The Whispers Of Trees

7. The Wicked

"Alimar, why so close?" he remarked, a hint of anger building at the unwanted awakening without a soft warning that Alea would use.

She would speak to him in her tender voice, a slight hand running through his sprawled-out hair as the sun came through the circle window.

But Alimar was not Alea, in any form, and he most certainly wasn't in a good mood now that he had been startled.

"You were in distress" Alimar stated having leaned back on his heels to watch him intently.

"I was not, I was sleeping, I wish you would stop with these statements Alimar! I am in distress but that's because you keep pestering me, just give me some space!" he cried out, collecting himself to his feet as he emerged from the pool grabbing his clothes which he began to pull on as he headed for the pathway out of the enclosed area.

"What did you see in your dream?" Alimar shouted after him. His question soaked into the foliage floors behind Orym's marching feet.

Passing mossy rocks and fern clustered banks, he made it into the woodland again, the space giving him time to breathe. Noticing the darkness that filled the gaps between the trees, Orym stopped in his tracks, how long had he been asleep?

His thoughts turned to Mirith and their conversation, it was an unusual dream and one that seemed awfully real, but he had woken back up in the pool so it was clear that it had all been in his head.

How he had created an image of Mirith he wasn't sure, but he thought that it was most likely a concoction of people he knew, like Alea who shared some similarities but was most certainly the owner of his heart.

It made him wonder if Alimar shared some attraction, seeing as he was his soul. His and Alea's wedding bands stated their belongings to each other, heart and soul, one of which was impossible but they cared not, to them their sayings showed their love and the extent of it. At least that's what he's thought before finding out her soulless Tulsi heritage.

Fully clothed he let out a ragged breath to the pale moon, it was a cloudless night, cold but refreshing in a way. The cold numbed his senses and allowed him time to think about their situation, how he spoke to Alimar, but not just in his dream.

Regret wasn't something he was overly familiar with so it was hard to wrap his head around and brought on rather saddening emotions and thoughts in his mind, ones of a life without Alimar.

He may have snapped and said a few words he didn't mean, at least not in the capacity they were said, but he loved him nonetheless, he was like a brother to him, a twin he supposed would be accurate.

"I am sorry Orym" Alimar's voice said softly from behind him, it was sincere and honest.

"I should be the one apologising. But you must understand that I am missing my family, I am worried about them too, and being out here, away from home is completely new to me. I am putting a lot of faith that I didn't know I had, in you"

Having listened to his words, Alimar regained a dull twinkle in his eyes "It is odd for me to be amongst your people and become familiar with your ways, we as spirits and your souls are constantly connected, we talk to one another, feel one another. We are one, but here, everyone is much more independent and selfish in a way." he said as they both sat in the wildflowers, in a spot away from the crowding pines among the trees dowsed in catkins.

"And I have to remember that you're a spirit sometimes, I've always seen you as a brother rather than a tree and until you came out of it with me, I didn't even know you were anything beyond a plant. For me, it's easy to accept you as one of us, as my brother"