms this person, that one unlucky day I might be the cause of his demise? That I am the reason why he have sleepless nights just to keep me safe from myself. My... My heart would not be able to take anymore emotions Mr. Odhranos."

Odhranos nodded, then continued: "My logic was, if I could weather the attacks of your other side, then perhaps I could work on a way of understanding your curse better, and work towards a way of helping you." He shrugged, "If I could find a way of maybe focusing moonlight, returning it to its original form, perhaps making an artificial light to keep you in control at night..." he trailed off. There were many hundreds of ideas he could try, to try and make Chisel's life easier, but the root of it all was she couldn't find her home. Perhaps if reunited with her tree, it could heal her. Shaking his head, he murmured, "I suppose I just thought, if I could stay with you, I might be able to help you travel. I could keep the other Chisel occupied, like a bait at night, while we travelled by day" he mused. He then meets the dryads eyes and smiles sadly. "Besides, I've already lived a good life, even if I could help for a little while. Besides:" he grinned "don't write me off just yet. All the while that I accompany you, my terramancy will grow stronger, and every night that you find a new way of cracking open my shell, I'll have a new way of stopping you, of keeping us both safe." he takes her hand lightly, in a sign of friendship.

Why? Why?! Why risk your life for someone you just knew?! Why was it so easy for you to trust me?! Have you been listening?! I attacked you for no reason at all. No reason. And then when it gets dark, I'll probably do so again. Putting your life in danger. So why.. Why are you helping me? I am no one to you. I am merely the abomination that causes nightmares that needed to be ended. Why?! Why aren't you killing me?!" she was getting frustrated and desperate. Furiously grabbing upon the strings of her instrument, luckily enough the strings were strong and her body is far far durable, not causing any bleeding to her hand. "I just want this all to end..."

"I told you, to take a life is a crime, and one I don't wish to commit" he stated calmly, contrasting to the dryad's storm. He turned his head a little and gazed out into the forest. "I guess it's just my fatal flaw; I have to try help whoever I meet, no matter how little or much they mean to me. You may be right, it could be the end of me, but I'll tell you a little about myself and maybe you'll understand why I do so" he continues, keeping the same calm, peaceful tone. "I used to be a nobleman, of a country far to the east. My life was opulent, I wanted for nothing and I was supposed to be happy. I fell in love with the wrong girl and it was all taken away from me" he frowned, then the corner of his mouth turned up a notch. "When I lived in the streets, I made a realization: after all the riches and wonders of my previous life, I should have been bro-ken and want nothing more than my death, but I didn't. I found that there was more to life than riches, I found fulfillment in helping people. And so I helped anyone I could, old or young, and I found that made me happy" he finished. Returning his gaze to the dryad, he added:"So if you don't want this to be for you, then see it as something I do for myself. This is what makes my life worthwhile and I want to show others that their lives are worthwhile"

Chisel simply stood up and faced away from the man, even taking a couple of steps to keep the gap between them. She stood there in silence. She was listening to his tale but it did not improved her current state. All she has is the memory of pain and torture. The nagging fact that it is nearly impossible to find a cure for her curse. The unavoidable truth that even though she gets cured, it would defy logic to even start looking for her home. And the only way thing it takes to relieve her of such burden is death... something that the man is currently incapable of. She wanted all of it to end.

Odhranos stopped talking and looked silently across at the dryad. He knew that no matter what he said, he couldn't relieve her pain, at least not for now. Odhranos sighed and then quietly stood up. He placed the stone-encased berry lightly on the grass between them and stood up. "I am sorry I could not help you more Chisel, but I made a promise I intend to keep. No matter how dark the night is, if you need help, you need only call" he whispered to the dryad's turned back. As he collected his things, a thought struck him and made him smile a little. "Hey Chisel? When a tree loses its leaves in the winter, does it not lose some of itself? Does it not die to an extent, only to be reborn in the spring?" The silence endured. "Well... I guess what im saying is, maybe this is your winter, and everything will become right in the spring" he finishes, a little unsure and a little sad, but with a little hope. He turns as he strides slowly from the glade. "May your spring come, friend" he whispers, probably too quiet for her to hear, but he felt it needed saying.