"I still can't believe how you do this," Jareth mumbled scrambling up the tree.
"Practice," she smiled "in ten years and you'll be as good as me." Jareth rolled his eyes and Idony walked along a tree branch.
"Don't you ever fall?" Jareth asked, stumbling across the first branch. Idony looked at him, he was going to fall if he didn't adapt quickly.
"A few times," she said sitting him down. "Take your shoes off." He did and she set them in a branch.
"How will you find them again?" he asked.
"I just do," she shrugged "the tree is like a person, I'll be able to identify it from the others." She froze and saw a stag walk in the distance. She pulled out an arrow and strung it with the bow. She pulled it straight, keeping her elbow lined with the arrows path. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Take life as needed," she whispered to herself "your death will not be in vain." She let go of the arrow and it shot through the air with amazing speed, puncturing the stag's heart. It died instantly.
"What did you say?" Jareth asked when they'd both climbed down the tree "I mean before you let the arrow go?"
"Just reminding myself," Idony said simply.
"Of?"
"I do not hunt unless I intend to use everything," she said turning back to him "I don't kill for sport."
"I don't understand," Jareth said approaching the animal "you hunt so well, why don't you hunt all the time?" Idony knelt down and felt the stag's throat to me sure that it was dead before she started skinning it.
"A few things," she said "first, meat isn't one of my favorite foods, so I don't eat it often. And second, killing and not using every bit of what you kill waists life. I don't kill more than I need to." Jareth nodded this he understood, though he didn't practice it. "If I could I would never eat meat," she said as she began skinning the creature "but in the winter months fruit isn't easily come by. Unless I go to town, which isn't often." Soon the pelt had been removed and the meat put into bags Puck had given her. Everything was put into bags, all separated and neat.
"Can I have my shoes now?" Jareth asked.
"Sure," Idony set the skin bags on the ground and scrambled up a tree. Two minutes later she was back with his shoes in had. "Ta da." He slipped his shoes back on and they started off for the clearing once more. "So what's it like?" Idony asked.
"What's what like?" he asked helping her carry some of the bags.
"Being king, living in a castle, seeing other people?" she asked looking at him earnestly.
"Boring," Jareth muttered.
"Well that's a let down," she sighed and Jareth laughed.
"Why do you think it's so wonderful in the first place?" he chuckled.
"Because," Idony said turning around "don't you have balls and dragons to fight or something?"
"Well of course," he smiled "but its nothing compared to your life."
"My life?" she asked "my life is boring."
"How is it boring!?' he asked "look at everything you do! You hunt and climb trees and fight monsters."
"It doesn't happen on a regular basis," Idony smiled "you make it seem like I get to do this stuff every day."
"You don't?" Jareth asked.
"Mostly I'm either healing someone or making something grow," she smiled "or swimming."
"Show me," Jareth insisted.
"You want to see my magick?" she asked and he nodded. She smiled, how fun this was. She calmed herself and put the bags of meat on the ground. She relaxed herself and calmed her breathing. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She felt it again, that connection she got when she talked with the trees. Like she was simply slipping away. Then, she raised her hands upward, slowly as possible.
Jareth grinned, how clever she was. At the age of sixteen she could speak with all creatures, hunt, climb, and make things grow. The tree grew slowly at first, but then quickened. Finally, a huge tree stood in their path.
"Wow," he smiled and looked from the tree to her "quick learner."
"It took me a long time actually," she said picking up the bags and walking on. She was actually tired but she kept going. Puck noticed right away that Idony had done some sort of magick and he sighed as they both came into the clearing.
"What'd you do?" he asked.
"Just simple tree magick," she smiled. But gave a disapproving look but Idony didn't really care, she showed Jareth what she could do and she was happy. She grabbed the bags and set them next to the fire. Puck started on cooking the meat, completely ignoring Idony, though Jareth went on about what they had done.
Idony was kind of disappointed actually, this adventure of hers wasn't going so well. Puck was annoyed at her, she wasn't even acting like herself and Jareth, well, she didn't know what was going on with Jareth. She was exhausted beyond belief and she wanted to go home. No, home wasn't where she wanted to go either. She wanted to go to her real home. She wanted to find her mother.