Fantasy The Tale of the Willow

[SalemKitty]

Henry was pleased that for once Ida had not pulled away. She had been full engrossed in his story. Perhaps today was the day that he was able to get her to come with him. Her eyes seemed to drift off elsewhere as he became increasingly aware of how early it was. The sun would be rising soon. His mind was wide awake, having long forgotten what sleep was. Who cared for the smithy? In this moment he may be able to capture the girl of his destiny. He could not let the moment pass.

"Come with me Ida." He whispered. "To the outside world where I can show you thousands of places, and so you can hear hundreds of stories that I do not even know. Come with me, my love." he leaned closer to her to try to capture her attention once more. As if snapped from a Trance, he watched as she rejected him once again, his heart filling with a bit of resentment and irritation. How had he failed again?

 

[Blue winter rose]

"Beautiful ending indeed...This was indeed one of the better one out of all the ones we have already heard. The story weaver almost seems to be inspired by reality."

"You think he is talking about us?" Ida asked her willow tree but, she didn't say the words aloud. The only thing the man in front of her would notice about her would be that she looked distracted for a second.

"Come with me Ida." He whispered. "To the outside world where I can show you thousands of places, and so you can hear hundreds of stories that I do not even know. Come with me, my love."

"No," Ida said as she stepped back pulling her hands out of his. "I have told you before. I cannot leave this place. Don't ask me to leave my willow tree. I beg you," Ida said stepping behind pushing her back against her willow tree. "I fear you have to travel without me, my story weaver. Go and gather stories to tell me and I will listen but, I can't come with you," she continued as she put hands on the tree behind her.

"I will not leave you never," she whispered to the tree, this time the man would be able to hear her soft whisper but, wouldn't be close enough to understand what she was saying.

 

[SalemKitty]

Once again she asked him not to take her. There was a bit of fury he felt that he quickly smoldered for he knew it was far too soon to expect her to leave with him. She had known him but for three meetings. They may be connected, but they were still strangers. He would have to get her to trust him. More.

"I shall return once more with more stories it seems." He agreed, taking his bow as she whispered words to her Willow that he could not hear. "I will return in a few days time, my love."

No matter how long it took, he was invested now. She was his ticket into being respected, believed, understood, trusted. He could not allow for this opportunity to slip from his grasp. Nymphs were different than mortals. Her tree was obviously her family, and it did not accept him yet. It would take more time, less pressure, and more trust. He could do this. After all, he'd been trying to prove himself for years, this was nothing new.

"Rest well Ida." He smiled to her and then to the tree he smiled as well. Bow and Quiver in hand, Henry turned keeping his disappointment away until the moment he would step from the wood itself.

It was as he approached home that the sun began to rise. Walking to his house, he saw as his family had risen, to find him not home, and his duties not done. What would have been a scolding to him, did not come as he made his way towards his room, past his mother who starred at him worried and his father who did not even glare. Henry had no time to care on how he had failed them this time. Instead, his mind was spent and he needed rest. To his bed he went, disappointed and angry with Ida. The emotions lay there with him for a while, before he slipped into deep slumber and dreams of the days that were surely soon to come.

 

[SINNyorita]

"You think he is talking about us?"

Reon was taken aback by her naivety. He thought of the right ways to express himself, if she already did not know what he felt through their cosmic connection. But before he could come up with an answer he felt Ida press against him. Is she alarmed? Did his words alarm her? Reon wondered what triggered Ida, or the man, along along, had been insisting on bringing her with him. But why should Ida fear? No mortal force can drag her out of her own woods, her beloved Willow tree,...unless, she feared she wanted the escape somewhere in her heart.

She was conflicted? For the first time in many years Reon was wondering about what she felt, what she thought, rather than feel it himself. And Ida was using words to reassure him, rather than leave it up to sense her feelings. It was unfamiliar, strange, yet refreshing in many ways. Was it because of this boy? Reon thought, as he paid close attention to his actions. If he ever so thought of harming Ida, Reon would not have it. He would invoke the very spirit of the woods to drag the man to the depths of the damp earth below, and keep him there until he drew his last breath. If he thought of harming Ida.
But he felt no such malice from the man. So Reon simply stayed on alert.


Once the man has left, he felt Ida relax a bit. Reon wondered if he should bring up what as on his mind, or would he be simply projecting his worries upon her? Looking at her sudden reaction, Reon concluded it would be wrong to alarm her further. Reon never wanted Ida to doubt herself, doubt them...And a part of him also feared that words spoken aloud had the power to be become true.


He simply said..."I trust you. I trust in us. We are one..."

 

[Blue winter rose]

Ida closed her eyes as she felt the man walk out of the forest. Not needing to open her eyes to see him leave. "Bye," he said softly to the forest. She was stupid this was stupid. But, why did it felt so good? She longed to his arms around her. Wanted his stories to fill her head, taking her away from reality. Her willowtree used to tell her stories but, after thousands of years he had run out of stories. The memory of them hugging just a faded memory. She missed her brave knight even though he was closer than close.

"I trust you. I trust in us. We are one..."

We are one, for always and ever but, why does he feels so far away. She sat down underneath her willow tree. She loved him, there was no doubt in her head she didn't. But the cold bark underneath her fingers felt more and more like a shield between her and him. As if he was hidden away from him. Mentally close but, physical far away. She said no word just poured her feeling out towards him. They went right through the barrier that stopped her hands. Right through his core. A feeling of longing, endless love, a fierce pain for hurting him but, also a slither of regret of bounding herself with him.

 

[SalemKitty]

Six Months Later ​

 

[SalemKitty]

The days past slowly at first, and then all too quickly. Secret meetings, stories whispered in the dark, life passing around him at full speed. One day there was just his family, and then the next Martin's wife was living with them. Then she was pregnant and growing. One day it was the four of them working: sons and father. Then the man, Mr. Vazil, showed up more often just never at the shop. At first Henry had called him out for lying, only to realize the man had said the words to his father and their smithy.

Henry would run into the man at the oddest of times while in town. Henry had used his bow to hunt? Mr. Vazil was at the shop to watch him barter for the price. Henry needed something from the trading post? Mr. Vazil was there. Mr. Alexander and Mr. Vazil knew each other well enough. Well enough, that was, for Henry to realize that they hated each other. Henry asked Mr. Alexander in those days on why the man associated with a man he hated. Mr. Alexander said he did not hate Mr. Vazil, that they were rivals, but that there was never hate between them. It sure looked like hate, Henry had told him. The man had laughed and said that Henry would understand soon enough.

Henry would be asked about his sums by Mr. Vazil. He was asked about all sorts of things, and often times corrected. Henry was corrected by Mr. Vazil all the time. This was how to properly pronounce a word. This was how to properly use a phrase that he'd used his whole life. Mr. Vazil forced Henry to use his story voice, his story vernacular, at all times. All the fancy words that Henry knew how to use and when to, ones he learned for stories, were to be used normally. Mr. Vazil did not care if the others found Henry pretentious, this was important Mr. Vazil told Henry.

Mr. Vazil complained about everything. The fact that Henry was gaining muscle from his new bow, it took a lot of strength to use Ida's blessed bow, more than his old one. Henry figured that as a smithy boy, gaining muscle to use his hunting bow was no big deal. Mr. Vazil hated it. The man had threatened to destroy Henry's bow from his rage. Not that Henry cared about the man's fury. Instead he had doubled down, resolving not to care what the man thought or cared about. The man had explained that it was because Henry's father had bought the boys new expensive clothes, and if Henry out grew them then the money would have gone to waste. Henry didn't bother to ask his father about it, because it seemed like a truth. Mr. Vazil had promised to see his father in six months, there had been a deal, and Henry's father hadn't wanted to tell him what it was. Clothes took a long time to make, and they'd never gotten rich clothes like that before. Henry hadn't wanted to piss off his father more, so he listened to Mr. Vazil, and only kept up the maintenance on the muscles necessary to use his bow.

When compared to his brothers, Henry stuck out more. He was strong, had been, but not as strong nor as burly as they were. He spoke with "big words" and "large sentences." Henry's story telling voice was low, lucid, and so often used that Henry's silver tongued nature was being called out less and less. Henry could lie to a man to his face, speaking with smiles, and a smooth voice, wavering in no ways and now no one could tell. Mr. Vazil said this was because Henry always had a shift between when he was trying to get something, and when he was talking to other people. Henry had said that the man had changed him. Mr. Vazil said it was not about changing but polishing. Mr. Vazil said Henry had a long way to go, but by keeping the same way of speaking with everyone, it would polish the skill of lying more. "You can get something from anybody." Mr. Vazil had told him. Henry had said that he knew that. "Yes, but people are always watching. If you slip up, how can you get anything you want."

Whatever viper filled world Mr. Vazil lived in, Henry wanted no part of. Still, he learned the skill, changed his way of speaking, listened to Mr. Vazil's lessons and stories. Still he traveled to the Fae wood to speak to his love all too often. His mother was furious with him, with how he spoke, how he disappeared each night, how he did not help in the smithy. His father could care less, giving him looks over, and only ever giving Henry the cold shoulder. Most times his mother asked for Henry to act himself, not the way this dangerous man was making him act, but Henry's father said Henry had picked what he wanted. As if Henry was such a disappointment. Such was a night like tonight.

Henry had been speaking to his sister in law, telling them about Ida. George had said nothing about it. Their mother had asked Henry to stop speaking in the way he had grown used to. Henry had obliged, to the best of his ability. Martin's wife had asked more about Ida asking when she was coming 'round. Henry had said soon. George had asked for more stories as if he had realized that their mother was growing nervous. Henry had noticed it too, and decided to stop, instead speaking about Mr. Vazil and his promise to their father. Six months was soon. Six months was tomorrow. This comment had seemed to make their mother explode in fury, without any of it escape her body. Henry saw it all in her eyes as she starred at their father. Henry's father simply nodded. "Yes tomorrow," he had said. Henry wanted to ask about what they were giving the man, what they were selling. Only he could not, because of how much he was skipping out at the smithy and he did not want a scolding that if he had been there, he'd have known. Henry had made an offhanded comment that his mother had repeated along with, "Look how the man has changed him."

"It changes nothing," his father had said. "Henry has picked what he wanted. When Mr. Vazil comes tomorrow, all this business will be over."

As if to say the man would disappear from all their lives forever. As if to say that Henry had picked the wrong choice. Again. As if to say that none of it mattered in the end, and that Henry had wasted his time.

These were the thoughts that Henry kept with him as he traveled from his home, through the Fae Wood, to the love of his life. He had still not told his family about where she lived but soon. Soon she would leave with him. Tonight. Tonight he was sure of it.

"My love." he called out to her as he approached her clearing.

 

[Blue winter rose]

Ida sat high up in the tree as she looked over her clearing waiting for her storyweaver. Over the months he became a constant in her life. Dy after day he was there to provide more and more stories. Sometimes she worried he would run out of stories but, he never did. He never mentioned taking her with him and over the time she had hope he had given up. She saw in his eyes the way he was standing he still wanted to. He would never succeed she would never leave her willow tree. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't and she didn't want to.

"My story weaver," she said as she jumped down the tree. "I have been waiting for you,"

 

[SalemKitty]

Henry's heart heaved as he heard her voice. Once again he was back where he was supposed to be. He was with the person who he loved. He adored every part of her, how sweet she spoke, and how she listened to him. Yes, he didn't know much about her family but was that an issue. Clearly, she didn't want to speak about her family and who could blame her. Families were a mess in general. He would never allow that to becoming their family.

Taking her hand he kissed it, "What story would you like my, love?"

He hoped it were to be a simple story, he wanted to vent about his family. He also wanted to try to convince her to go with him. Hadn't it been far too long? She cared for him; it was in her eyes. He had to believe in their emotions. He could not let his family's opinions on him to ruin his self image. She loved him. Yes.

"Or would you like to share a story of your own on this beautiful night?"

 

[Blue winter rose]

Ida smiled at the man as he kissed her hand. Happy to see him again she enthusiastically wrapped her arms around the man into a gentle embrace. She could feel the warmth of the man's body his strong arms holding her. It made her think of the time Reon was still human, his arms around her. He was shorter than Reon used to be. She couldn't properly put her head against his chest as she used to do with Reon. The heartbeat was only fade, but his life energy was clearly feelable for Ida. Again it wasn't even close to Reon. She could feel the disapproval of her willow tree or it was her own shame of betraying him. Their feelings were so intertwined that it sometimes was hard to tell. Perhaps it was both.

She slowly pulled back taking the man's hands in hers. A story of her own. She had those many of them but, there was one in practically she wanted to share. The story of her and her willow tree. Surely that would make him understand she can never go with him. "I have a story to tell," she said before she kneeled down as she had done so many nights before. This time it was her telling instead of him.

She started her story about the forest fea and the young brave warrior. She closed her eyes as she told him about the two meeting. The long conversations, the nights sneaked away. Then she suddenly turned the mood of the story and spoke about the disapproval of her family, the misunderstanding of his. The pain of belonging together but, not being able to. At last, she spoke about the ultimate offer of the man. He turned into a tree to be with the fea forever. In near tears, she told him how much the fea missed holding the man. How the bark feels like a shield. How lonely the fea felt.

 

[SalemKitty]

Henry's eyes traveled to the Willow tree that sat further behind Ida. The story he had told, of the knight from all too many years ago resonated in his mind. The story he had told and her's... they were connected. The story of the knight that all knew, of the love that had created new life. And here, before him she told him of a similar tale from an all different perspective. There was far and many details that were different to the two, and Henry placed that at the idea that stories changed. However, she was a nymph, forever immortal and in that way it seemed to make sense that this was closer to her truth at least.

And the knight had become a tree, as the stories said. Had become her tree, probably a magic that was cast over where he died.

At first Henry felt a bit of anger at the idea of the woman he loved having loved another, but that anger subsided as soon as he remembered how old she was to be. Having a few other lovers would have been expected. What came after him after was sadness for her. She was drawn and holding herself back against the tree unable to leave her lover who was long dead. She longed for the physical connection and a connection to other people. However, it was the love that kept her here long after he had died. Died for her, if his story was at least a little correct.

She feels guilty leaving him, Henry realized. He had to save her and get her out, he resolved.

"Ida..." He whispered, his hand reaching for her's. "I'm sorry for your loss."

If her love for him had transcended stories for years, and had created a tree in the magic of his love, her resolve to stay with him was nothing to be scoffed at. "Such a love is beautiful, and powerful. What was his name?"

When he got the name, Henry bit back whatever jealousy bubbled up before continuing on looking to the tree, "Such a love has been passed down in stories, my dear. However, is it in honor of his memory that you confide yourself to such an existence such as this? You needn't stay in this tragic place forever. I can give you that love again, should you let me. Come with me Ida, I will give you what he can not."

 

[Blue winter rose]

Ida took the man's hand and hold it in hers for a moment. "It is alright I didn't truly lose him, not at all he closer to me than ever," she said. "Reon, his name is Reon," she continued. It was a long time she had said his name at loud and the sounded off in her ears.

"No, no I can't," she said suddenly as she pulled her hands back and stepped away from the man. "You do not understand, our souls are intertwined. I cannot leave my willow tree. I can't I am bound to the tree as much as I am to the forest." she called her voice high, panicked. Searching for the comfort of her tree to protect her keep her safe. But, somewhere deep inside, she wanted to. She wanted to follow the man, wanted to touch his body. Wanted to adventure a new world.

"Don't force me to go where I can't. please, I am begging you." she said her hands firmly on the tree behind her.

 

[SalemKitty]

"Don't force me to go where I can't. please, I am begging you." She ran once more. Henry tried to understand her. She was a Nymph, magic, and to be connected to the forest made sense to him, however the idea that she was bound to it? How, after all this time, could she still be clinging to the man who had died -- how many years ago? Did she not just say that she longed to leave? Did she not just say that she longed for touch? Why was it that when he looked into her eyes he saw fear.

Was it because of her past? Was it the fact that she had left once with the man she loved and he had ended up dead? Was she afraid to leave in fear of that happening again? Or was she simply unable to leave the memory of him behind because the tree still stood? What sort of fear was rooted in her from losing him? What sort of haunting did she put herself through by staying here? Did she hope that he would return to her one day? The thought of it sickened him and left him with a pit of jealousy growing within him.

"Ida. Come with me. There is no need to stay. His tree will remain, but you needn't have to." Henry tried one more time.

 

[Blue winter rose]

Ida shook her head once more. "Please hear me now. I am part of the tree as much the tree is part of me. I cannot leave this tree," she spoke her voice shaking. Tears welling up in her eyes as she lifted her arms up. In between of them, bushes grew out of the ground. Forming a shield in between her and the man. "I will never follow you. Not now, not ever," she said strictly. "Please stop asking,"

 

[SalemKitty]

Her rejection did not startle him, for he had seen it coming. Regardless of her past, she clung to the tree as if it were one of her limbs. Trauma clung to people, he had heard in the whispers of the town. And she clung to her's. The man she loved was long dead and Henry knew that she loved him. Dropping his hand he sighed, quieting the jealous winds in his own chest. "I understand. I will stop asking."

The wind seemed to blow between them, what ever love and understanding there had been was whisked away on it, as if it had never been there to begin with. He simply needed to give her a higher desire to run with him. Everyone wanted something, and he knew that he could provide that to her. If that meant he had to show her what mattered and what did not, he would.

Stepping back, Henry prepared to leave. "I am sorry to have worried you my love, and now I shall take my leave. I will return to you tomorrow. Tomorrow all will be changed. All will be different." Six months was tomorrow. Tomorrow he'd prove his worth to his family. He'd prove his worth to Ida. And finally, finally, he may find the love he has always wanted.

 

[Blue winter rose]

Ida did a step back and her back hit her loving tree and smiled. He understood, she hoped he would keep word and never ask her again. "Thank you, for understanding, I shall wait on you," Ida said. Like she always did. He was tricky and she felt he was bad news but, she wanted to believe he was good. He couldn't really hurt her even if he wanted to. Beside he clearly loved her, the poor human. He wouldn't hurt her, never. But, still she didn't trust it something about him made the woods uneasy.