Tag: Elven tales

Valiant Crocus exists, some of the time, in the same Green Wood as Eldra and The Chestnut Prince.

A slightly peculiar bubble of time and space exists in a mossy nook of the GreenWoods.

Shielded by the shade of fir trees, masked by sharp sweet scent of wintergreen that creeps ever so close and enveloped by the tinkling, gurgling laughing joy of a fresh water brook rambling over granite in the near distance.

The guardians of the GreenWoods,  Eldra, the Chestnut Prince and many other royal and forest fae know of the bubble but respect the space. 

As instinctual as stepping aside for an advancing buck, as obvious as bowing to the change of seasons, as commonplace as talking mushrooms, the bubble is respected.

A weary traveler, should they make it past the Chestnut Prince and his thorny demeanor, as well as escape the pointed inquiries of Eldra the elder elf as she swings her “bit of blade’ casually through the air, might mistake that perfectly inviting green oasis amongst the tree roots as a worthy place to sit, rest and sleep.

But the ground there is not only soaked with spring water rising up, feeding the life above from the wellspring below, it is dense with power.  An entire universe of nature untouched by humans is condensed into an outward smooth bubble of nothing while inward….everything.

Including Valiant Crocus.

She is known to the GreenWoods.

An ambassador of sorts, she hops between worlds near effortlessly. If you were to be near and listen as Valiant emerged from her reality into ours the subtle ear popping pressure change as she came and went would make your skin tingle, your heart race and animal brain struggle to accept what was and was not there.

Her world is known only to a select few, the Ambassadors, who do not choose their destiny but are born…hatched for just such role. It is a gift, to the bubble, the GreenWoods, the fate of the Ambassadors themselves.

Valiant Crocus presses her face against the bubble from her side and stares, golden eyes aglow with power yes but also curiosity, at the rich green moss beyond.

It is the one thing, most alien to the GreenWoods that she admires most.

The friends, the stories, the trees and even the ponds with peculiarly familiar evolutionary cousins, “Frrrrogs, Tttttoads” she croaks under her breath, a soft bubbly purr, all were not so different from inside the bubble.

But the moss…it stayed on the GreenWoods side. All the coaxing, all the magic, all the wishes and bribing, the gentle prodding and ill fated transplantings were nary a success.

Valiant pressed further against the bubble, feeling the familiar resistance, the cool sensation tickling her fingers, making her ears itch and a near unbearable urge to wriggle and hop wildly into the GreenWoods crawl over her legs.

But she waited.

Just a moment longer. 

She was Ambassador of the bubble, they did not breach the barrier idly, no matter how greeeeeen the moss glowed in that patch of sunlight, the same sunlight and yet not, just a few hops away.

It boggled the mind, “Phhhhhysics.” She murmured on a raspy breath.

Then, finally, the bubble relented, the resistance melted like frost on a fern in morning’s light, and with a final, gentle bit of forward pressure she was through.

Eldra had asked once what it was like “on the other side” a confusing question, a simple answer. “The saaame, almost, no moss, no moss, purple flowers flow over the soil, no moss” And as Eldra’s face began to show the beginnings of pity Valiant added “Nooo humans, no wizards, no weapons….” a pointed, gleaming gaze at Eldra’s sword. 

“HA! It’s a tool.” Eldra’s sword agreed and winked, a flash of silvery light where no sun had touched the metal.

”Yoooour ‘bit of blade’” has a sense of humour Eldra.” 

Laughter filled the GreenWoods on those visiting days and would again soon.

Valiant had information to share from within the bubble. Recipes for teas that carried ideas that would ease their way into the consciousness of those from outside the bubble. The recipes freely given, the ingredients and intentions already available in the GreenWoods. Just carefully brewed by a mind from another place and shared to those who wanted the tea, it fed the palette, delicious of course, but it fed the mind as well. Wintergreen tea berries, fir and brook water, stirred with a yellow birch branch…ahhhh the ideas that gentle beverage could and would unlock, the magic steeped and seeded, feeding the mind and the belly.

Valiant hopped, booted feet as richly purple as the tiny flowers thriving in her world, pressing into the spongey greeeeen moss of this world, fingers digging deeply into the joyous, soft texture of the carpeted forest floor. Unleashing the bound power in her legs she rushed through the woods, practically flying. So whispered the birds above who sometimes watched with curious eyes, witnesses to it all, the bubble, the GreenWoods and the human world beyond the ocean and the worlds beyond all of that. Cackling, cawing, they flew away, unbound by such things as below.

Valiant croaked ‘Hellooooo” to the Chestnut Prince who allowed himself a small smile at her presence, Valiant’s hopping travels through the forest a welcome and familiar sight.

Valiant leapt again, covering more distance than earthly possible, but she was an elven being, sprung from other-world magic, a toadly ambassador of peace and knowledge, she WAS the impossible.

The Chestnut Prince is part of the same world as Eldra, click to read her story.

The deepest, wildest part of the Green Woods was never seen by humans. It was a rare, tangled world where moss and root, vine and branch, stream and dew and fern and shafts of dull golden sunlight seemed to meld together. A radiant, chaotic whole of nature tumbling outwards from a central core of heat, light and life.

It was the very heart of the forest, the place where wild, nature flowed forward on invisible currents of energy, following the ancient paths of worked stone that lay sleeping, forgotten beneath the layers of mud and leaf that eventually became the ground.

This part of the woodland had a soul.
The elves knew it, respected it, revered it.
They tended this untamed place as if it were their Mother, Father and God all rolled into one…and in a way it was.
Without this bit of living wild the fae would be worse than forgotten, they’d cease to exist.

They loved that bit of wild world and protected it. Air, water, sunshine and this bit of untouched world were the elements of life, the fae stood for it, in front of it, feeding it with their own magic even as the world sustained them. As the tree to the air, the sun to the leaf, the water to the grass, so too did the fae to the forest and the forest back to them.

So you can forgive the wee bit of eleven arrogance of the Chestnut Prince, guardian of the Chestnut trees on the fringes of the Green Wood’s heart for his attitude. As prickly as his cap, he looked forward and backwards with as much clarity as you or I see around us in the present.

“You’ll be going no further today.” He announced with the voice of reason of one who is not only stating his opinion but fact.
The taint of humanity clung like a sour cloud around the deer who stood before him, large eyes unblinking as it gazed, head lowered slightly as it snuffled the air, catching the sweet scent of wild violets and blackberries, clean water and the familiar wild aroma of chanterelles, just beyond the wee elf who blocked their way forward.

The Chestnut Prince perched on his throne of roots in the middle of the deer path was not heartless, he was logical. The deer smelled of humans, it had passed too near their world before breaching the veil that led them here.
The deer huffed, was it impatience, perhaps, she looked past the Chestnut Prince but the way was blocked, the path though clearly etched in the moss and shimmering with an oddly compelling pearlescent light was not for her, not today. She could no more go forward than she could retreat.

“You’ll not wait long.” The Chestnut Prince declared, his voice startled the deer who had been lost in her own thoughts of sweet berries and soft green moss to curl up on, to while away the days chewing cud while waiting her child to be born. Born away from humans, their greed, their cruelty, their roads and rules.

She huffed a sigh again and slowly lowered to the ground in front of the Prince, who didn’t smile, but his face softened, his fingers twitched until he gave in and leaned forward to lightly press a minuscule hand, startlingly warm against the soft fur just above her shiny black nose.
The deer closed her eyes and felt the acceptance.
“After the rain, you’ll be free of the human scent, you’re already welcome, just a bit of time.”

The forest darkened, the sky seemed to grumble in frustration above them as the first raindrops fell, heavy and fat, splat, splat, splat, hitting the leaves of the chestnut tree, startling some bluejays high in the canopy so that they screeched and took off, amusing both the Chestnut Prince and the deer.
The rain was warm.

The Chestnut Prince leaned back in his throne, the hidden world at his back, guarding the threshold, eyes forward to the world ahead, the deer at his side a wall of warm, auburn fur, quietly chewing.
“Soon.” He said again.
And the deer felt the truth of those words and let the rain cleanse her and waited with the Chestnut Prince, silent guardian of the Green Wood’s heart.