Varandur

“How did you find me?” Rhia giggled, gazing down through the branches of the weeping willow, right into the crystal blue eyes of her new playmate.
“The tree gave you away!” he said with a laugh. He reached up to her perch, a warm, inviting smile on his pale lips.
She looked at him quizzically and jumped down into his arms. That he might drop her never even crossed her mind. He’d never drop her. “How’d it do that? I didn’t hear anything!”
He set her lightly on her feet. “Really? And you’re even a Daughter of Elbereth! The trees talk quite clearly if you just listen to them. They’ll even talk to you if you’re polite.” He took her hand and placed it on the willow’s trunk, resting his own hand over hers. “Go ahead, listen.”
She sent him a skeptical look, but closed her eyes and listened as hard as she could. After a few minutes, she looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes. “I don’t hear anything, Tobias…”

She’d never heard anything, never even so much as a whisper. But she knew in her heart he hadn’t been lying. “Sometimes they only talk to you when you need them,” he’d said to stop her crying. She choked back the tears and shook the memory from her head. This was no time to dwell on the past. But, just maybe, he’d been right. And she certainly needed their help.
She tentatively stepped away from Tom and approached one of the oaks lining the clearing. She swallowed, and almost laughed at herself. “What am I afraid of?” She shook her head and lifted her hand to touch the bark. Nothing. Her brow furrowed, determined not to give up as easily as she had the hundreds of times in the past.
She closed her eyes, and willed herself to listen harder. A few more minutes, and all she heard was the chattering of squirrels who were settling in for the night. Why? Why couldn’t she hear them? She bit her lip in desperation and rested her forehead against the tree.
Suddenly, her ears filled with the cheerful gossip of a hundred voices. Her eyes snapped open in surprise, but she dared not pull away. It was them… She licked her lips, and swallowed the lump of joy in her throat. Okay; ‘be polite’, he’d said.
“Excuse me-“
The forest fell silent, and she filled with the feeling of a thousand eyes suddenly watching her. She trembled with a sense of dread, but steeled herself to it.
“Excuse me, but I need-“
Before she could even say it, a powerful wind swept through the clearing and her ears filled with screams and curses. She gasped, miraculously keeping a hold on the tree and the scream in her chest.
“Who are you?!”
“A half-blood!”
“It’s a dark one! A dark one has the gift!”
“How can this be?!”
“We’re doomed!”
“Get away! Don’t touch me! Get off of me!”
“Please,” Rhia pleaded urgently, keeping her voice low. “Please, I need your help! My friend is hurt, he’s going hungry!”
“Blood! She is the murderer!”
“Murderer!”
Rhia’s eyes stung from the tears and her head ached from so many screams. “I only wish to know where the Highway is! Please, you must tell me!” She hadn’t realized until then that she had wrapped her arms around the tree. The screams and accusations only grew louder and she let out a sob. No wonder they had never spoken to her before. She was a demi-Drow, a sworn enemy of the Wood and all of their domain, the very forests they inhabited. “You have to help me…”
A gentler breeze pushed into the clearing, cutting through the harsh wind and screams. With it came an even gentler voice to silence the chaos. “That is enough.” The voice was deep, and wise. It must have belonged to a very old tree. Rhia pulled back from the oak and lifted a hand to wipe the tears from her face. Again, a soft breeze brushed past her, fluttering through her hair and across her cheek. “Do not fret, child. I have watched you, and saw what you did yesterday. I have kept close watch on you ever since you entered my forest, and have heard many tales of your plight from the birds that migrated to these woods. Those men hunted you down, with no knowledge of who you were or what you’d been through. They are dead, and the world is better for it. You have been through much, Daughter.”
At “Daughter”, the woods came alive with chatter again, this time with voices of disbelief and a different kind of fear. They hadn’t realized.
The deep voice hushed them again with the breeze, and Rhia felt a warmth touch her heart and her soul. “You wish for guidance, Daughter?”
“Y-yes, please. Just until my friend wakes up.”
“Very well. I will guide you. Do not fear, little one. You have been alone long enough.”
“Thank-you.”
“Go get on your horse. I will give him the strength to carry you.”
She wouldn’t question how he would do that, just simply left the oak and hurried back to Tom’s side. It took a moment to convince her aching muscles that she really did want to climb back up there. With little more than a groan, though, she was seated in the saddle.
“Sit tight, Daughter. Your horse will know where to go. Trust him, and do not interfere.”
She nodded and let the rains lay on Tom’s neck, instead taking hold of his mane. Sure enough, Tom began to walk and, without hesitation, stepped out of the clearing.
As Tom found the right trail, Rhia felt that warmth begin to leave her. Her eyes widened and she sat straighter in the saddle. “Wait!”
The warmth tickled her heart in the form of a fatherly chuckle. “You will be safe, Daughter.”
“N-no, that’s not it. I trust you.”
The voice took on a curious tone. “What, then?”
“I…I was hoping you might tell me your name.”
“Ah, yes.” The sensation of a smile filled her. ‘We do not carry names, we trees. But the Elves have referred to me as Varandur.”
She closed her eyes and let the name echo across her heart. It was warm, and strangely familiar. “You truly have been with me a long time, haven’t you?”
“Yes, Daughter.”
“Thank-you; for everything. I will always remember your name, and your kindness.”
“Very good, child,” he said with the same warmth. “Do not fear to call on our aid ever again. I will make sure knowledge of your soul travels far, so you will never be alone.”
She had to fight back tears all over again, and didn’t protest this time when the warmth receded. She no longer felt alone. She bent forward to rest her cheek against Tom’s mane. “Carry us to safety, friend. You know the way.”
Tom snorted and bobbed his head, and ever so slightly picked up the pace. It would not be long now, she hoped.