Ingénue

one.

I skipped through the for looking a certain person in particular, Kailua who is the closest person I had to a sister. Before I realized I was snatched over behind a nearby tree with Kailua with her hand to my mouth. "It's just me you silly goof" she giggles. I just smile shyly at her as I felt heat pool into my cheeks. Kailua and I were quite different whereas she is an Oread, a mountain nymph they tend to be more outgoing and boisterous. I was just a Dryad, who tend to be timider and skittish seeing that we prefer the forests peace, where an Oread was used to the commotion. Kailua pulls me into a tight hug and whispers into my ear "Happy 18th Birthday Asthenia!". She pulls away and I mentally thank her, she knows how much I dislike celebrating my birthday. Even though nymphs are immortal we tend to keep track of our age and I was still a very young and inexperienced nymph. We start walking throughout the forest when the crunch of leaves grabs our attention I brush off the uncomfortable feeling off knowing that it's probably just a stray animal that's gathering food. Kailua and I giggle at the sudden noise. When we finally reach the base of the mountain, where there is a comfortable pond that Kailua and I frequent. "Isn't this just lovely!?" Kailua asks as we both slide into the pond I hum in agreement as the lukewarm water tickles my feet causing me to giggle. "Asthenia you won't believe what I heard while I was in town today!" I tilt my head in question causing her to giggle before saying "I overheard Madame Douffrey telling Madame Callieus that a siren- remember that obnoxious siren girl with the blue hair?" I nod "Well she met her mate who's human, and he already was married with a family, and he rejected her!" Kailua shakes her head in disapproval "I truly do pity her, no one deserves something as terrible as that." She sighs.

We sit in comfortable silence enjoying the sun's warm rays before we hear another rustle of leaves and a long howl we quickly gathered our things to leave before we were met with any trouble. When we hear howls we're supposed to hide in the trees so we don't get hurt. Fortunately for Kailua and I, there was a large willow tree close by where we could get to safety in, it wasn't far only about fifteen feet away. Once we got above ground, I noticed that the sky was getting darker and turned to Kailua and whispered "We may need to sleep here tonight, it's getting dark out." She nods. A few minutes later we both fall asleep. When I wake up I can hear the birds chirping so it must safe to venture back down below. By the time I finish climbing down Kailua is on the ground weaving flowers. "Ready to go?" I nod, and we together walk toward the town.

Once we finally reach the town there is a huge crowd of nymphs centered around the fountain Kailua grabs my hand and tugs my hand towards the center to see what all the commotion is about. Three large lycans were standing facing Mistress Estrella who isn't exactly in charge but keeps everything running smoothly, and a few of her colleagues. It's as if the lycans that were facing our opposite side was alerted by our joined presence and turned to face us. The lycan in the middle with the seaweed green eyes growled at us causing alarm bells to go off in my head.

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hope you enjoyed the chapter!

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i apologize if the story isn't perfect, it's my first one,

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thanks,

Lucy