Lonely Nymph

friend

"Excuse me," the figure said in a sing-song voice.

Polyphina jumped and turned around, absolute fear in her eyes. The weeds and twigs she had gathered from around the bank falling to the ground. Before her was a girl, only a little bit bigger than herself. Her eyes were piercing green. Although the stranger was a mere inch or two taller, she had a strong presence. A twisted grin spread her freckled cheeks. Neither spoke, just stared at each other for a moment.

"Um, my name is Brierra. I saw you yesterday. You were looking up at one of my trees." The stranger said as she folded her hands in front of her. Polyphina still stared on, mouth agape. She'd never heard another voice besides her own. "What's your name?"

"Polyphina," she whispered.

"That's a very lovely name. I wish you would stop looking like you've seen Hades. I'm a nymph, too."

Once the words left the strangers mouth, Polyphina's fear left her. She became intrigued, hopeful, curious. She's always had so many questions about her kind, about her purpose. All she knew was to never leave, but never why. "I've never met another nymph before. Come, sit," she pointed to the rock on which she was basking on earlier.

The two sat very close together, due to their shared curiosity for the other. Polyphina urged Brierra to tell her about herself. She learned that she was a tree nymph, a dryad, and cared for the forest as Polyphina does for her creek. Young girls would sometimes come to her for advice, which Brierra admitted to not be the best at. Polyphina listened intently, and when the dryad was done, she admitted she had never even spoken to anyone before.

"Whenever I sensed a human nearby, I guided them away from me, my creek. That's what I was told to do." Blood rushed to her cheeks, feeling as if she had done a bad job. Brierra's angry look didn't help that feeling.

"What?" she all but yelled, but immediately cooled down when she saw the frightened birds flee from the nearby trees. "Who told you to do that? Do you remember? They should be punished by Hecate. "

Relief washed over Polyphina when she realized the dryad wasn't upset at her. "I don't really, no. I remember that he didn't have human legs. They were an animal's. Hooved, I think."

"Pan!" Anger rushed through Brierra again, but she took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders. "If he ever comes here again, don't talk to him. He's a trickster and his favorite target is nymphs," she rolled her eyes, "He thinks we're all dumb. He was messing with you." Polyphina blushed heavily again, embarrassed that she had made such a foolish mistake. "Hey, it's not your fault you didn't know who he was. You got me now! I'll make sure that that loser doesn't bother you again." That same grin that lit up her face when she first approached Polyphina appeared again, but it didn't scare her this time. She felt comfortable. Though they only talked for a small amount of time, she felt connected to her.

"Thank you," the water nymph whispered, truly thankful for the dryad coming into her life when she did.

"You're welcome," she held eye contact with Polyphina as she said that, then let her eyes wander around the creek. "You've kept this place nice. I've never seen a brook look this... amazing before."

The two continued to talk about their experiences. Polyphina was thrilled to finally have someone to talk to. She had always felt like there was something missing from her life, but she couldn't figure out what exactly it was. A friend, she thought as she watched Brierra laugh, that's what I've been missing.