YOU BELONG AMONG THE WILDFLOWERS
YOU BELONG SOMEWHERE YOU FEEL FREE
She felt the shift in the forest before she heard it. Felt the slight tension in the air that made the birds hesitate. She could hear the grass bending with the rhythm of movement unlike any forest creature she knew. It was certainly not the light-footed fox, nor the cautious step of a deer. It was something older, heavy with thought. So when Frey emerged from the the trees, Aeife did not turn in surprise, she merely turned as if she had expected her all along.
The druid’s eyes softened and a smile tugged at the edges of her mouth. “Oh, I do,” she said simply in reply, her tone as warm as the sunlight peeking through the branches. “But not only the fox.” Aeife loved the fox in his den and the mud that clung to her legs. She loved the rain and the ground it seeps into and the worms beneath the surface. She loved the silence and the birdsong. She loved everything that made this place feel so rich with life.
So for a moment, Aeife said nothing, trying to piece together the words for this stranger. Silence was a language she knew well. She simply looked at the girl, studying the coil of muscle and the shine of scales and the brightness of her eyes. Aeife had noticed the way her voice wavered between curiosity and sorrow.
The druid tilted her head, eyes soft, wings catching a flicker of amber light. “It’s not so much what I’ve seen,” she began, the words hanging in the damp air. “It’s what I’ve heard.” Her gaze drifted to the forest around them. To the ferns swaying underfoot and the water dripping from the canopy of trees. “I love because I can hear them,” she said, perhaps in a manner too matter of fact given the nature of the topic, “All of them. Even when they have no words for me.”
To Aeife, the world was never really still. It simply wanted to be heard.
The druid looked back at Frey, her expressiom warm. There was no pity in her eyes, only invitation. “I’m Aeife,” she offers, with a grin, “Born of mud and mischief, mostly. And you?” She asks, with another gentle incline of her head.
A E I F E
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