Bestowed with life after years of being a tree, the dryad, Skye, explores the garden she grew up in and the final letter from the gardener who took care of her all those years.

Commission for KoboldCourier

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The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the sun, the same one that I’d felt on my myriad arms since the day I was born. There it was, like a great beautiful smile in the sky. Then, I saw myself, hair like leaves, fruit-like flesh green like the window panes in the house across the yard, and horns of oak as regal as a queen’s crown upon my head. What a strange new form I’d stepped into after decades of growth in that humble tree, the jewel of this walled garden. The one he cared for year after year until it reached the sky, until I touched it with my grace. Though he seemed to be gone at the moment, he had been for a few days now, that silly old man. Who would take care of the garden without you?
I looked around to see where he could be. Was he perhaps with the lilies? Maybe tending to the orchids? The daffodils? No, nowhere. Rows of flowers swayed in the wind accompanied by willows and yews, creating an open maze of nature bereft of any trying to solve its puzzle. Rather, only I was trying to solve a new one. I finally found my answer, however. A letter kindly placed against the bark of my former home awaited me. I walked over and picked it up, inspecting it before I opened it up. It was a little weathered from the rain the past few days, but it seems I had done well enough to protect it from too much damage. Taking my finger, I slipped it open by protruding a thorn from my finger and began reading the letter within.

Dear Skye,
When I was young and just getting myself acquainted with the real world (I suspect you will soon enough if you’re reading this), I never thought my path in this world would lead me to where I am now. Watching over a garden of the most beautiful of life’s creations, my dearest friends. Though it could’ve never started without you truth be told. When I was an adventurer (you remember my stories, no?) I met a druid whose life was at its end. The dragon we were hunting had taken her by surprise and slayed her without care. Emmanuel couldn’t heal her, and my skills with herbal medicine were of no use for burns this great.

“A druid?” I whispered to myself. “I don’t remember this part of the story.” I thought of how it had gone when he shared it before. They were hunting a dragon with scales as red as rubies whose breath could melt stone. With his swordsmanship, he was able to slay it, but he had decided to retire afterwards. Supposedly due to burns he suffered during the conflict. The rest of the party continued their trade, however, and had fallen out of contact with him. I wonder where they are now? I returned to the letter with eager eyes.

The druid placed a seed into my hand and asked of me this: let this seed’s branches reach skyward. My final task, my final wish, to continue to care for the Green Man’s children cannot continue, so please, take it in my stead. Soon after, she died. I looked at the seed with eager curiosity while Emmanuel prepared burial rites for her. It was an emerald jewel, like nothing I had ever seen before. I looked at my friends and told them that I wouldn’t be able to join them after this. I had to plant this and watch it grow as the druid asked. They weren’t quite fond of the idea. You know my skills with the blade, it would’ve been unfortunate for any adventuring party to lose them. Though I was always honorable to a fault. I would carry out the druid’s last wish after we slayed the dragon. You know how the rest goes. Little did I know that doing this, I would meet my only friend for many years forward. You.

It took me a bit to take it all in. He had given up my life for me? A tree? Who could never comfort him, never hug him, never help him no matter how much I wanted with every moment I listened to his stories, to his woes, to his life. A part of me felt a lump in my belly, one of disappointment for not being able to be there for him, I wanted to throw the letter away and cry like he had upon my bark so many times these past decades. Another part of me knew he’d want me to continue reading the letter, to find out why he had left it here for me. Maybe then I could find him and finally tell him everything would be okay. Everything would be okay.

Thankfully, I had plenty of funds from my exploits to purchase a nice home here in the county with a beautiful garden well defended from outside threats with those sturdy walls the vines like to creep upon. On a tiny hill in the very middle, I dug up a hole and planted you within. After you were buried, I made a prayer to every deity who watched over all that is wild and green, then hoped for the best. Praise them I say! For you grew as a little sprout out of the ground days after, as beautiful as the seed that encased you. My job fighting dragons turned to fighting squirrels and other pests, my weapon now frustration over how endless their hordes were and a trusty set of gardener’s tools. Surprisingly, being a herbalist who uses only wild plants doesn’t prepare you for growing your own. But I tried! I tell you I tried and soon enough you were as tall as I, taking care of your own family in the form of a nest of birds. Do you remember them?

I had remembered them, in fact, there always seemed to be some birds. Currently, there was a nest of crows hidden in my trunk. I protected them from the elements and they brought me beautiful trinkets as shiny as the sun… as his smile. Oh what I would do to see that smile again. The kind smile of a dear friend, much more dear than I realized now. Would he see my smile the same way? One bearing kindness? I hope so.

Either way, everyday you seemed to flourish in a new way. Your branches gave me shelter, your bark gave me repose. The garden had become my friend, you the best among them, as deep down, I knew something was different about you. Every story I told, every tear I cried, every poem I wrote under your branches and in your shaded embrace was a moment I cherished. That is because I knew you cherished those moments too. You felt my emotions as your own. Perhaps I could not see proof of this presumption, but I felt it in my heart. I don’t think I could’ve made it this far without you and when your branches reached skyward and you stood as tall as ever after sixty years of care, I knew my job was done. Now I leave to where all spirits must go. So all of this is yours now, it always was meant to be yours after all. I don’t have anyone else to give it to either way. Maybe I’m a fool of an old man, but your wish is done druid and your story has just begun. Go forth my skyward tree, go forth my beautiful friend, go forth Skye. See the wonders of the world like I have and make it as beautiful as I know you can.

Yours Truly, Alain Sower.

“H-He’s gone…” I realized it now. This was his final farewell, his last goodbye. No more stories, no more long nights with him nearby, no more smiles. The druid knew what I was, didn’t she? And a part of him did too. He cared so much, but I can never thank him, he cherished me with all his heart, but could never see me. Is that why he was chosen? A teardrop fell from my eyes, nourishing the earth beneath my feet as flowers sprouted up around me. Every tear a flower, a reminder of what I had just lost. I wanted to curse the world for giving me life only with the death of another, but no, I couldn’t.
“This isn’t what he would want,” I told myself as I laid in that flower bed. I cuddled the letter close to my chest and stared into the open sky. Sky. “Go forth my skyward tree,” I whispered to myself. “Make it as beautiful as I know you can.”
I got up and noticed a key to the house on a nearby bench. It was a bit wet, but functional. As I opened the door to the home he lived in for many years, I saw, sitting comfortably, on a mantelpiece a dress with flowers from the garden woven in, leaf-like pattern crawling upon the green silk. A card rested upon it that read a simple thank you. The dress fit perfectly upon me. I twirled around in it with a laugh and a smile, then turned my eyes back outside towards the tree I would forever be bonded to.
“Goodbye… me,” I laughed. Then I looked at the letter. “Goodbye friend.”