The Trees Whisper my Name

A new Friend?

Riley had slowed down her run to a well paced walk as she saw her families cabin within her sight. She turned to look behind her to see if any of the creatures were still there, and seeing none, she faced the path again and continued walking, breathing a sigh of relief. She saw her sister working on the second half of the garden, complaining about bugs and thorns; she also saw her brother and father in the middle of fixing part of the fence, so she knew she wasn't gone very long. Her Father saw her and waved her over, putting down the hammer he was holding and handing Dustin a bottle of water, who gladly started to chug it. 

"What are you doing back so soon Riley? Your wagon isn't even close to full yet." Her dad asked, wiping away the beads of sweat collecting on his forehead.
"I know dad, but there was something in the woods that scared me and-" she got cut off by her dad chuckling.
"Oh come on Birdie, I know you aren't scared of the woods. Is this a trick to get out of work? Because if so, it's not that good." He crossed his arms.
"No dad, it's not! I really saw something! There were a bunch of little creatures, and a big green one, and a glowing thing in a tree, and-" her dad stopped her once again.
"Come on Riley, I guarantee there wasn't anything there. If you, wan't I can go with you and check." He offered, pointing back in the direction where she came from.

"Riley shook her head, tightening her grip on the handle of the wagon and partially turning around.
"Never mind, it's fine. I'm okay now so I'll go and finish gathering the wood."
Her dad smiled and gave her a solid pat on the back,.
"There we go, that's the Riley I'm used to. Load the wagon up and bring it back, we'll all be close to done by the time you get back." He said, turning back around to continue fixing the fence.
Riley huffed as she walked back the way she came, following the path and grumbling about her dad not believing her.

As Riley walked back up the path further in the woods, her shaky steps soon turned into normal ones and her adrenaline rush dissipated. Once her adrenaline faded, she started feeling a little chilly; so she grabbed her coat from the wagon and put it on. When she picked up her coat, the amulet fell from it, clicking against the rest of the wood with a soft "thunk" sound. She stared at it for a moment and sighed, reaching to pick it up before pulling back and looking around. Seeing that none of the creatures that had originally frightened her were there, she reached out once again and picked up the amulet, running her fingers over the carving in the wood and examining the beads around the cord holding up the necklace.

"For something so... normal, you sure scared me a lot." She spoke softly, tracing the designs on the amulet. Riley ended up just putting on the amulet so save the future headache of searching for it in the bunch of wood she was about to collect, nodding to herself and picking the wagon handle back up. When she looked up from the amulet she saw a few small figures a short distance away staring at her, and she desperately hoped they were just shadows behind the trees. She took a few hesitant steps forward when some deliberate sounding bush rustles came from behind her, startling her and causing her to jolt away from the sound.

Riley turned around after stepping away from the sudden sound, seeing a green and brown creature covered in leaves and vines standing right next to her wagon. She let out a brief yelp and backed up once again, tripping on her own two feet and falling to the ground. The creature approached her and held out a hand to help her up, offering a friendly smile too. Riley sat for a second, staring in disbelief before reaching out with a shaky grip to accept the strangers help. Once pulled up off the ground, Riley stood still, shaking. She didn't know what, or who,  she was seeing. She rubbed her eyes a couple of times, as well as blinked, which caused the creature to laugh.

"No need to be scared, you're welcome in this forest so I won't hurt you." The creature spoke politely.
"O-oh... that's a relief." Riley sighed, relieved that the creature could speak a language she understood.
"I know you have questions, anyone would with seeing what you have seen. So ask away, I'll answer what I can." The creature offered.
"I, uh... what- who are you?" Riley asked, picking at her hands and hoping it wasn't a rude question.
"My name is Evvie, I am a dryad. I live in this forest with many others." Evvie gestured to an area behind Riley, causing Riley to turn around and see a few more creatures gathered around the trees to watch them.

"A... dryad? I didn't know uh... I didn't know you lived here."  Riley replied, doing her best to not sound rude.
"That's okay, not many know about our presence. The only reason you know now is because of my mothers amulet that you have there." Evvie said, pointing to the amulet around Riley's neck. Riley reached a hand up to touch the amulet.
"This is your mom's? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take it! I just-" Riley was cut off by Evvie chuckling and gesturing for her to calm down.
"It's okay, I told you to take it. I was the voice you heard earlier in the forest, remember that?" Evvie asked, pointing back in the direction that it happened.
Riley gingerly nodded.

"I let you take the amulet for a reason, it's because I'm in a bit of trouble. My forest is-" Riley cut Evvie off before she could continue.
"I would love to help you with whatever is annoying you, but you and your friends scared me and I really have to finish my chores." Riley picked up the handle of the wagon again and began walking. Evvie followed close by and sighed.
"I'm sorry we ended up scaring you, what if my friends and I helped with what we could? Then would you help us out?" Evvie asked, as a few faeries and satyrs slowly came into view. Riley slowly nodded and Evvie briefly clapped as her and her friends slowly got to work loading the wagon with dead, dry, fallen tree branches and sticks.