Disclaimer: I don't own Tortal or any of it's people, I do however own Oaken and their group of travellers.

Inspiration for my story - "As I recall, this word's use means somewhere there is a tree that is now a - a two legger." - Numair.

Oaken

Chapter One, The Tree Who Became A Boy

The boy lying on the ground was filthy, covered in dirt and leaves. Not to mention he was completely naked. His hair was…well it was green, not a bright green more of a khaki green and his skin was lightly tanned all over.

"What a strange looking boy," the woman who had found him said quietly to her companion, placing a gentle hand on the boy's cheek but he remained asleep. They were a group of travellers on route to Corus where they would stay for the winter in a house they rented every year and between them they had seen many strange things but none quite as strange as this. It was not everyday you found a green haired boy in the middle of a vast wood with no clothes to his back. "What should we do? We can't leave him here."

"We will put him in our wagon with the children. He can wear my spare shirt and breeches for now," her husband said, easily lifting the boy into his arms.

"When he awakes we will ask what happened to him," the woman said in her mothering way, taking her cloak off and laying it over the boy in her husbands arms to regain his decency. "Poor boy."

He opened his eyes, a thing he had never done before and looked around him in wonder at a world he had never seen before. Until now he had been an oak tree, yes an oak tree. He had lived to produce oxygen and give a home to squirrels and the like. But now he a human boy, something he doubted could have happened naturally.

Slowly he lifted his hand and gazed at his fingers in wonder, then at his toes in amazement as they wiggled on command. A giggle beside him alerted him to the other two occupants of the wagon who watched him in amusement. The little boy looked about seven and had dark brown hair with light blue eyes that almost seemed to laugh as he did. The girl looked younger than him, about five and had light brown hair with equally light brown eyes.

"Hello," the boy said with a chuckle.

"He-" he gasped, he could speak! But how did he know how to speak? Maybe it had something to do with the magic that changed him in the first place, he didn't know. "Hello."

"My names Tari and this is my sister Lila. Lila go and get mamma," the boy ordered and the girl jumped out of the wagon obediently. "What's yours?"

"I don't have a name."

"Don't be silly, everyone has a name. I bet even the trees have names."

"No we don't have names, we trees just…whoops." He'd answered before he'd thought and wasn't at all surprised by the boys fearful reaction.

"Mamma he thinks he's a tree!" he screamed loudly. A woman climbed into the moving wagon easily, followed by Lila who was now staring at him wild eyed. "He said he was- he said…"

"Hush Tari. Hello, my name is Ariadne. What's your name?" the woman asked kindly, kneeling beside him.

"I don't have a name. I am…or I was an Oak tree. I don't know how I became human, I am sorry," he said shyly, looking at the floor of the wagon.

"Don't apologise. It was probably one of those mage's messing around with things they don't really understand. Well first thing's first we'd better find you a suitable name," she smiled kindly at him, "Now you said you were an Oak tree so how about Oakal?" He made a face and she laughed. "Not a fan of that one, hmm, Taroak?" Another shake of his head. Ariadne sighed.

"What about Oaken?" Lila suggested quietly, "That one sounds nice."

"I like that one," Tari agreed.

"Oaken," he said, sounding the name on his own lips, "Yes I do like that one."

"So Oaken it is. Now next time we stop in a village we'll get you some of your own clothes as my husband is a much bigger build than you and red breeches really don't go with your hair and you ey-I've never seen eyes so green," Ariadne smiled at him.

"Ok," he, no Oaken smiled at her and laughed nervously as his stomach rumbled loudly, "I think that means I'm hungry but I've never been hungry before so I'm not one hundred percent true."

"Lila go into you Aunts wagon and get some bread and cheese for Oaken," Ariadne said with a smile and the little girl obeyed once again to the command she was given. "Then we'll have a talk about what's going to happen once we reach Corus."

2 Weeks Later

He was walking with the other young men now having gotten used to his new legs. They had accepted him like he was a member of their family, letting him join in the work and helping him when he didn't understand.

"We'll be stopping in the next village for the night, any bets on how many women Oaken manages to pull?" It had also become evident on their journey that Oaken was going to very popular with the ladies, what with his unusual hair and bright eyes, not to mention his dreamy looks. He however was yet to understand the significance of the relationship between a man and a woman. "I'm placing my bet on five."

"Put me down for six."

"It's a small village, I say two."

"No, no, Oaken's never attracted less than three even in the smallest villagers. I say three at least."

"Why do you make such a fuss about how many of the women talk to me?" Oaken asked in all his innocence. The other men laughed and clapped him on the back, "No really why? All they do is talk to me except for those two who tried to…what did you call it…kiss me. I don't understand."

"We'll explain it to you sometime, just let us have a little fun till then Oaken."

"Alright, but I really wish you'd tell me. One of the woman asked me if I wanted to see what her bedroom was like and I really didn't understand why I'd want to." His only reply was howling laughter.

Oaken smiled at the pretty red headed girl who was sat very close to him at the bar, leaning over slightly giving him a better view of the cleavage shown by her low cut dress. The other men were watching in amusement as she reached up to twirl her fingers in his hair.

"So how come it's green?" she asked.

"It always has been," he'd been told not to tell the women he was a tree once, "I think a mage did it when I was born as a joke on my parents." The woman giggled and brushed it back from is forehead. She was the only one tonight, well the only one so far. Usually as soon as one left another took her place, he was quite bored of it now. "So, how about we move our little conversation upstairs?"

"Um, well you see…" he started but she'd already dragged him off his seat and had begun to pull him towards the stairs, "Wait…I…"

"Come on, I won't even charge for you. Let's have some fun…"

A/N There we go first chapter with a little bit of a cliffie thrown in, is he about to get his first lesson of human reproduction?