Daphne put her hands on her hips as she stared at the group of Walking Palm trees who were quite honestly causing a bit of trouble in her part of the forest. “Now your group knows better! I have told you time and time again that the river is for everyone!” She had to look like a loon as she yelled down to the stilt trees. A loan groan came from the six trees she was yelling at.

“Don’t you take that tone of voice with me!” Daphne’s voice was soft and song like but it was funny to hear her try and be authoritative. “You Ents have caused a lot of problems! My poor rattan on the edges near you look utterly terrible because you have been stealing water.” She waved her sun-kissed finger as her voice carried down to the six ents below her.

She put her hands on her hips, sure she was out of place in her long purple dress. It was a halter style dress with a slit up the side. Though it had a purpose. She had gold runes painted onto her skin of that side of her body. It was a gift that her village that she looked after did for her after every bath. It had been a weird tradition at first for the long red haired nymph but she liked it.

“Honestly, if you could please move your roots and rears in the direction I told you yesterday this wouldn’t be a problem.” The trees moaned at her again and she sighed. “I know it will take bit of time but you haven’t moved at all. I wasn’t born yesterday and I can clearly see that you haven’t moved AT ALL.” This was exhausting as Daphne could not believe what she was hearing. They were being impossible. These ents were sassy.

Pick tromped through the jungle cursing under his breath as twigs snapped beneath his feet. His curses grew louder as he passed a fallen palm for the fourth time. Frustrated, he stopped momentarily and sat on the palm to gather his wits.

 What was it mother always said? The sun rises in the west, or was it the east? He could never remember. Maybe he could chart the stars. No, he never payed attention to that. His thoughts moved to his stomach as it gurgled defiantly. He stood from his seat and looked to the trees for something to quiet his aching belly. Not one for fruit, he spied a parrot just bellow the canopy. He reached for his crossbow and aimed at the colorful bird. 


Just before his trigger finger could loose the bolt he a voice rung out in the distance. A feminine voice. In his distraction he pulled the trigger, but had lost his aim and only frightened the parrot as the bolt whizzed past it. 

"Someone is here" he thought "okay, walk forward confidently and with purpose"

He gathered himself and shouted as he moved forward through vine and foliage.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

“If you could please move I would be ever grateful.” She was still pleading with the walking palm ents in the river. “Do you have to be right in the river?” The groans were still coming strong. “No, I don’t think moving an inch off to the side would help at all.” Lazy trees.

Daphne jumped a bit when she heard the voice. Her elvish ears twitched softly at the male voice and she chuckled. “I’m here!” She waved her hand up over the tall bushes. “I’ll be right back and I swear if you haven’t started to move… I will make you move.” It was a valid threat and the ents knew it as they let out a bellowing howl. “Oh hush.”

She pushed up the skirt of her dress with one hand as she hopped over a little bush. Her gold eyes met him and she smiled. “Lost?” She heard some trees crashing and there was an annoyed look on her face. “What a bunch of disobedient little ents.” Ents were normally so kind to deal with and they gave her baskets of fruits and gifts. Not these rebellious little punks. She pushed some of her hair behind her ear. “It’s a jungle of a mess here. Isn’t it?” She forced herself to smile as she tried to get over the loud and obnoxious noises coming from the direction behind her.

Flustered and instantly embarrassed, he registers the Ents for the first time. He had been so engrossed in finding his way out that he had not noticed them. He silently scolded himself for his lack of observation as he felt blood rushing to his cheeks.

"Yeah, a bit of a mess." He says avoiding eye contact, as he was raised to believe that eye contact is rude and aggressive, opting instead to attempt to spot one of the Ents she was talking about.

"I'm not lost though, no" he gave a small grin, "I just uh, wanted to see these Ents. They sound very upset. My name is Pick by the way" he chances a look her direction in order to get a read on her, makes eye contact, and quickly shifts them away.

She chuckled just a bit at his blush. “It always is. Depending on how the trees move and where the Ents want to go.” She moved just a tad so she could get a better view of him. She was more comfortable with new people thanks to visitors to her tree and little nomadic village. Hopefully, this one wouldn’t be scared of her.

“Well if you want to see the Ents you came to the right place. I got a group of very, very naughty Ents just over these bushes.” She beckoned him to follow her. “Upset is one word for it. They are in the middle of the river and refuse to move. They are killing my rattan palms.” She stopped to give him a smile from both her lips and golden eyes. “My name is Daphne.”

She allowed him to follow her to the riverbank and looked at the slowly moving and loudly complaining Ents. “No, you can’t stay here.” She yelled down to the Ents who were yelling back up to her. “If you don’t get moving I will have my new friend.” She pointed at Pick. “You will not like the outcome if you keep this up. Now move. There is a pond not far from here! You can sink your long stilt roots in that.” She put her hands on her hip again.

“Honestly, they are terrible. Most Ents are kind and gracious but every once in a while there is a group of them that act like this.”

Pick looked on, wide eyed. He'd never seen an Ent before, much less a group of them. You must be very powerful if you command the trees like that."

 His eyes, filled with wonder, caught hers. "This is amazing. He breaks away from her eyes and looked out over the water and the slowly moving Ents. 

"How do you do it?" He asked, seeking to learn more about his surprise host. 

“Not powerful but I am pretty persuasive on a normal day.” She chuckled a bit. She crossed her arms now as she watched the Ents moving. “You have to know their language and be a person who they respect. These are my woods here. At least this small area of Laeto. This is known as the Iron Rattan. They are some of the strongest rattan palms in Laeto. If you try to cut them you’ll find a resistance. That is because I take care of them really well.”

She tilted her head and smiled. “Would you like to come to my tree house and have tea with me? Traveling through the jungle is hard work and to have gotten this deep is impressive! Especially since you aren’t lost.”

Stopping her train of thought she laughed. “Just don’t mind the nomadic clan under my house. They sort of worship me and it is awkward but I take good care of them.” Maybe it had to do with who her mother was.

Taking in her words, Pick fell silent for a moment assessing his situation.

"There's no way she doesn't know I'm lost" he thought to himself. 

With the way things were it looked very much like he was going with his new friend. What choice did he have? It had to be better than wondering around the jungle.

 He had begun fiddling with the bark of a nearby tree before he remembered she was still patiently waiting for an answer. Hoping to save face he looked to her again "Nomads huh? I was raised by nomads you know, so I'm kind of used to the lifestyle. I won't mind." He said somewhat boastfully as he gathered his things. "If I'm not too much of a burden I'd be happy to accompany you." He said with a bright smile.

Pick walked on with purpose, but made sure he stayed behind his new friend so she may discreetly guide him.

"I was always told stories about this place as a kid, but I didn't think it was this big" Pick said trying to keep a conversation going.

As he walked he spotted the bolt he fired earlier, and quickly bent over to retrieve it. As he does so his foot connects with a loose root and he stumbles, but was able to regain is footing. He quickly pocketed the bolt and caught up with Daphne.

"It's so full of life" he said as various fauna stick their heads in and out of foliage and scitter from bush to bush. He remembered his hunger, reached for his crossbow, but thought better of it. "Does your place have food?" He asked trying not to sound desperate as he wipes the sweat from his brow.

Daphne could be a fairly oblivious person. She always took what people said as face value. Maybe it came from living with such honest people. She smiled at Pick as he told her about her life. “Oh, you are no trouble at all. They might be trouble, though. Nymphs tend to take men and bare many daughters. I’m not very typical.” She laughed a bit at her own dilemma. “So while I am their guardian, I haven’t gone through the hoops like most others would have by now.”

She beckoned him and took him through the forest now. “There are much bigger places but Laeto is quite large with many different areas.” She chuckled and watched him stumble as he retrieved a bolt. “We can get food too.” She knew that the bolt was either for food or defending. Since it hadn’t hit anything she was leaning towards food. 

She reached a large tree that sprouted almost beyond the canopy of the forest. It had a rope ladder that went up to a tree house. There were many tents around it and whispering as Daphne came home. “Hello!” She waved to the tribe. They spoke a different language and conversed with Daphne for a little bit. They gave her a basket of fruit and she used something like a pulley system hook the basket and pulled on it so it went up to the tree house. “Follow me.”

Taking him up into the tree house, it was rather full of different objects. “What would you like to eat? I have many things here! Though I just have fruits no meats. I’m sure I could bargain for some if you wanted it.”

Pick finds that he particularly likes this area of the rainforest. As they entered the treehouse he took note of everything in the room, and said "Well, I've never had fruit before. I've only ever had meat." He thinks for a moment.

"Ah what the hell" he said finally, "why not? Fruit sounds good." He grabbed a few berries and had quite a few in his mouth when he realized he probably should have waited for her to say it was okay. He paused and decided to commit to his choice and finished off the berries he held in his hand. The juice from the berries filled his mouth a new and surprising flavor. The  tartness of the berries crashed into his tastebuds making his face pucker. He had never tasted such a thing before, and the amount he had shovled into his mouth seemed to be too much for the elf to handle.

"Thank you" he strained to speak through pursed lips and a mouthful of berries.

He swallowed the berries and began picking seeds out of his teeth while he thought of a way to get directions while still keeping his pride intact.