Chapter Twenty-Eight – Thea
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Thea
The sun woke me – bright and brutal, right in my face. I groaned and shielded my eyes with my arm.
“Sorry,” Taran said. He readjusted his branches, and I was in the shade again.
“Where are we?” I sat up. His branches creaked underneath me. It felt like the long, heavy skirt of my wedding dress was pulling me down. “What is this place?”
He was silent. Because I didn’t need him to tell me again; I knew what it was.
I knew what my father’s business was. A company that made furniture. To make furniture, you needed wood, and to get wood, you needed to cut down trees and process them. The biggest furniture company in the US could’ve only been built through making a lot of furniture. And to make a lot of furniture, you needed to cut down a lot of trees.
That was Everhart Furniture, owned by Bill and Emilia Everhart. One day to be inherited by Matthew Everhart, my brother. It was my legacy, too.
The land around me was deserted. Where there had once been trees, there were now only stumps. Without shade, the grass was dried in patches. There were brambles and a few wildflowers here and there, but the little vegetation that remained didn’t make the place look less desolate. An entire ecosystem had been destroyed. Birds, and squirrels, and deer, and bears had had to find a new home.
It was devastating to witness. It was painful to finally understand the magnitude of what had happened here, all in the name of money. In theory, I knew all this. Even if I never stopped to dwell on it – what with being busy reading, and painting, and learning how to play the piano in my ivory tower – I knew what it meant to build furniture. How it was done and what the steps were. But it had never occurred to me that I should think more deeply about it, try to imagine it, or... hell!... maybe go see it with my own eyes. My father would’ve taken me to one of these places if I’d asked. Sometimes, he would visit the logging sites and connect with the people who worked for him. But I’d never cared. I’d never asked questions. Of course I wouldn’t ask questions about something that terrified me so much – nature. I was too busy avoiding the subject.
“What about replanting?” I asked. “It’s required by law.”
Taran laughed bitterly. “That requires money your father doesn’t want to waste. Thanks to the powerful friends he has, he’s managed to skirt most sustainability laws. Even if he replanted, what good would it do? It takes years for a forest to regenerate and become the ecosystem it once was. Humans don’t see the logging industry for what it is, don’t see the direct consequences – harming entire species, ruining biodiversity, contributing to global warming. They think if they cut down a few trees and then replant, it’s all good. Fixed like it was never broken.”
I opened my mouth to say I was sorry but thought better of it. It would’ve sounded trite. Inappropriate. One couldn’t simply be sorry and move on, apology accepted. Especially when that person was... me.
The landscape was hard to look at. It made me feel uncomfortable, so I forced myself to take it in and not look away. It was the least I could do. Show respect by not making myself blind to it.
“It’s not much further now,” Taran said. His voice was warm and kind. He wasn’t mad at me, but he was sad.
“I can walk the rest of the way,” I said.
“In this dress?” He laughed. “I’m not so sure.”
I frowned. He was right. The dress might not have been such a big problem, but the shoes were for sure. My ankle was deeply unhappy that I’d forced my left foot into the dainty white shoe with a heel that was too high for me on a good day.
I readjusted my position, trying to make myself more comfortable. It had been a long night, and sleeping in a tree wasn’t the most ideal. I was thirsty too, and that was when it dawned on me how crazy I’d been to leave like that. During my three-day hike through the woods, I’d at least had my backpack. Now the only thing I had with me was my phone, which was useless, since there was no signal. No water, no food, no spare clothes... What was I going to wear? My wedding dress for the rest of my life?
I was exposed in it. So terribly exposed. The skirt was big and round, but the top was just a corset, with two thin straps that went over my shoulders. Pearls around my neck and in my ears, a thin bracelet around my left wrist, and that was all.
“Are you okay?” Taran had sensed my distress.
I tried to give him a smile, but it was probably more of a grimace. “Yes. Just... eager to get there.”
“A few more minutes, and you’ll see it.”
Good God, what had I been thinking?! I couldn’t freak out now. We were almost there. I was sure Taran’s oasis had everything I needed.
It appeared on the horizon – a patch of pure green. In the middle of the wasteland, there was a grove of trees growing beautifully, grass and flowers that I could tell was expanding month after month, and a stream that crossed through the middle. I was relieved to hear the chirping of birds and see butterflies chasing each other.
“This is home,” Taran said, setting me down on my feet.
“Wow! It truly looks like an oasis.” The quick stream shimmered in the sun, the water babbling invitingly. I was so thirsty. “May I?” I knelt beside it and sank my hands in the cold water before he could give me permission.
Taran laughed. “What is mine is yours.”
I drank greedily, then splashed water onto my face. I remembered I was wearing makeup, so I rubbed it off as best as I could.
“Oh, this is so much better.” Then my stomach decided to growl. “Sorry.” I blushed.
“You’re hungry!”
“A little. Don’t worry, I can eat later.” I looked around me, wondering if there was anything to eat. “Your home is beautiful.” And I wasn’t lying. It was. Except... it didn’t seem to be a place where a human could live.
There were just trees, bushes, grass, and flowers. There was a wide-open space on the other side of the stream. It was as if the trees had grown around it, leaving it intentionally empty. It intrigued me. But my problem was there was no shelter for a human. I didn’t have my backpack with me, which meant I didn’t have my sleeping bag. Though a tent would’ve been more adequate. I studied every inch of the oasis and came up... empty. It was a nice place for a leshy, but for a human... At least it wasn’t scary. My biophobia seemed to have solved itself. Brutal exposure to the thing I’d feared most had cured me when I realized there was, in fact, nothing to fear.
“I will find you something to eat,” Taran said. “Berries. Do you like berries?”
“I love berries!”
His branches groaned and cracked as he took his more human shape. He knelt beside me and cupped my face with his hand.
“Don’t worry, my flower. I will turn this place into a home for you. It needs a few adjustments, that’s all. Rune won’t mind.”
“Rune?”
He smiled. “It’s the name of my oasis.”
“Really?”
“I called her Rune, yes. You have names for your towns and cities. This is the same.”
“Oh, yes. That makes sense. Why Rune?”
He averted his gaze, stood up and brushed his hands on his leaf pants.
“I’ll tell you another time.”