Sorry for the wait, but now that I'm fully moved into my dorm, and assuming I'm not swamped with work, I'll try to get some chapters out more regularly now.
Despite Nate's initial hesitation, Nola proved to be quite the entertaining conversationalist, and he found myself thoroughly enjoying the walk she was guiding me on. It was that time of the evening where the air was still in the process of ridding itself of the daytime heat, and the cold of night hadn't yet completely set in. The sun, despite being fully set at this point, still provided enough light to see well enough.
"So," Nate began, "if you can't say who you're taking me to see, can you at least say where?"
Nola, still flying a few feet in front of him, looked at him pensively for a moment. "Hmm… have you ever heard of the Grove?"
"Can't say that I have."
She gave a sly smile. "Perfect."
Despite his bewilderment, Nate followed along silently as the sylph in front of him continued to entertain herself, flying ion loops and corkscrews, laughing airily all the way. Every time she flew near him, he felt a gust of wind blow through his hair and flutter his clothes. It was very refreshing, especially to somebody as warm-blooded as him.
Nate squinted to see in the gradually dimming light of the sinking sun to realize that the edge of the forest was cutting off the majority of the rest of the evening light. He turned to Nola inquisitively. "What exactly are we doing in the woods? All I have with me is my knife, which isn't good for much but throwing, apparently. Not really equipped to fight whatever's in there."
She flew in front of him and crossed her arms confidently. "No worries, we'll get you through safely," she said, "This is nymph territory!"
Nate nodded hesitantly, but kept his hand on the small blade in his pocket nonetheless.
They were no more than a few feet into the forest when he saw a small figure hiding being one of the trees. It seemed to blend in with the trunk of the tree, regarding him warily before vanishing. Strangely enough, he didn't feel as much unease as the situation felt like it normally should have called for.
Nola did nothing but smirk knowingly at the sight. "Come up, we don't have much further to go!" She exclaimed before gliding briskly ahead of him, causing Nate to have to break into a jog to keep up.
Sure enough, a glimmer of light that seemed to be coming from and opening up ahead caught his eye. The nearer they drew to it, the brighter and more welcoming it seemed to become. Suddenly, Nola slowed.
Out of the corner of Nate's eye, he spotted a dryad leaning against the trunk of one of the trees between him and the opening. As he swiveled his head to examine the surrounding area, he saw it wasn't just one dryad. It was as if the entire forest has gathered here to greet him. Despite the numbers, however, the mist seemed to be doing an awfully good job of distracting him from their presence, almost as if it was telling him nothing there was to be seen except for the trees.
Gracefully landing on his shoulder with a light breeze, Nola giggled quietly and told him, "It looks like you've made some friends," before ushering him forwards.
They didn't get far, however, before they heard a small voice call out, "Um…!"
Turning to the sound of the voice, Nate was greeted by a small dryad who couldn't have been more than a sapling.
"Excuse me, sir," she said, "are you Mr. Nate, sir?" She postulated adorably.
His heart melting, he crouched down to her level with a smile. "That's me, yep."
She broke out into a grin, and dashed off with mischievous laughter to rejoin the other nymphs hiding in the shadows.
Nola didn't bother holding back the giant grin on her face. "Alright ladies man, no more distractions, come on!" She proceeded to drag him by his collar until they finally reached the clearing.
Now, Nate hd always found the sounds of nature relaxing. Rustling of leaves, the crashing of ocean waves, the nighttime chorus of crickets. This, however, was something else together. The minute he stepped out into the clearing, the near silent murmur of the sounds of the night forest burst through his ears right down to his soul; the equivalent of a chanting Gregorian choir spontaneously bursting into a resounding chorus of Ode to Joy.
No less astounding was the sight that accompanied these sounds. The moonlight seemed to magnify itself as it reflected off of the hot spring in the center. Sylphs glowed softly as they pranced around the top of the spring, leaving fluttering ripples as they skated across the water's surface. Dryads of all sorts dressed in elegant leafy garb lounged peacefully.
"Woah," Nate muttered, taking in the sights.
"Right?" Nola replied enthusiastically, poking his arm with her tiny elbow. "Come on, lets go mingle, everyone already knows who you are!"
No sooner did the words leave her mouth than did a gaggle of nymphs, young and old, surround him and start to chatter curiously.
"Doesn't look like much if you ask me…"
"Oh hush, when's the last time you've ever seen a human in these parts?"
"Does Chiron count?"
"But everyone looks like a pansy when compared to Chiron."
A smaller dryad spoke up, the same one that had greeted Nate earlier. "Well, I think he looks nice!" she said with an adorable smile.
All the while, Nate had been trying to suppress a blush, not being accustomed to such attention, and subconsciously started to inch back into the woods—
"Woah! Hey, watch o—Nathan?!"
—before his back lightly bumped into a figure behind him.
'Wait,' he thought to himself, 'I recognize that voice.' He felt sweat dripping down the back of his neck despite the cool of the night.
Not having yet turned around to address Silver, he raised his head to see the rest of the nymphs had gone dead silent, grins plastered over their faces.
Silver squinted suspiciously at her sisters, and put a hand on her hip. "Any of you wanna explain what's going on here? You all seemed pretty adamant about the whole 'no humans allowed' rule."
When the older nymphs continued to stand before her innocently, the same little dryad came up and spoke for them. "But sister, sister, you've never had a friend before, we wanted to meet him!" She lowered her voice as if she were trying to hide it, ignoring the fact that the demigod in question was standing right in front of her. "I think he's nice," she whispered, giving Silver a double thumbs up.
Nate couldn't help but smile at the girl, but his mood quickly shifted back to uncertainty as he turned to face silver behind me, and asked her, "Hey, so… a Sylph told me I needed to come here. Any idea what's going on? And what is this place?"
Silver turned him back around by the shoulders and begin to lead him around the spectating gaggle of nymphs to the other side of the clearing, and while doing so, replied, "We call it the Grove. I think I know why they brought you here, but there was definitely an ulterior motive… I'll explain later."
Nathan turned toward her and flashed her a quick smile, only to hear snickering from the nymphs they had left behind, and saw two things that he know were definitely not good.
One, was a root of a nearby tree that was definitely a few inches higher than it had been a seconds ago.
Two, was Silver, having tripped on said root, falling ungracefully towards him, arms flailing wildling looking for something to catch onto to stop her fall.
Unfortunately for Nate, the closest thing to her falling form was himself.
Catching her gracefully, he guided her back to her feet. Nate felt a spontaneous bout of playfulness well up in him, perhaps a reaction to the weirdness of the situation, and said to her with a smile plastered on his face, "So… I guess you really fell for me, huh?"
Silver, having steadied herself, froze as her face began to blush green with chlorophyll. "That was terrible," she told him, and as she turned her face away from his, neither her purposeful marching onwards, the cover of the shadows of the surrounding trees, nor her own efforts to bite to back could conceal the small, happy smile gracing her face as she thought to herself, 'well…maybe'.
AWWW! I think she has a little crush! Well... maybe! We shall see. I'm still a gigantic amateur when it comes to writing, so you guys' opinions are always appreciated. See ya in the next one!