Whispers of the trees

by Eltapink

Lerah has always had good ears. Her village has always known this, and is fine with it. Happy, even. She depends on them for her life, as everyone else does. Lerah's life is one of normalcy, and her village is safe and prosperous. But when things take a turn for the worse, Lerah is left alone. What will she do now? (Yeah, it is not the best summary ever. I know.)

1. Chapter 1 - Miraculous Ears

I've always been able to hear things well. Some said too well. Secret converstations were easy to hear, even when they were miles away. But I didn't listen to them very much. They were not meant for my ears, and so ignoring them seemed safe.

It was most intriguing. No one knew how I had gotten this gift, or why. I just….. had it. It was a puzzle almost everyone had given up tying to solve. I thought of causes every once in a while, but they were generally far-fetched.

Everyone learned to accept me for who I was. Sure, you couldn't keep a secret from me, but that was alright. I didn't like to tell people those sorts of things.

There were some who were afraid, yes. I would have expected as much. A young girl with the power to hear what you are saying from miles away? I was surprised that only a few thought this uncanny. But those who were afraid hid it under a mask of indifference. The only time they ever took their guard down was when they all gathered in the woods miles away, past where I let everyone believe my gift ended. It didn't end, as far as I knew. But I let them have their fun.

As I said before, I didn't listen in to anything private too often. But one or two times a day, I would hear something particularly nasty or intriguing, and focused on it. It was easy to just hear whispers, but they jumble around your head like flies around a rotting carcass. To shoo away all but one voice, well, it took practice. Do it wrong and you could end up with no voices there, or, even worse, hear something that made you blush.

My practice generally ended up in the cover of the woods. It was best to not let others know that I was using this gift to listen in on them. It took a long time for me to perfect it, but I managed to make my face perfectly blank of concentration. If I was smiling when I started, I stayed smiling through the practice. I could even change my facial expression without losing focus.

Everything settled down by the time I was ten. I became generally regarded as normal. The village continued on. Life was good, and no plagues or sicknesses came. I was beginning to think that maybe I just had really good ears when they picked up something more.

I began to hear the trees talk.