Forestlore Ch. 1: Awakening

1

The light around me was pale, shining faintly in my face behind the clouds. I sat up slowly with a yawn and began taking in my surroundings. Dressed in the light blue nightgown I had gone to sleep in, I examined myself before much else, when I began to realize I had woken up somewhere I was unaware of. 

My hand stretched out on the ground. I felt grass between my fingers; lush, dew-dotted blades. I blinked once, and then, as if all at once, things began to settle in. Something wasn't right. This wasn't anywhere I'd been before. No houses were around, no cities or towns. There seemed to be no sign of human life at all. That's not to say it was empty, though. The field was a plain with slight rolling hills in the distance, and tiny mountains seen just beyond that. The clouds looked stringy and let yellowish grey morning light in, hardly enough to even sparkle off the damp grass. I stood and then, to my surprise that I hadn't noticed it earlier, appeared a wall of the densest trees I'd ever seen.

Enormous, they were. Tall, brown trunks and thriving green leaves, the trees were so tightly woven together you'd think someone had bent them like that; like a giant had constructed a properly-sized basket for himself. Hardly a thing could be seen on the inside, and certainly none could enter from here.

"You look lost," a quiet voice startled me from behind.

I turned around frantically and caught my breath. Before me stood a young girl of maybe seven years old. Her face was round and her skin pale; her eyes were a deep sienna brown with even darker, curled hair. Her complexion stood out in the grey light which made the shadows in the crevices of her face and neck contrast and give her expression a soft look. (Her demeanor and color reminded me of my mother's, not like my own sharp expression and fair hair.) The girl's voice was an innocent and breathy one, with the slight trace of an accent unknown to me. This only increased my curiosity and fear as to where I had woken up.

"I am lost," I nodded my reply in just about an equally low volume. 

The young girl's eyes met my blue-grey ones and held the gaze. "You come from Sunia, yes?"

I blinked. "Sunia?" There was nowhere I'd ever heard of called Sunia. But I was lost for sane ideas and would not allow myself to think such creative and nonsensical thoughts as the possibilities of being in a...different world. Or anything of the sort. Why would I? The ideas were thrust upon me without reason and I quickly disregarded them.

Stupid, no.

Of course, this was all a dream.

But then there was the possibility of this still being reality, and maybe I had been kidnapped or sold off to some place or...

"I'm from Canterbury," I began wringing my hands together anxiously. 

"Canterbury..." the girl pondered aloud. "Is that beyond the boundaries of Nekraht?"

I stared at her for a bit, then rubbed my temples. "No, it's in England," I shakily swallowed a lump in my throat. "The United Kingdom? Surely you know what on Earth I'm talking about."

There was a very long period of silence, and I finally looked up just to make sure the girl was still there. Her face was locked on me as if she had just discovered something incredible, nearly incomprehensible. She inhaled, then grinned a little, and quickly exhaled to compose herself. 

"You're her."

"I'm who?" I began to get truly frustrated. I was being given no answers; this little girl wasn't right in the head. Can't she just tell me where I am?! "Look, are your mum or dad around? Can I talk to them?"

"No, Eliant. It's you," she breathed.

"My name is Celest," I snapped angrily. "Can you point me in any direction to civilization?"

"Here, we call you Eliant," the girl ignored my question.

I let my voice catch the slight hint of a nervous laugh in the midst of my exasperation. "You don't know me. You just met me. I'm Celest."

The little girl smiled to herself a genuine smile, looking up at me. "Then, Celest, may I show you to my home?"  Nerves shaking, I watched the ground.  "You will be safe. I promise," the girl lowered her voice even more.  I met her eyes and saw the true concern in them. She took a step forward, outstretching her hand. "My name is Anja, daughter of Suthis of Sunia. Dweller of Faalshire since birth."

Cautiously, I took hold of Anja's hand. "...Faalshire?" was the first thing I uttered.

Her dark eyes locked onto mine and shone like a magic of sorts. "Yes. That," she answered, pointing with a slender finger to the thick wall of trees beside us, "is my home."

I took a breath in. "That forest?"  Anja nodded.  "Hardly looks like there's an entrance," I muttered my earlier thoughts under my breath.

The small, articulate girl grinned widely and stepped towards the foliage without a word.  Opening her palm and holding her spread hand towards the natural wall, she breathed-- no, chanted-- a beautiful sounding phrase.

"En loviste tieran fion- sei larke rein auh!"

The sound of her voice rang pure over all breeze and scutter and shift, and the very presence and power of the words brought an enchanting essence that made the leaves on the tree branches sway. The movement made it seem as if they were actually bending.

But wait...the trees were bending!  Right before my eyes, a patch of trees bent over and sideways, and some back, until the tops of the highest branches formed an arc so that there, beneath the draping arms of the willows and oaks, was a pathway.

Anja turned to me. This small child who claimed to know me and know I'm something of importance, who had the power to move hundred-year-old trees and speak them to obey her, smiled gently at me. 

"Will you follow me into the Forest?"