The Open Sky: Eternal Forest Saga - Book 3

Chapter 23

 Azalea pulled her cloak tightly around her shoulders as she and Zehlyr made their way south through the Savage Lands. It had only been a few months since she'd had a mortal body, but the sensation of cold air against her skin again was still quite shocking. The spirit world had no temperature. Dryads didn't have the same sense of feeling that mortals did, and experiencing it again was something she'd have to get used to. At least the first time she came here she'd had no memory of what came before. This time her consciousness experienced a seamless transition from one reality to the next.

"Do you need a thicker cloak?" Zehlyr asked.

"This is fine," she assured. "It's not so much being too cold as it is just remembering what cold feels like."

"What's it like in the spirit world?" Zehylr questioned. He knew there were many things she didn't want to share with him yet, but he figured that was a simple enough place to start.

"It's very much like a vivid dream," she answered. "You see without eyes and hear without ears. There are no limitations of time or distance. Movement is as simple as imagining yourself somewhere else and you're there."

"Just not outside of your territory?" he followed up.

She nodded. "Even now it feels weird to have wandered this far from your camp. My mind hasn't fully realized that I'm limitless again."

"What will happen to your territory without you here? Will it become barren like last time?"

"It doesn't seem so," she answered. With a wave of her hand a young sapling sprouted from the ground. "There is still a spiritual presence here, or else the land would already be dying."

"So, another dryad replaced you?"

She shook her head, but not as an answer to his question. It was more to push the thought from her mind. "I don't wish to ponder on it," she admitted.

"Because you don't understand it?"

"Because I can no longer hear the Lady's voice if I ask."

Zehlyr couldn't fathom hearing the Lady's actual voice. To think that Azalea had been hearing it her whole life was incredible. "The spirit world sounds amazing. Was I really worth leaving it for?"

She giggled a bit. "I certainly think so, but don't sell the mortal world short. There are plenty of things to envy about the physical plane."

"Like what?" he asked while ducking under a low branch.

"The spirit world is like a window between the mortal world and the Void," she said. "You can observe the other side, but you can't experience it." She stopped, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath through her nose. "You can see the flowers but not smell them. You see the wind rustle the leaves but don't feel it on your face. In the mortal world, you get to live. In the spirit world, you just exist." She resumed walking and he followed. "So, you see, there are advantages and disadvantages to both places."

"This is the end of the Savage Lands," Zehlyr said, moments later. "We'll be upon the road soon."

"We should stick to traveling through the Wilds to avoid being seen," Azalea suggested.

"But being seen on the road will raise no suspicion," he retorted. "Also, the roads will be easier and thus faster to traverse."

"We are gambling either way it seems," Azalea said nervously.

"Perhaps you should pull back your hair and raise your hood when we're on the road," he suggested.

"My hair?"