A/N

Thanks for the notice, guest person! That would be awkward... Yeah. :)

This takes place a month or two after the first meeting between Connor/Elsie.

Connor

The second time Connor saw Elsie, he was digging up worms.

He was on the north half of the woods, on the riverbank, where the mud was best. So immersed in his work was he that when he felt a tap on his shoulder, he ignored it. Another followed, so he whipped around, startling Elsie. She took a step back and almost fell in the river.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. Quickly, Connor reached out and grabbed her hand before she ended up soaking wet.

She looked rather stunned, so he quickly let go. There were a few tense, awkward moments of silence. Finally, he cleared his throat. "We really should stop doing this. You know, knocking each other into the mud."

The tension broke, and Elsie cracked a smile. She settled herself onto a tree root sticking out near the bank. "What are you doing here?" She asked, her mouth twitching with the grin.

He shrugged. "I need to do something with my free time. Pranks are my specialty."

A quizzical look spread across Elsie's face, and he realized that she had no idea what he was talking about. "Uh, I'm looking for worms," he clarified. "What are you doing here?"

Elsie looked unhappy. "I live here."

Suddenly, he realized something he should have figured out a while ago.

"You- you're a dryad?"

The sadness in her eyes deepened, and she turned away. It didn't make any sense. What was she so unhappy about?

"Look, dryads are cool," Connor assured her. "You've got that awesome built-in camouflage, and you live for a long time, and-"

"No, it's not that, it's... I'm half-dryad. I'm not here or there. Like, I can't always turn into my tree, but I can leave it for long periods of time, and I can travel far away from it. But I can't... There's a sort of rhythm, synch, harmony that you have to achieve with your tree, and I just don't have it. It isn't there, I can't do it." She sat back with a thunk on the tree, her eyes watering slightly. Angrily, she dashed away the tears. "They don't talk to me, the other dryads. I'm... too different. I don't belong."

"What about Mr. D, and Chiron?" He asked. "Don't they know... couldn't they help you?"

Elsie just gave him a blank look. She didn't know who they were.

Connor felt anger churning deep inside him, anger at the dryads, at Chiron and Dionysius, for not bothering to find out about her. He knew how it felt to be the outcast, the shadow. Heck, his entire existence was defined by someone else. Travis's brother. The shorter one. That couldn't compare to what Elsie went through, but he understood her pain.

"Tell you what," he said, his brown eyes locking with hers. "I'll be your friend. Those other dryads are stupid, not recognizing how great you are. I promise, I'll visit you and bring you anything you need, food, or... whatever."

Elsie blinked, surprised, and then her face lit with a tremulous smile. She stuck out her hand, and they shook on it.

He stayed a while longer, and they talked lightly about camp, and the woods, and Elsie's animals. Soon, he had to go, because he'd been away for a long time. But Connor didn't forget his promise, and he knew he never would.

A/N

There you go, that's chapter three. I'm thinking about doing one from Elsie's point of view, just to try it out. I've written out the entire fic on google docs, but now I think I want to change some stuff. If you have any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them. Thanks!