The Blooming Flower

1

The forest is everything; the forest is nothing. The forest rules all, and all rules the forest. The forest chooses its path, and the path shall choose the forest. You shall obey the rules of the forest. The forest shall obey its own rules. There is a wind in the trees, it hears all, it knows all, and it is all. This noise reminds us of the quiet times before the noise swallowed the forest. The forest consumes humans, and the forest gives birth to humans.

The forest gives what it can give; the forest takes what it can take. The forest rules the earth, and the earth rules the forest. The rains are given by the forest, and the forest takes the rains. The water allows all to live. The noise drowns out all that was peaceful. The noise from the humans changes the forest around them. The humans change the forest, and the forest changes the humans.

The forest does as it will, and does as its rules say. The forest is all; all is the forest. You live one with the forest young one; do not forget this. The forest is ancient; it knows more than you can ever hope too. The forest was here since the beginning. It has seen all there has been to seen. It has done all that there is to be done. It was there when the Earth fell and was reborn with the Earth. The forest goes everywhere; there is no place without raiment of the forest. The forest holds me in its grasp, and men hold the forest in their grasp.

Without the forest, there would be no man today. The forest gave birth to man, just as it consumes them. Never ever, forget this lesson. May we turn to the dust we came from, or we shall preserver. That is the fate of human kind, to forever be in debt to the forest.

I ran through the forest, the trees whispering to me the past. I listened to them; they listened to me. I was the forest, and the forest was I. It had been like this since the beginning. The Druids played with me in the afternoon, the Twins' whispered tales of the forest. I watched the buds grow into leaves, leaves turned from green to orange, and then the leaves fell the ground. I would weep for the forests loss. Every plant is my family, water is my livelihood, the forest is my home.

I heard of the girl who would bring fire to the forest, I didn't know fire. I was afraid for the trees; they said that fire killed them, that it made them fall like the levees. I was terrified for my home and family.

I saw the boy named Agito come to the forest; he wished to become one with it like me. I watched the trees spirits take his hand and cocoon him in the sacred water. I watched the druids take him away into the outer rim of the forest.

I watched, as he was reborn, and tore apart the machines of man that made terrible noise and stole the water.

I heard the volcano grow angry and erupt. I saw the flames shoot into the sky; the forest told me that this was the fire they feared. No part of the forest was damaged; I was relieved.

The forest grew quiet, the clamor had subsided, and the girl from the past had given up her old life for this new one. The forest went back to the normal routine of the seasons. I too did the same. I lived like I had. I was called to the central forest chamber, the twins wanted to talk to me. Like the forest, they knew all that was going and all that would happen.

"Your time in the forest is done; you were born as a seed to grow into a human. You must go to Neutral city and live among the humans there. They will take care of you for a while.

"We do not want you to go, but the forest wills it. The forest gave birth to you; you are always to return to it no matter what. For now you must go to the human town."

They twisted around one another, joining to form a whole being.

"Young tree, the forest consumes humans, and the forest gives birth to humans. You are my child; you are no ordinary Druid. You are what you are, and that is you, my dear, Rima." The lovely woman pointed at my chest. "You have the white hair and green eyes of an enhanced human, and yet you can talk to the trees like they are humans. You have the skin the color of the dirt, and yet your spirit flies on the wind. The water babbles to you, and yet you seem to have a fire to you. You are the child of the forest." She leaned in to kiss my forehead. "Go my child; learn the ways of the humans. Then you may return home to us." She smiled as the forest wrapped around me, caressing my body with loving touches. The Forest Monsters all bowed to me as I passed. The Druids went to one knee, the levees part for me. I walked out of my home to this weird world.

I was struck by the sunlight as I walked out of the depths of the forest. The forest grew quiet as I left the safety of the boughs of the trees, the beds of ferns, and the tangle of undergrowth.

I was clothes in the forest wear, a dress man of woven grass that had given their lives to make it for me.

The humans saw me, and called for their leader. The woman named Yolda stood in front of me.

"Dear child, where have you come from?" She kneeled down in front of me in the same manner of the Druids.

"I am a child of the forest, I am known as Rima." I whispered, trees heard best when you whisper; maybe humans were the same. "I was sent by the Twins of the forest." My voice soft and musical.

"Child, please speak up." The woman looked me in the eyes.

A little louder, "I am a child of the forest. I was sent by the Twins of the forest." I talked with confidence; humans were weaker than I was.

"Why did they send you?" She asked her hand on my shoulders.

"I am to find out the ways of the humans, and to see if they are worthy of the forests help." I stated blankly, this was my mission.

She just watched me.

"May I see your town?"

The woman got up and took my hand, I knew she was s good bit taller than I was, but my trees were taller than she was. I held her hand loosely, and watched where I stepped.

"The town is up this way, we have to take an elevator powered by the wind…." She looked to where I must have been, but I was already on my way to the top.

I knew I was strong, but I never used my strength besides when I was traveling. I pushed my legs with enough strength to rip the rock apart that was under them. I was careful though, never stepping on a plant of any sort, these were my cousins, my family; I would never murder one of them.

I was at the top before they even entered the elevator-thing.

I watched the woman leapt from rock to rock also. I was much faster than she was; I knew I was far stronger too.

"You were blessed by the Sacred Water." I commented as she made her way to me.

"Yes, a long time ago though." She smiled and brushed off her clothes.

"Who else has been blessed? I would like to meet them, and the girl from the past." I looked up at her.

We walked in silence to the village; the place was called Neutral City for a reason. I saw humans everywhere and plants too. I missed the trees as I walked farther away from them, but I was not allowed back until I learned the ways of the humans around me.

"I shall call those you wish to see, please wait here." She showed me to a room that was filled with sunlight, I sat down and soaked it all in.

She left and closed the door behind her, now was my chance to learn about them without them looking over my shoulders.

The plants made less noise here then they did in the forest.

I whispered to the plant that was confined in a gourd of earth.

"Little one, do you hear me?" Whispered as softly as I could.

It moved, and a small forest monster appeared.

"You are alive, I was afraid for a minute there." I smiled at it, and gently touched its leaves under its chin.

It rumbled softly, it talked to me in the way of plants. They do not speak, but sense things and send those feelings to one another. I can do that too, that was how I first talked until the Twins taught me different. They showed me how to live like a plant, how to become one with the forest around me.

They taught me little things, like how to braid your hair with flowers. How to dance from tree to tree, how to become a tree myself. They taught me how to bring plants to life, and how to speed up growth. They told me that when I was older they would teach me to become a female Druid such as themselves.

I looked forward to those little things, the times where I could laugh with the joy of just living.

The Forest Monster floated around me, but still connected to the plant in the gourd

I giggled as it tickled my chin.

"You are fun, what do the humans do here?" I asked gently, tickling it also.

It started to tell me when the door opened, and I heard a chorus of gasps.

"Get away from that!" A young man yelled at me. I heard him draw something hard, something dangerous.

I felt him come closer, and the Monster balked away.

"No, stay. I will protect you." I turned to face the man, and stood in his way to the Monster. I saw the glitter of something silver, like a reflection on the water.

His sliver-sharp-thing curved around me, he was trying to reach the Monster.

I easily knocked the knife out of his hand, and easily flipped him backwards so he landed on his back in front of me. I placed a foot firmly on his chest.

"Leave it be, he was giving my information." I snapped at him, he had tried to hurt my family.

They all gaped at me, the woman from before kept her face still though.

I turned to face the poor creature; I stroked it gently.

"They shall not harm you, you are safe." I patted it and it went back to sleep in its gourd.

"You insolent human, never ever hurt a creature from the forest in my presence. They are my kin, so how would you like it if I drew a silver-sharp-thing against your kin?" I asked, the forest becoming prominent in my body.

Flowers began to adorn my hair, and my hair began to grow longer than it already was. It pooled at my feet. Vines spread across my skin.

I took deep breaths.

"I need water, any amount will do." The pulsating urge to transform died down in me; the water would calm the forest in me. With my eyes closed, I felt my body returning to normal, or as normal as it was to begin with.

The people around me had backed up, they feared the beast within; smart instincts.

I looked at the young man before me; a young woman was helping him up.

"I know you; you were blessed to save the forest from the fire that the girl from the past would bring." I pointed at him, and then looked at the girl. "You, you brought the fire." I glared at her, my green eyes glinting.

My glass of water came quickly. I didn't hold it to my lips; I just stuck a finger into it and watched, as the water was soaked into my skin.

"Thank you." I returned the glass to Yolda. "I shall tell you all why I am here."

O-O-O-O

They had all agreed to let me stay in their town until I could go back home, but I had some rules to follow.

"One, you must not show your true nature. You would frighten the people if they knew you were a young Druid.

"Two, you should try and not talk to the plants around you. If those monsters appear we will destroy them, harmless or not.

"Three, you should respect the people of this town and the town itself. This is our home, treat it like you would the forest."

They had explained the rules; they were simple enough for me to follow. I would do whatever it took to get back home.

"You shall stay in a home with a family that we believe will show you our world as best as they can. None of us live in this household, so it will be you truly learning about the human ways.

They led me out of the metal building and out into the sunlight, clouds came across the ball of fire. They wept their life giving tears. I couldn't help myself.

I opened my arms to receive the rain over my body; I relished the coolness of it. The voice of the rain sang in my ears. I swayed to the unheard beat of the music hidden in the depths of the mist. I drank all I could take, and watched myself react to the music of the water.

The tune was soft yet prevailing, I loved this song. Everything has music in it; you just have to listen hard enough. I can hear all the songs of the world, from the smallest shoot, to the largest flood.

My body lifted above the ground, I was supported by the shoots that were growing out of my skin. The leaves sprouted from the shoots, my body became more and more trees like each moment I spent in the rain, the flowers bloomed along the vines. They were a mix of white and blue, a light green skimmed the edges of each of the blossoms. I moved with the beat, my body twisting as high I could possibly go.

The rain shower ended too soon, and the forest returned to my body. The song of the rain diminished with the lessening of the droplets that splattered the rock-earth around us

"It always ends too soon for me; I like to have a good shower in the rain." I sighed as the rain disappeared, its scent all around me.

They choose not to notice my transformation in the rain, they knew that I couldn't help my nature; I was a Druid.

We walked in silence to the house I was to stay in; the family came out to join us. A young girl around my age in human years clung to the hand of an older woman, an old man stood behind them.

"This is Rima; she is in need of a home. Certain circumstances are in her way of returning to her home; I hope you can understand." Yolda was the only one with me; the others had gone back to their homes.

"We understand." The old man held his head high. The young child cowered behind the woman; both had deep brown hair, hair like the earth. Their eyes were a muddy brown also. The man had hair white with age, not Enhancement. His grey eyes clear even though he was old. This family seemed strong, it seemed like I could learn a lot from them.

I watched the movie sometime ago; it is my favorite above all the others. It even *Gasp* better than Twilight! Don't hate, please review… I would like to think people like my work!

O_x