The Forest Of Sound
My feet make no sound against the forest floor, the gift of an Elf...
As I make my way towards the edge of town; I pass unnoticed by the children playing here. I love this forest; with its great oaks and tall evergreens…the way the sun filters through the leaves, making beautiful dancing patterns across the leaf strewn floor. The silent breeze propels the scent of wild flowers across my face. I take this walk every day before the beginning of my watch…just to let myself take everything in and feel the forest around me… it tells me things that only elves can hear … the trees are content, the leaves are having fun playing with the wind… the forest is always, usually, so alive….
But, silent is the forest today, the animals are hiding, and the trees, while still content, are worried; because there are predators in the forest today. They sense fear? In wonder I let my senses stretch out farther…..I can still hear the children off in the distance behind me…
Smell the fresh dew of morning mixed with the husky scent of the trees … Observe the silent breeze as it rustles the leaves around my feet…..
Almost everything is quiet…. But ahead lays the problem. The wind changes direction, I take a breath of the new air….and smell the scent of my favorite werewolf in the air…
"Hmmmm… hello Rein" I call out into the forest. I watch him step out from behind a tree a mile ahead …
"Very perceptive today Violet…" he replies with a smile and runs agley towards me.
I return his smile. "A little early for hunting isn't it rein?" I gesture to the children in the distance behind me.
"Oh just messing around Violet, you know I only hunt at night!" Rein says with a rough snort. "True, but you could have changed your mind" I reply teasingly...
I like Rein, even tho he is outside my species. Just looking at him makes my mind, and eyes, wonder over him….my eyes flow over his dark brown spiky hair that points in all different directions…the clear emerald of his eyes that seems to continue all the way to his soul… his dark tan skin; so soft and smooth, like supple leather… and the smile that would win over a harpy…
"I would never hurt a child Violet, you of all should know that…" his frown tells me that I have hurt his feelings.
"You know I was only teasing!" I call walking forward to meet him, smiling. His answering smile is dazzling…. We walk through the forest together like any other day…
"So how was your watch last night? Did anything interesting happen while I was home today?" I wonder, still a little dazed by his smile.
"Oh the usual... a few deer…. Some teenagers tried to sneak out to the river of An. In the middle of the night no less! You would think by now they would have learned that we aren't the scariest things out here, particularly after some of their friends went missing a few weeks ago… and what's worse is that they were right in the sight of Andrea as she was hunting! You know how she gets when she's interrupted."
Ah … Andrea…
"But you know Andrea would never hurt a child either! Come on! She is by far one the least scary things here" I gesture out to the forest… Rein, Andrea, and I are three of the six protectors here in Lyra… We protect our families and the humans that live here from the drifters of these lands…
We live in Lyra, and are dedicated to saving and preserving life, we live off the land here…. The only thing we ask in return is food. We chose this life and love what we do… as we walk through the forest towards our favorite spot to relax… off in the distance I hear something snap….
"Stop" I breathe to Rein … then motion up ahead…. Quietly we stalk forward… wonder fills my mind it's the middle of the day, what could be out here disturbing the peace? …. The air smells of vampire…. Another vampire, at the moment I don't recognize the smell. Quietly I wonder aloud "Hmmmm… what does this mean? Should we call the others? No, not till we find out whom it is…." I look over at Rein... his eyes are wide with wonder…. Another rustle against the leaves…still we stalk forward…we're so close now I can hear its soft breathing ...then after a moment we pounce…..
"Andrea! Ha ha I got you again... you had me on edge! I almost called in the others!" We fall to the ground laughing….
"Aww I nearly had you… then that stupid branch had to snap! UGH! I can never catch a break…." For as long as I have known her I should have recognized the scent…I guess I was still distracted by the presence of Rein…." So what are you two doing out here all alone?" She winks at me while I help her up….
She miss' nothing…
Ever….
" Just going over what happened last night…. So did you get to eat some teenagers?" I laugh at her bewildered expression…. I think sometimes I tease her too much… while I start pulling leaves from her hair we start walking again to our spot….
"NO! Come on!" she practically yells at me …then rolls her eyes….
"Ha ha I know rein told me" Andrea is my best friend; we have known each other for at least a hundred years… She is beautiful with her long strawberry blonde hair…. The soft grey of her eyes... and perfect cream colored skin… she is also really strong… But I have never known if that was her specialty or just a vampire thing….
We finally reach the spot we usually claim… It is a large stone, perfectly round and black as onyx, still in the shadow of a great oak.
I run ahead to it; to be the first to sprawl across its warm surface, chest down… Just as I turn over and sit up they are there…
Andrea is the first to break the silence when she sits down beside me "Yeah did Rein tell you about the new trail we picked up on yesterday?"
"No?" A new trail? What could this mean? All of the trails here have their own distinct scent; vampire…werewolf... elf... human… devils... angels…what else wish's to move in on our small forest?
It's Rein who answers... "It's not something exactly new, well new to here yes…." he trails off; his face is masked with worry….
"What do you think it is?" Andrea steals my questions like usual….
"I don't remember... I know it tho… from somewhere…"
"Should we counsel with others? Maybe they would know" I ask meeting his eyes… we usually don't counsel unless it is important.
The protectors only meet once in a while... our schedules never change, the amount of time we spend protecting our forest is the only thing set in stone here….
"Yes we should counsel with the others even if whatever this is doesn't mean us harm, they should still know that there are visitors among us." he says. We stand up from our spot and make our way back towards town. The sun is setting off in the distance behind us. I can't believe that most of my day has passed already. It seemed to run by so fast…
I ask the one question no one has yet…
"What did you find when you came to the end of the trail?" We walk in silence for a while. I guess he is trying to figure out how to word his reply….my mind wonders off again in the silence….I peek at him from the corner of my eyes. Today he's wearing his favorite pants… the ones I bought him for his birthday…and the shirt I got him a few days ago….
"I found nothing….."
Nothing? He is our best tracker... What does this mean?
"When I came to the end of the trail it all but vanished"
It vanished? Nothing can just simply vanish…my face must have shown my confusion because he looked at me and then continued.
"It rose into the sky where I could not follow it… I searched for a spot where it must have come down, but I found nothing! It's very frustrating…." Hmm it went into the air? I look over to Andrea and she has calm eyes to meet my wide gaze…
"Andrea, have you ever heard of anything like this?"
She looks towards Rein with a scrutinizing look when she answers…"No never in my existence have I heard of such a thing…" her eyebrows pull in together in frustration… almost like she doesn't know what to think of this unexplained phenomenon that appeared out of nowhere. It has been a long, long time since we had visitors.
When we reach the city they are waiting for us... how did they know? What has brought them here?
"Mia, Silo… what is going on? We were about to write you and yet here you stand waiting? What news do you have for us?"
I meet Mia's kind blue eyes; she is the head of our protectors… an angel… she leans forward to embrace me, her long curly blonde hair falls like a curtain over my face…
"Violet, Aurora wrote us..." She leans back, holding up her white feathered quill; wiggling it slightly.
Ah Aurora... an elf, like me, but she has the gift to see the protector's decisions … I should have guessed…
"Hello Silo" He is a devil, the cities welder…..
"Violet..." He nods to me while twisting his long beard in-between his thin, tattooed fingers…. He is next to Mia, holding her hand with his free one; they were just married a few months ago. Usually their kind would be enemies, but their love story, like most of ours, ended with a happy ending like in fairy tales…
"So Rein, what have you to tell us?" Mia asks, probing his face, her soft blue eyes turn hard with apprehension…
"Last night I found a new trail…." He starts.
As he explains his story I search over the other faces. I count them off… Parker; another devil and protector… Dawn... Mia's twin angel, but her only difference, appearance wise, is that she has green eyes…Jonathan and Zachary; vampires…
Kindred...a human and a protector... James, Aodhan and Justin…elves... where is everyone else? I wonder… are they searching the forest again? Hmmm…
"… and I found nothing at its end... I have smelled it before but not in all the time I have been here... I cannot remember what it is…." Rein looks down in shame...
I pat him on the shoulder "You have done nothing wrong Rein don't be so hard on yourself…" he looks at me with a kind of fire in his eyes…like he thinks he should have done more…
We leave the others to contemplate Rein's findings and head back to our house. Rein, Andrea, and I along with most of the others live together in my family's house. Looking around as we reach the house I remember the day Rein and Andrea moved in with me….
I grew up here, well mostly… I moved here with my family when I was young(er). But that was at least a hundred or so years ago before my parents went to the afterlife. But never the less this was my home… possibly for the rest of eternity... When I was young I would wish for a way to escape this little town with its vast woods. At first it felt like a prison to me. But, as I got older, I learned to love these lands. I coveted more time in the woods alone. The giant trees here made the woods feel bigger than they were.
My family and I live in the only big house here. It used to be a hotel, a long time ago, but when we came here it was abandoned. The outside of the house, with its peeling paint and large, columned, wrap-around porch looked like it would be a fitting haunt, for monsters. Now, after many years of work, we have made it better than I could have ever thought possible. I loved this house; only because it was surrounded by the forest I loved. I, now, am the oldest in my family since my parents passed.
So it was up to me (and me alone) to provide for five children. On this particular day, I walked through the house alone. The children were all grown and out working. As I walk through the house I pass the paintings by Alyssa, most cover the long hallways, and the large feature walls; she has left no wall here untouched. I pass the many rooms unusually empty on this day (someone is almost always home) it makes me a little sad to have them all grown up and out on their own...
I take the stairs down, two at a time, towards the big country style kitchen. Every day I wonder about these stairs, they came with the house. At first I felt no need to replace them then, but now after almost a century of people running up and down them, they look old and worn, but they are as much a part of this house as I am.
Also I look at all the floors here with a kind of reverence. Over there Aurora took her first steps, and over there James broke mom's favorite vase playing soccer in the house… there isn't one spot in this house I don't have a memory of. But before I can finish walking through the hall to get to the kitchen someone knocks on the front door. Half running, I trip on a carpet and skid to a less than steady halt at the big double oak doors. Thank god these doors don't have windows, because anyone who would have seen that would be on the ground laughing at my moment of uncanny balance.
When I open it, I see a gorgeous man standing in front of me, soaking wet with rain from head to foot in a long trench coat, it is Rein. He has been my friend for a while now, but, tho he doesn't know it, he is also the love of my life. Out from behind him steps Andrea, both have grim looks across their faces.
"What is wrong? " I ask because for that kind of grief something has to be very, very wrong.
It is Andrea who answers.
"Our parents have passed"
(Even tho we are immortals some of us choose to go on to the spirit world after we reach an old age)
"I am sorry, you know you can stay here with me if you want to" I know staying in their own homes now would be too much. Since I invited them on that rainy day they have never left. And with them the rest of Andreas family has moved in too over the years.
We walk through the house, down the hall, to the kitchen; I start on the dishes from our "family" dinner last night. Rein, grumbling, starts the laundry, and Andrea sits on a stool by the bar and stares at me…
Okay….why is she staring at me?
"What are you staring at?" Feeling self conscious I look down at myself; I find nothing wrong.
"Heellloooo?" I ask waving my hands in front of her face. Finally she snaps out of it
"Oh, sorry I was thinking" She says with a little smile.
I know that smile, I would bet this house and everything in it that she is thinking about Parker.
I guess I can understand that she likes him. Parker is a devil. He's tall, has long spiky brown hair, a soul patch, but mostly what people see as his dominant feature are his wings. True they're big and black—kind of like a bat's— and they make him look dangerous, but he is sweet… to Andrea at least, since the moment he met her.
"Uh huh… I know what you were thinking about…" I reply teasingly nodding my head. I wink at her.
"I know the feeling" I whisper looking over at Rein who is still trying to figure out the washer. I never thought I could ever love anyone so much, until I saw him…..
I can still remember the first time we met as if it was yesterday... I was walking beside the river of An, just to come across a pack of wolves. So I stopped to let them pass by me. But their leader came a few yards from me and stopped. He rose up on his hind legs, as if to attack, yet he transformed in front of me into a man.
"I am Keni... this is my family ... my wife Sarabi, my daughter Erin, and my sons Silver and Rein. We are traveling on our way to Lyra... but I think we have strayed from the trail. Do you know the way?"
" Yes I know the way... my name is Violet... you are in the forest of Sound..." as I hold my arms wide "and this is the river of An..." gesturing to the river beside us. "This is Lyra friend."
He looks around in wonder... "Thank you friend ... from the stories we have heard this is supposed to be a dark place... but it is soo...beautiful here..." he adds as he looks around
"Thank you Keni ... would you like me to show you the way to the city?" I ask gesturing back towards the way I came
"Yes that would be most helpful"
On our way to the city I observe Keni's family… he is tall with long dark brown hair... Dark black eyes... smooth tan skin... I look across to his wife, Sarabi... she is short with long curly blonde hair… emerald eyes, with the same tan skin… their daughter, Erin, is like a goddess… a combination of her parents. She has her father's dark brown hair but it is curly like her mothers... and her father's eyes…Silver the oldest son is tall like his father with short blonde hair but he is the only one with brown eyes of the bunch…
How very curious these creatures are…
I look across to Rein….and our eyes meet ….
My replay of this memory comes to a halt as he bangs his hand against the washer…
I walk over to him.
"Here..." handing him the soap "this goes in the washer right here," pointing to the soap dispenser "and you push the 'start' button right there, yes, the one that's labeled 'Start'…" I tell him trying not to laugh.
"Why can't I do the dishes or something? You know I can't do this "girl" stuff" he says pointing at the washer and the dryer…
"Girl stuff? Ha! If this is what you call "girl" stuff I don't want to even think about what you think "guy" stuff is…" We have this same little argument every other day, he hates doing the laundry. Andrea gives me a pointed look that says bleck; get a room before I puke… I start laughing and walk back to the sink…
" Why don't you just go and ask him out?" I ask glancing over my shoulder. If her face could do it, she would be scarlet right now.
Hey, Violet, It's Kindred! Can I come in?
My blue quill writes in the air in front of me.
…yum…yum and some more yum…Kindred is a protector, and his "special talent" is teleporting ….
Uh sure, but since when do you ask?
I write back sarcastically...
Well I thought I should…
His sentence starts….
"… at least ask" He continues from behind me.
"Wahiya! Jeeze! " I yell as I turn around to see him laughing in front of the stove. He catches my flying quill in his hands.
"You! I ought to kick you right off in your butt! Don't do that to me! You scared me half to death! This time I'm making a rule no more teleporting into the house! From now on everyone has to use the doors!" Or windows... I add in my head… I walk over and take my quill from him.
He is still laughing because Andrea fell off her chair in surprise, Rein starts laughing at the sight of her.
She peaks up over the counter glaring at Kindred.
"Well… I asked… didn't I?" He says between laughs.
"So what do you need, Red?" That's our nick name for him.
Kindred, is tall, kind of lanky, with shaggy brown hair and baby blue eyes, a soul patch, and tattoos everywhere.
"Oh, I'm supposed to tell you that we found another trail…" He walks over to the fridge, opens it and grabs a soda. "And, that they want Rein to help out follow it through the forest." He finishes after a gulp of soda.
"Okay I'll go" Rein shrugs.
"Hey wait a minute, I want to go to" I say turning away from the sink to face him, the look he gives me is like a death stare.
"What?" my automatic response kicks in before I can stop it.
"I don't want you anywhere near danger!" he blurts out. Hmmmm….. This is a new concept for me… he cares too…. Huh … my eyes widen and I smile at this revelation.
"Think about it…" starts rational, usually she is so defensive, but today she's agreeing...
"Yes think about it, he doesn't want you anywhere near danger….." interjects irrational….
"Exactly, he has to care about you too..." rational continues as if she wasn't interrupted…
They have a point… before I can continue he interrupts my thoughts…
"I mean….uh….never mind…" He says turning away from my gaze and heads for the door. I notice the pinkness in his cheeks…
"Okay then…, Andrea, you coming too?" I ask turning to her.
She is still sitting on the floor looking bewildered, so I walk over and hold out my hand. She takes it but pulls me down to her level.
In a whisper she says "He doesn't want you near danger!" she says with a smile, winking at me.
"Do you ever miss anything?" I ask pulling her up off the floor.
"Uh, no! Duh!" she says dancing in front of me.
As we step out the front door, into the cool, shimmering night; the guys are waiting for us…
Kindred, turns to me and asks... "Violet, do you want to walk or teleport?" he says holding out his hands.
"We can teleport with you?" I didn't know he could do that…
"One at a time, yes" he replies. He looks at Rein with a smile, but in return gets a glair.
"I'll walk…" Rein says gruffly and takes off into the trees.
I'm tired after a long night and day so…"I'll ride" this makes Kindred's smile widen.
"Okay come here..." he walks over and puts his hands around my waist..."Okay look at me, don't look anywhere else because you might get sick.." he says looking into my eyes…"and put your arms here.." putting them around his neck… this feels kind of weird.. and nice at the same time…"you have to hold on very tightly…" he says with a nervous laugh. "Okay ready?"
"Yes?" I gulped looking over at Andrea; she is smiling wildly at me.
"Okay here we go"
I feel a yank on my waist and the rush of air around me but I dare not take my eyes off his. Our hair is flying all around us, like caught in a gust of air. Even tho I'm still looking only at him I can see the night around us wrapped like a dark, star strewn, and spinning, blanket. His hands tighten around me pulling me closer to him until I'm so close I can feel the muscles through his shirt… they feel so hard against my skin… I close my eyes and breath him in deep…
Ah he smells good too… mmmm… I sigh... he smells better than I could have imagined. Like tangy, and sweet, but it has an edge, I don't have words to explain it…I hear him inhale deeply taking in my scent... (I'm glad I decided to wear my lavender perfume today) and moan softly.
After only a few seconds together we hit the ground, standing right in front of Mia… Whose eyes are wide at our stance… her expression looks frightening in the moon light, so much so, that I quickly let go of his neck and step away.
"I'll be right back with Andrea…" he says with a sheepish glance at me.
"He let you teleport with him here?" Mia asks still wide eyed…her voice is rough… I know she is very protective of kindred; he's like the son she could never have in real life…
"Yes…" I wonder why this is such a surprise to her "why?"
"I have never known him to let someone else teleport with him…" She trails off as he pops back up with Andrea.
But their stance is different; they are farther apart… only holding hands... While ours was so close… so tight...
Her arms drop as she looks at me… "Rein is almost here." She says with a wink.
"Okay, where does this trail start?" he says running up behind me…
"Over here" Mia says gesturing toward the bottom of a large oak.
"Alright then…" he walks ahead of us, but gives me a backward glance.
What is he thinking? Is he upset that I went with kindred? …Kindred…. Why did I let myself get pulled in to him? I replay that moment in my head as I let my feet walk with the others. His hands were soft …and firm… the feeling of being pressed up against him… his smell… my lips stretch into a smile… but I love Rein… Right? Wait… I think … no… I can't… not Kindred… I shake my head silently and try to distract myself with our search….
"… we are getting close…" I hear Rein whisper...
Until this moment I did not know I had stopped.
"Violet you are the quietest… take the lead…" he pulls me to where I'm standing in front of him, not knowing that my mind is still not all here yet…. "Violet?" he says shaking me…
"Yeah… I'm here..." come on snap out of it…
I turn and walk in the direction he points me in…I walk in the direction he pointed me in… my mind still isn't working all the way yet when the smell of whatever it is hits me- like a stunning assault to the face- full on. It smells wonderful. Like the smell of fresh dew in the early morning, with honeysuckle mixed in, but with sugar on top. It's so sweet and strong, like nothing I have ever smelled before. I have to be very close for the aroma to have saturated this little area so much.
I walk through a few bushes and come to a small pond with a great willow growing to the side of it, the scene looks enchanting with the moon light shimmering off the pond. The sheen of the pool throws it's self onto the willow making it glimmer in the otherwise dark night… I hide cautiously in between two close trees. There in front of me I see three little figures, two are walking on the branches very gracefully, and the third is flying over the others. They are all girls. I walk forward from my hiding spot...
"Excuse me" I call out … they look over at me startled.
"Yes?" calls the first.
"My friends and I were wondering if we could have a word with you." I ask softly, politely pointing behind me.
"Sure" calls the second, the first two who are on the branches climb down and walk over, and the third flies over. I notice she is the only one with wings out of the three…
"I am Violet" I offer my hand... but none of them take it...
"I am Pire" says the first one she has long jet black hair, and skin as pale as snow, with hard green eyes.
"I am Fleur." says the second, she has silver short choppy hair, but with dark tan skin….
I don't think they are related… They look so different from each other….
I look up at the third and she looks the wildest...With her blue pixie cut hair, cream colored skin, and …. Black lips? Her eyes are the exact color of her hair…. She looks so strange… Well I guess not really, because almost all of the guys here have tattoos and piercings of some sort… even some of us girls here do…
"You can call me Wings" she says, looking down at me.
"So what brings you to Lyra?" Mia asks from behind me coming through the bushes with the others.
"We wanted adventure…" starts Pire.
"To get away from our little, boring, town." Interjects Fleur.
"To see cute guys" Wings finishes looking over me with a smile… no doubt at Rein, or Kindred.
"Why didn't you come to town?" says Andrea finally making her way through the bushes.
"Well we didn't know if we should. There are so many of you….." Pire lets her sentence trail off as she takes in our appearance.
So they were scared of us? Hmmm I guess we could be scary to outsiders…I've never thought about us like that before... maybe that's because I grew up here…
"We won't hurt you; if you mean us no harm" throws in Mia.
"Okay we will follow you back to town" answers Wings….