growing and learning to be a druid

Days turned into weeks, turned into years. Humans came to the forest from time to time but non of them were looking for Elsis and she didn’t want to go home with strangers. Especially since she was happy with her grandmother, the great great great bit was too hard to say in normal conversation.

She had quickly outgrown or damaged her clothes, but with the protection from Aunty Holly, the forest floor never hurt her feet or naked body. Grandma Oak helped her find food to eat. Even helped her cook and eat the animals that had reached the end of their life or been killed by Holly’s predators, once they had eaten their fill. She learned to tap into the tree’s network. Feel the forest around her, she could sense every living thing that made their home or visited her forest. She would count all the life in the forest to help her calm down if she ever got overwhelmed or before bed to help her sleep.

It was only natural, as a human, that she be a good learner; it was their nature. She was able to tap into the magic from the sliver, using it help protect the forest like her new family.

Aunty Holly taught her to harness her magic to control the plants and animals in the forest and to create some magical effects long lost to the world. Elsie used her newfound power to defend the forest. Humans stop visiting and the animals and plants flourish. The forest was a true enchanted forest again.

Brooke, whose stream flowed from the forest through human lands, taught Elsie about herself. About her body, about human knowledge, about the damage they could do. She told Elsis that the local humans told stories about her, calling her a druid. They warn about entering the forest or facing her wrath. As her body developed, Brooke was the one to teach her about being a woman. She taught her how to use her magic to control her own body.