Back to the Silverwood

Ellie’s arms wrapped around John as he closed in. “I’m glad you’re alright, I was really worried about you,” he sighed.

Ellie laughed, “Worried about me? I was really worried about you, you’ve been gone for hours.”

After the calm in John had settled, a spike of panic shot through him. “The girls? Didn’t you find them? Shit, uhm, we need to go back in, don’t we?”

“John, calm down. The girls are fine. It’s kinda a long story. Where to even begin? Come, I’ll tell you the story on the way to the Silverwood Grove,” she said as she grabbed his hand and led him towards the forest, "It all started when..."

Ellie followed the tunnel until finding a strange crystal sconce. She pulled it from the wall looking it over. “Huh, wait a minute...” She pulled out one of her small notebooks, flicking through the pages. “Oh here it is… possibly some kind of elemental crystal…” Bringing a hand up but not touching the crystal, she could feel a little heat radiating from it. “Okay, so it’s hot which means it’s got to be a red elemental crystal, it’s glowing so that rules out a bunch of crystals like Smulder-Coal and Sigmis… it’s got a fiery orange tint to it too so it could probably be either Luminite, Scaldum or Ignia. Kinda smart to use them as light sources though, like a torch that never goes-”

Ellie’s external monologue was cut short as she heard something coming from further up the tunnel. She reached into her knapsack, ready for whoever was coming, but sighed in relief as three small figures hummed and danced their way down the narrow path.

“Oh, Leelee!” the small gorgon beamed. She and the other two rushed over into a group hug.

“Hey, no hugging, you two are in trouble,” Ellie said firmly. “You shouldn’t have just run off like that!”

The two girls looked up at Ellie, eyes wide and small tears forming at the edge of them, bottom lips puffed up and quivering. Ellie groaned, “Just… don’t run off again please, we were worried about you.”

Crocodile tears vanished as they continued their hug. “Promise!” the two giggled.

“Right, let’s get out of here, we need to meet up with John,” Ellie told them.

“Aww, but we wanted to see the lava.” Both girls looked upset.

“QWEST!” the little green creature said before quickly waddling down the tunnel.

Ellie sighed, “Come on, girls, we have to go. I’m sure your little green friend will be okay.”

“But… you aren’t s’posed to leave friends behind,” Mimi said; she and all three snakes gave Ellie the biggest puppy dog eyes they could muster, to which Yatina quickly joined.

Taking hold of the two girl’s hands, she reluctantly followed the little green plant thing. Luckily she managed to catch up, but only to find him caught by a small humanoid lizard.

“Girls, stand back,” she said before pulling out a small round flask filled with a viscous black liquid, which she threw at the creature. A Smash rang out and suddenly the liquid began expanding; the creature tried to use its hands to pull the liquid from its body only to get even more stuck. The lizard-like creature let out small squeaky barks and yaps; to Ellie, it wasn’t completely animalistic so she assumed it was trying to speak or call for help.

In a flash, she pulled out some tape and wrapped it around the creature’s snout, ensuring that she didn’t cover its nose. Once that was out of the way, she looked around only to see her three charges all hanging out of the exit of the tunnel.

She stood looking out to see several platforms and lava as well as an army of the things she’d just restrained. “Leelee, I’m scared, I don’t want to be here anymore,” Mimi said looking back at Ellie.

“Alright, let’s get going then,” Ellie said as she took hold of the two girl’s hands.

“QWEST!” the little green thing called as it rushed ahead of Ellie through the tunnel.

Soon enough, following the little creature, they found the exit and made their way back to the Cullis Gate.

“Wow, you’ve got to show me some of the new toys you’ve made. So, I assume once you got to the Gate you decided to drop by and visit Lani with the girls?” John asked as they entered the grove. John noticed something off; he wasn’t sure what it was but things felt tense. He made a mental note to ask Lani what was up when he saw her.

“Something like that, yeah. Come, let’s go upstairs, Lani has a really nice lounge up there. We can go relax up there and you can explain what the deal was with all the lizard people being at the Gate,” Ellie said as the two-headed inside the giant Silverwood tree.

John laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, them… that’s also kinda a long story.”

Ellie directed John through the maze of hallways until stopping at a large door. “Hey, so, I’m gonna go see if the girls have finished taking a nap; Dewdrop read them a story and the two were out in a flash. I’ll be back soon, make yourself comfortable.”

She gave John a peck before quickly walking further down the hallway. “Wait, why aren’t I coming with you?” John called after her. Trying to catch up he came to the end of the hallway where she’d turned and couldn’t find her. “Fuck, I’d best wait in that room then.”

Dejectedly walking back to the large door, he pushed it open. Despite its size, the room inside was rather cosy. Inside was a short table surrounded on three sides by large plush cushions. Curtains lined the walls, and the furthest had a small bay window with a seat.

John paused at the door as his eyes stopped at the window. A girl sat in the bay seat, smiling in John’s direction. She had a cute freckled face with crystal blue eyes; her lips though full were almost as pale as her skin. Her hair parted down the middle, one side black and the other white, braided separately and hanging down in front of her to her stomach where the two opposing coloured braids joined. At the sides of her head were strangely shaped fur-covered ears, above those were grey velvet antlers.

Looking further down, her choice in clothing continued her monochrome aesthetic. She wore a fur-lined cloak, white fur on the right and black fur on the left mirroring her hair. The right side of the cloak hung over her shoulder while the left dipped below, showing off her pale freckled shoulder.

John realised what he was doing and blushed slightly. “Uhm, sorry. I didn’t mean to stare.”

“It’s fine, though I couldn’t tell you if my husband is the jealous type.” To emphasise she lifted her leg up slightly showing off a sparkling anklet. “Don’t worry though, I don’t bite. Come take a seat over here.” She let out a melodic chuckle, but that quickly died down, her smile faded and she seemed to retreat into thought.

Feeling slightly awkward but not wanting to be rude, John walked around the table and climbed over the cushions in front of the window. Looking out, he got a beautiful view over the top of the surrounding forest, the leaves almost moving like water.

John sat in silence while the girl beside him seemed to quietly examine him. “So, uhm… you don’t seem like you’re from here. Oh, uh, I don’t mean here as in the forest, I meant like here in the fairies’ grove…” John struggled.

The pensive look on her face only seemed to deepen. “Yeah, I suppose I don’t, do I..?” she sighed.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that. Sorry, I’m a little flustered; a lot of things have happened today and the past few hours have only really made it worse,” John admitted.

“Yeah, I guess I’m in a similar situation,” the girl muttered. “Woke up ecstatic and now my life is completely upside down.”

“Oh, sorry to hear that… Uhm, do you think talking to a stranger about it might help?” John offered.

“I-I’m not sure.” She frowned.

“I’m here, waiting for my girlfriend to bring a couple of stowaways and I assume she’s going to go find Lani and bring her back here too; I’d be happy to lend an ear,” John said smiling and scratching the back of his neck.

“Well…” she cleared her throat, “I’ve been worrying that people I see as family would hate me if they found out I was hiding something from them… and this morning everything came crashing down.”

The girl was on the verge of tears. “I’m sorry to hear that… but if they are family, even if they aren’t related to you, they should forgive you or at least give you a chance to explain. I don’t really know you, but from what I can see, you care about what they think so it must mean you love them. You should think about how you’d feel and react if you found out something similar about one of them. Maybe they just need time to process whatever it is,” John reasoned.

The girl seemed to be mulling over John’s words. “Can I ask something?” She looked up at John for the first time since he’d sat next to her.

“Sure, ask away.” John smiled reassuringly as he tentatively placed a hand on her fur covered shoulder.

“Your, uh, girlfriend… What if one day you found out something about her that changed everything? One day you learn that she’s not who you thought she was?” she asked, looking deeply into John’s eyes.

John hummed as he thought, “Well, this might be cliche, but we are kind of like soulmates,” John laughed, “that sounds so much dumber when I say it out loud, but I feel like it’s true. We haven’t known each other for long but I feel like we’ve known each other all our lives and everything just feels right with her, do you know what I mean?”

“A-and would you say that about everyone you’ve taken as a mate?” the girl coaxed.

John chuckled. “Honestly, the only other girl in my life is Lani, and that’s an even stranger circumstance than Ellie. I don’t really know much about her, and as far as I knew, we were just going to be a one-time thing, but even that kinda got messed up. Now I’m apparently going to be a dad, and I’m married… it’s all fucked and I should be way more worried and stressed about that whole thing but I’m not.” John let out a loud sigh as he leaned back against the window. “I’m not entirely sure what I’d do when it comes to Lani, but just from what I gather about your situation, I’m more than sure we’d talk things out… Listen, I’m sure whatever you did or are hiding, your family will stick by you.”

There was a long quiet pause between the two; the girl seemed to be taking in John’s words while John didn’t want to put his foot in his mouth. Finally, the girl broke the silence, “Uhm, I have something to tell-”

She was cut off as the door opened. Ellie strolled in with a smile on her face followed by Sprout, Mimi and Yatina. The latter two curiously were stroking and hugging a pillow while singing, "Egg, egg, egg, we and our egg, egg, egg, derping togeeeeeeeeether," before plopping down on one of the large pillows near the door.

John was about to ask what they were before Ellie cut him off, walking around towards them. “So, did you tell him?” she asked, looking at the girl.

The girl looked uncomfortable and stared at the floor. “N-not yet, I-I was about to…”

Ellie groaned, “Just tell him already, you are making this way worse than it has to be.”

John was getting a little annoyed. “You know it’s kinda rude to talk about someone as if they aren’t there, right? What are you talking about? And what are you supposed to be telling me?”

Ellie looked at the girl, who seemed to be uncomfortably shifting in her seat. “Well, go on.”

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