Woodland Spirits
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 117997
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Her bones became like strong wood, her flesh like leaves and other plant matter. Her hair was overtaken by long grasses and wildflowers. It was all dynamic, growing and twirling and moving with every breath she took. At last she opened her eyes, now two motes of light in her face, and she sat up, looking down at what had happened to her in the beginnings of panic. But the fey were still singing their peaceful songs, and it helped the transition tremendously. She was a living being. She still was. What did it matter beyond that? She tried to remember what she had been doing, straining mightily, but as she strained, the nature newly given to her pushed that stress gently back. There was no need to struggle or fret, she realized. However, this didn't make the answer any more clear. She was a lady. A lovely thirteen-year-old girl, trained at the Lessing School for Girls to be a productive member of society, to provide for a family, to follow the conventions of... to follow the... to... No, the spirits whispered to her again, amused. That is precisely your problem. You've no business worrying about such things. We sense you only cared about these things because of magic anyway. We have given you freedom. Come to us, and learn a better way. Be wild. Be free. Hannah was confused by their claim that her values had come from magic, but she supposed that she had run away for a reason, and she may as well embrace this opportunity to learn something new. She could always go back later. It was a tentative thing. She still strongly desired to be proper, and polite, and reserved in all things. But the spirits urged her to follow her instincts and seek beauty with reckless abandon. Whenever she became stressed or scared, the fairies quieted her soul with their gentle songs. Her new nature made it so that all she needed was water and sunlight, and she moved slowly, at ease, quick to take root in a single spot and just watch the days and nights pass around her. Countless crawling things made themselves at home within her, even joined at times by a small animal or two, and she learned to accept this.
Once a young man not too much older than she came by hunting. The human part of her was inclined to greet him politely, but the part given by the woodland spirits urged her to hide. In the end, the strain was too much for her, and moments before he saw her, she collapsed into a pile of plant matter. The process of rebuilding herself took days, and generous help from nearby fey. In the end she was afraid of encountering people again—or of continuing to be alone here for so long that she lost all that she had been before. At last, after a time she was not quite sure she could measure, she gathered herself to say to the spirits, "I thank you so very much for your generosity and hospitality. You have been more gracious than I can express, and I hope to one day be able to repay you. But I must return to my life. Please, would you be so kind as to restore me to a state that will allow me to do so?" The spirits, in their rustling way, informed her that
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3/6/2021 12:24:14 AM
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