Grow

Seto stared at his tree, frowning. "I think I'm sick."

Mokuba dropped to the ground from his own tree and dusted himself off, turning to face him. "What makes you think that?"

"I don't… feel good," the brunet murmured, rubbing his side. "And I've got this soft spot on my tree." He prodded a squishy piece of bark and cringed a little. "Ouch."

Mokuba slapped his hand away from the soft spot, scowling. "Don't touch it, idiot." He leaned in to examine it, concerned now. "That's weird, though. I've never seen anything like it." He reached out to touch it, hovering just over it, then jerked his hand back quickly, frowning. "Do you think it's contagious?"

"I have no idea. I don't know what it is." Seto paced around his tree and rubbed his side again. "It hurts." He swallowed thickly. "Should I try and cut it out?"

The younger boy grimaced and shrugged helplessly. "We don't know how deep it is. You might hurt yourself." He stood up straight and tapped his chin as he tried to think of their next move. Seto was already sick—pale and weak, his knees already trembling a little as he fought to stay upright. He probably didn't have the strength to get the sickness out. "…I'll go look for some help." He looked up at his brother and smiled weakly. "We'll figure this out."

Seto clenched his jaw and nodded. If he lived through this, Mokuba would never let him live it down. He'd thought it was just a woodpecker; sure, they hurt, but animals didn't know better. He had a hollow that squirrels slept in, and that had been annoying, when they'd been digging it out. But then the hole hadn't healed up, had gotten bigger and softer. He hadn't noticed until it was too late, the ache growing only a little each day until suddenly he realized just how bad it was.

He glared at the soft spot as he gripped his aching side. If he lived through this, he'd never let anything like this happen again.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Something poked his tree. It hurt.

Seto grimaced and lifted his head. He frowned when he saw the blond feeling around the edges of the soft spot. It tickled, but it didn't hurt when he touched it. "Who are you?"

"'s it hurt when I touch the edges, or just the soft stuff?"

"It tickles."

"Hmm." The blond turned and set a rolled up piece of leather on the ground. He carefully unfolded it.

Seto felt his stomach jump into his throat when he saw all of the sharp knives and sawing implements tucked inside it. He struggled to his feet and moved in front of his tree protectively. "Who are you?!"

"I take care of trees," the blond replied simply, not looking up at him. He finally picked out a trowel and stood up straight, motioning him out of the way. "I've seen this before. Some sorcerer didn't dispose of his potions right and it destroyed the ecosystem around his house. 'course, birds travel, right? And they've been carryin' it all over. I've been tryin' t' track 'em down and get rid of them, so it doesn't spread anymore, and I come across dryads like you. Least I know I've still got that woodpecker's trail."

Seto flinched. That woodpecker hadn't looked sick.

"…It's in the feathers between its wings," the blond explained after a moment, taking note of his stricken expression. "They're patchy or they aren't there at all. Move please." He helped ease the brunet to the side and lifted the trowel. "This might hurt."

Seto reached out to stop him, but paused. "…I'll die if you don't do this, won't I?"

The other man paused, twirling the trowel in his hand, before he quietly answered, "Yeah. One dryad didn't let me near her tree. She wasted away. All I could do was keep after the bird that infected her."

The dryad twitched at the thought of allowing this stranger to basically delve his innards. How could he know that he was telling the truth? "…Did Mokuba send you?"

"Yeah. He would've stuck around after he showed me over here, but… Okay, I'm not gonna lie. I told that kid how much it would hurt ya. He didn't wanna see it."

Seto swallowed thickly. Mokuba never could handle seeing him in pain, hated that Seto saw him at his worst. His brother had once sobbed that they were trees, and trees shouldn't feel things like colds or the flu or heartache.

"…It'll be okay," the blond told him gently. "I've done this before. It's gonna hurt, but you'll feel so much better when I'm done. You'll be fine." He reached out to pat his shoulder. "You should probably sit down."

The dryad glanced at his tree, insides squirming with nervousness as he slid down the bark. He dug his nails into his hands, then turned, leaning his ear against the bark and hugging his tree as best he could. "Will it be quick?"

"…No."

Seto took a deep breath, digging his fingernails into the bark so hard he could feel the tickling along his legs. "Okay." He squeezed his eyes shut and held his breath, waiting for the pain to start.

He was wholly unprepared. He passed out to the sound of his own screaming.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Seto?" Mokuba tapped his brother's cheek with a little more force than was probably strictly necessary. "Seto, wake up."

Seto wheezed. He'd never felt more hungover, even after an all night party with the satyrs after he drank them all under the table. "I'm dying."

The younger boy grinned. "That means you'll get better then." He turned to look at the blond, fondly adding, "He always says he's dying just before he gets better."

The older man raised his eyebrows, but instead of saying something about it, he just replied, "Then my job's done." He dropped a skin of water beside the dryads and shouldered his leather pack again. "That's got herbs t' help the pain and make ya heal faster. Drink it when your stomach stops heavin'."

The dryads watched him leave, stunned by his quick departure, but it made sense, in a way. The woodpecker that had carried the sickness was still out there, and even Seto, the most unsocial of dryads, would never wish something as painful as this ordeal had been on another dryad. …Unless it was an enemy. He was man enough to admit that.

"Mokuba," he rasped, sitting up and taking the skin when he handed it to him. "Bring me flowers."

Mokuba blinked at him. "…What kind of flowers?"

"Balsam, bellflowers, and apple blossoms."

"Patience, gratitude, and promise," the younger boy mused, smirking. "Pretty important flowers to be giving to a stranger."

Seto glared at him and hissed, "And get me ivy to hold it together."

Mokuba gasped. "Seriously?!"

"I am too weak to do anything right now so just believe me when I say I want to hit you so hard right now."

The younger dryad lifted his hands in defeat. "Alright, alright!"

.-.-.-.-.-.

Joey wrung the woodpecker's neck as quickly as he was able. This part of the job never got better. He still had to kill a living creature, one that hadn't even done anything wrong except eat in the wrong place. He was glad that the sorcerer had perished along with the land around him, because he probably would have wrung that man's neck too, making him clean up his stupid mess.

He put the woodpecker's body into the small cedar box he'd brought along for it, saying a little prayer. He'd burn them when he got home, to finish the ritual and set its spirit free.

Joey dusted his hands off and turned to head north, back the way he'd come, and let out a startled yelp when he found the dryad he'd helped standing there. "What the fu—" He coughed awkwardly. "Uh. Bit far from your tree, aren't ya?"

The brunet wordlessly approached him and slid a ring of flowers around his head like a crown. He turned to walk away, then paused, glancing back at him. "…Keep that."

"…Oookaaay," the blond muttered, shouldering his pack higher. He thought about taking the crown off, but he didn't want to be rude. He wasn't going to insult a dryad by not accepting a gift of gratitude. The guy wasn't so tough after all.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Téa started laughing as soon as she saw him, which was weird, because she was usually very polite to him. She even pointed at him.

Joey frowned. "What?"

Yugi bit his bottom lip to hide his smile. "Nice flower crown."

"Oh." The blond reached up to touch the petals, which hadn't wilted or died the whole long walk back. "Thanks. I got it from a dryad I healed. Woodpecker got to it."

Téa laughed harder.

"That's nice," Yugi answered. "Téa, do you want to tell him what the flowers mean?"

Téa fell to her knees, then rolled onto her side, kicking her feet wildly as tears began to stream down her cheeks.

"…Téa gave me a crown like that to propose to me," the smaller boy deadpanned, when he realized the dryad would take a while to recover. "I don't know what the flowers stand for, specifically, but the ivy is definitely a proposal."

"…Well no wonder he told me to keep it." Joey took the crown off and eyed it skeptically, but it was quickly giving way to numbness. He was engaged to a standoffish dryad and he hadn't even realized. What was his life?