The trip back was not that difficult. This was not a disguise power, it blocked recognition. This meant that even if the kids I talked to earlier saw me, they wouldn’t even recognize me as the strange lost kid who talked to them earlier.
Because of this, I was able to simply walk straight home unobstructed if I so desired, but instead I decided to wander around a little bit and think about what Eirlathion just told me. Besides, this way it would probably drive Nymph crazy. She still needed some punishment for the way she has been acting, she could stew in it for a while.
It honestly felt good to be able to wander around this little village. Really, the only difference it had from a grove of trees was the glass windows in the sides of a few of the exceptionally wide trees.
The elves lived in a kind of tree that grew almost as wide as it grew tall. I had occasionally heard some people calling them lakira trees. It seems like these trees evolved symbiotically with the elves. If all trees in this world have a spirit, and the spirit is beneficial to the tree’s growth, then there is a lot for the tree to benefit from by supporting the needs of the elves who are able to support the growth of the spirit dwelling inside. So, the trees began to grow wider and became used to allowing themselves to be hollowed in the center using elven magic. With all that extra width, they could survive by simply making their outer walls extra thick.
The elves who lived here simply no longer questioned the short wide trees. They had grown up with them all their lives after all. It looked as natural to them as a house would look to a human. About the only reason I found the sight strange was because I was from Earth and this world was the first place I’d seen a tree with this shape.
Perhaps mangrove trees might come close, but those are more like a series of trees that twist around each other, and it’s also the roots of the mangrove tree that are the only thing to even approach how wide these lakira trees get. However, the lakira trees are simply one single extremely thick trunk that reaches upward where it has a sufficient leaf cover. There is a hollow at the crown of the tree, making it look like a very literal crown with all the branches that reach up from the sides of this hollow. This middle part catches water when it rains, which the tree processes into drinking water for it’s elven occupants.
Aside from the width of the trees and the fact there are a bunch of people running around though, walking through this village is a lot like walking through any other stretch of untamed forest. The trees are placed haphazardly and are irregularly spaced away from each other, some have even grown to touch each other. I would probably get lost rather easily if it were not for the fact that I have picked up the trick for sensing the energy of others.
The only reason I had managed to make it to Eirlathion’s house was because I’d seen him go in and out of the place while playing outside with the kids a few times. I could get totally turned around and still find my way back to Nymph’s tree though. She was very clearly the strongest one here.
Now that I knew about the development of tree spirits, I could plainly see why people were afraid about her reaching the next stage. This “Lukis” entity. If I break down the elven there a little bit, it very literally means “tree person.” If I take it from the word alone, I would think it might mean something like a treent. However, what Eirlathion told me said nothing about her getting up and moving. Only that she would no longer be dependent on me for mana and could do all the same things on her own. So, the meaning is probably a little closer to a dryad.
[Oh! Are you the child my Anelo told me about?]
As I was walking about, lost in thought, a woman had suddenly come up to me and barred my path. Well, of course. My ability blocked recognition, but it did not make me invisible. Still, it should have also blocked her from whatever association she just made about me. Wait, Anelo was one of the elven girls in the crowd of kids I talked to a little while ago, right?
[Oh you poor child, just look at the skin color you have! You must be so hungry, you almost look like a grey elf!] She continued to fret. What was going on? My spell should have definitely worked to prevent her from associating me with a story from her child, and although she is missing the mark on what my skin color means she has still recognized it’s color.
“Ahh…” that sound was all the protest I could make before the woman swept me up in her arms and hugged me to her chest.
[Ahh… if only the nymph of the nursery tree were not in such a state right now. Those human birthmates of those twin girls would surely be enough to give you all you would need. Here, let me bring you to the other children. You can be restored by the spirit of all the rest of the human children we have.]
I see. So that’s how it is. This woman is just a good enough person that she could see the signs of what looked like a child in need even through my void recognition spell. Of course, the story she must have heard from Anelo must have helped her in that. She was not looking for any specific characteristics. Instead, she just saw a child who looked out of place and then only made the association with Anelo’s story after the fact once she had already decided I looked like I needed help.
Well, I guess I don’t want to inconvenience anyone too much with this charade. So, looks like it is time to drop the veil and find a natural way to draw her attention to me.
[It is fine, please do not do that.] I said. [I can see “Nymph” is causing you a lot of problems. That is why I have been getting very angry with her and why I yelled at her so much last night.]
[That!] The woman responded in surprise at my words and held me out to take a better look at me. [You are! Ahh!] She immediately held me tightly to her chest again and covered the back of my head with her hand, and then started looking around nervously.
[I have to take you back to the nymph right now!] She said, and then turned on her heals and started walking with large tromping purposeful strides straight toward the nursery tree.
[You are Asaren, right?] She asked in a hushed and scolding angry sounding tone. [What are you doing outside? It is very dangerous for you, child! There are some people in the village who want to hurt you! Oh, this is so dangerous! What would the nymph do if anything happened to you? You cannot leave the nursery tree anymore, do you understand?]
[Ahh.] I responded in the affirmative to the scolding woman. She definitely seemed like a good mother, that much I could gather from this brief interaction. She really seemed to care about children first and foremost. It was exactly people like this that made me so against everything that Nymph was trying to do. She was not seeing them as individuals, she was just seeing all the elves of this village like a collective threat to our wellbeing.
With some luck and enough good argumentation, I might just be able to turn this woman into the key that saves this entire village from Nymph sometime in the future when she becomes one of these ‘Lukis’ things.
The woman deposited me at the foot of Nymph’s tree body and then touched her bark to personally deliver the mana in order to open a door just barely large enough for me to pass through and impossible for her to ever fit. It was pretty obvious the message she was trying to send to Nymph with this one. These elves really were terrified of her.
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[Now then, child. Hurry! Go!] She urged me and tried to push me through the opening. I resisted though.
[Wait!] I said.
[Asaren, go!] She said. [You must stay with the nymph. It is really not safe for anyone if you are out here.]
[Wait though! I want you to tell me what you are named!]
[My name?] The woman responded in confusion. [Ok, if I tell you, will you be a good girl and go into the nursery tree?]
[Yes.] I said.
[My name is Duloki.] She said.
Duloki? Her name has “ki” in it. As in, “kis.” The elven word for tree. By my understanding, it’s actually a pretty big deal to have that in your name. It’s about the equivalent of naming your child Jesus back on Earth. But then, my own mother had “Ki” in her name as well, so it might not be that uncommon. “Dulo” though means joy. So, her name literally means tree of joy. What a name.
[Alright now Asaren. You promised. You are going to go inside now, right?] Duloki said.
[Yes.] I nodded. [Umm… Miss Duloki?] I said.
[What is it?] She asked, sounding a little irritated I was still dawdling.
[About the child Anelo said she saw. That was also me. I used an ability I have to make them not recognize me because I wanted to walk around outside. I’m sorry, I lied to them. So, you don’t have to worry about a lost child.]
Duloki’s face immediately went very stern. [Asaren, that is not a good thing to do. You had better not be lying to me right now.] She said.
[I’m not!] I told her. I took a breath and began channeling void magic again, restoring the void recognition spell. [I just started using it again.] I told her. [You see? You already know it is me you are talking to, but it feels different now. Right?]
[That…] Duloki trailed off. [That was the feeling when I saw you before. That is why I couldn’t recognize it was you?]
She sighed and then put her hand on my shoulder. [Thank you for telling me.] She said. [I would have likely worried for an entire season if you had not let me know this. You are taking a very big risk by telling me this though. You should not let people know about this power. If a hungry lost child really does appear, someone might assume it is you if they know that you can do this.]
Again, she immediately thinks about how it can harm the children. It is pretty clear where this woman’s mind is. That is definitely not a bad thing though.
[Now, go!] Duloki said one more time and gave me another shove toward the small doorway. This time, I did not resist. I obediently turned around and marched straight into the tree.
The door closed as soon as I was through, and then the very angry looking light projection of Nymph’s humanoid form appeared.
“Asaren! Why did you leave like that? Someone left the village! You weren’t here! They escaped now!” She started screaming in hysterics.
Great. It looks like this is going to get exhausting very fast. It’s time to put my angry face on.