Snippet #2072192

Embarrassment was the first emotion to write itself onto Abilene's face; that was followed almost as quickly by a feeling of needing to be withdrawn from the situation. Torn between staying by the tree and running off, as best as she might have been able to in a soaking wet dress, the pale-haired girl couldn't come to a decision fast enough on whether to leave or stay.

Her commotion seemed to cause an array of trouble all its own, and the Dryad wished once more she could simply melt away. 'Maybe they didn't notice...' she thought, feeling even more embarrassment color her cheeks at the realization that maybe she shouldn't have been quite so nosy.

Her mind told her to leave, since most likely no one had noticed her - of course, she was lying to herself. But before she could make her getaway, a male who had helped right the commotion on the bridge began to make his way towards her.

She backed up instinctively towards the tree trunk, wanting more than anything to climb right back up into the branches and disappear from sight. The old maple gave a sort of groan, almost as if had read her very thoughts and was trying to encourage her not to go through with them. Finding her legs unable to listen to her brain, she once again focused her attention on the male who approached. Who was he? What was he planning on doing? She had never seen someone quite like him before. He was so very, very... tall. Abilene had to crane her neck to see him as he approached her.




What was it her mother and father had told her when she was younger, she thought. Something about the Dryad people ranging in height, and she had just happened to get the short end of the stick. She had given her father a rather bland expression at his joke - he had thought it was rather humorous and laughed about it for quite a few minutes. Once he finished laughing, he continued on to explain himself. "The dryads can be tall or short, depending on the trees they inhabit and protect. You come from a mother who protected the apple trees, and a father who just happens to be human." He had ruffled her hair slightly at that point, before pulling her into his lap as her mother continued his story for him.

"Your aunties protect trees that range in height, and many of them are taller, depending on the tree. But there are other creatures of this world who vary in height as well. Some may be smaller than you, and some may be much taller. But this doesn't make them any less or more than you, do you understand?" She had nodded towards her mother, burying her head in her fathers neck. He smiled, and her mother came to sit in front of her husband and daughter. "You must promise me you will not judge them, until they have given you fair evidence for you to do so." Abilene had looked upon her mothers loving face, and nodded once more.

Her father smiled; "Thats my girl..."





Abilene's memory drifted away from her, as she brought herself back to the situation at hand. The male was just right in front of her, and she found herself drawing in a deep breath, and pulling herself away from the tree to stand up straight. Fully expecting whatever it was that he would say to her... she didn't find herself expecting him to wrap a warm cloak around her shoulders. Grasping at it as he closed it around her front, she gazed up at him in mild surprise.

"You alright miss?" he had began, and she nodded slightly. "Not exactly the best idea to take a dip in a freezing river in the middle of the night." He seemed to almost have a slight smile about the way he said his last sentence, and she found herself looking around her surroundings, almost forgetting where she was.

Looking back up at him, she went to explain herself, before closing her mouth tightly, biting back the words before they came. 'I only just fell in... well, because I was snooping...' she thought, once again feeling embarrassment heat her cheeks. She couldn't bring herself to say it, so she paused before she gave him an answer.

"Thank you for your kindness. I... seemed to have lost my balance." The smile she offered him was timid, as if she were testing the waters. He seemed genuinely worried about her well-being, and it was then that she realized exactly what he had given her.

Feeling as if it were too much for him to have given her his cloak, she lightly protested. "I very much appreciate your kindness, but I cannot possibly take this from you and soak it through because of my mistake..." Her voice trailed off, and she felt at a loss on what to do. She had to admit; the cloak was warm and had a sort of comforting appeal to it. And he was right... it was cold out.

Her ears picked up someone mentioning food, and a place to stay, and she immediately pictured the Inn near her home. 'Maybe I could go there to dry off. If father saw me soaked through...' She let her thoughts trail off, and simply pulled the cloak around her shoulders slightly more, trying to ebb off the bite of the cold which was beginning to seep through her.