Chapter Sixteen
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Iona woke in the late afternoon, still in her human body, limbs leaden with exhaustion. She did not often sleep as humans did, and the memories flooded back in disjointed pieces. The others must have brought her back to the hideaway. They’d lain her on the old sofa, wrapping her in thick wool blankets. Iona moved to sit up, stifling a groan as her muscles protested. Nearby, Vall noticed her stirring, and perched on the edge of the sofa.
“You’re alright?” they asked, eyebrows knit with concern.
Iona nodded with great effort. She’d never felt so terribly human, before.
“Eli isn’t happy with you. But we’re all glad you’re okay.”
“Did it work?” she asked.
Vall broke into a smile and offered her a hand. “Would you like to see for yourself?”
Iona let Vall pull her up, swaying on her feet. Then, with a nod, Vall stepped through the forest, bringing them into the clearing where the machines sat empty and broken. They lingered, hidden on the edge of the clearcut, obscured by thinning bushes.
Their work was easier to appreciate in the morning light—the machines had been thoroughly destroyed. Roots as thick as limbs snaked upwards into the hollow shells, pinching the heavy metal in odd ways.
Andrew was pacing near his battered truck. His face was contorted with anger as he shouted out into the clearing. The other men were hacking at the roots with pruning blades, struggling to cut through their tough outer layer. It would take days to sort them all out by hand and many more to repair the damage left behind.
“Tell me how this could have happened, Jimmy. It’s a freak of fucking nature, is what it is!” Andrew was bellowing. “I need more hands out here cleaning this shit out. This’ll set us back a week at least, and we got the Bailor contract to deliver on this week too.”
Iona smiled to herself. It had worked. Their little stand of trees was now more trouble than it was worth for Andrew and his crew.
Jimmy looked out into the forest near where she stood.
Iona shrunk back on instinct, though she was well hidden by trees. His eyes bore into the surrounding forest, fear and anger raging in them. She reminded herself they’d have no reason to suspect it was anything other than a fluke of nature. Finally, Jimmy dropped his gaze back to the roots they battled, his clippers glinting menacing in the harsh light.
Iona stepped closer. What Andrew had said about their other contract obligations had piqued her interest. As Liam had said, knowing about Andrew and his business could be useful in stopping them.
“Where are you going?” Vall whispered, grabbing her arm.
“I want to see if I can find out anything useful.”
“Well, don’t go like that,” Vall said with a pointed lift of their brow.
Iona looked down at herself, and her face burned. It had nearly slipped her mind that she could drop her human shape and approach without being seen. She’d spent so long in this form the past few days it had begun to feel alarmingly normal.
“Ah, right. I nearly forgot,” she said back to Vall, and then disappeared into the mist.
Untethered from her body, she drifted forward and let the human voices swirl around her.
A clipboard sat unattended on the hood of the truck, and Iona took a peek over Andrews’ shoulder. She noted the name of the business at the top, named after Andrew’s father— Wilkenson Logging LLC. She committed the name to memory and scanned the page.
She recognized a few locations circled on the map. The marked areas inched closer towards Liam’s house.
She paused to study Andrew for a moment.
When she’d first seen him, he’d seemed much older, but in truth he looked barely older than Liam did, with the faintest of creases carved in around his eyes and mouth. He had the rugged look of a man who worked out in the elements, wearing a bright orange knit hat and a heavy work coat. He seemed in every way the opposite of Liam, whose warmth radiated out to the world around him.
Only when she’d returned to where Vall stood waiting did she retake her human shape, and steered them both away from the clearing. They walked into the forest beyond, towards Vall’s tree nearby.
“Are you quite satisfied, then?” they asked.
“Yes, I am, thank you for the assistance.”
Iona smiled at the way her boots kicked up fallen maple leaves, which were as big as dinner plates and piled several inches deep atop the forest floor. They’d begun falling in earnest now, their vibrant colors lighting up the landscape and contrasting with the deep greens and browns around them. Being an autumn Acernae, this time always made her feel especially connected to the forest. Now quiet and void of logging, she felt the wind blowing through the branches of the trees. It should have brought her peace.
“Something else troubles you, Iona,” Vall said softly.
Iona sighed, once again finding herself annoyed at how perceptive her kin were. A sort of melancholy had taken over since she’d awoken, despite the triumph she ought to feel.
“You always did know me best, Vall. For better or worse.” Iona looked down at her feet as the leaves crunched beneath them. How could she convey what bothered her? It was difficult to put into words the way she longed for a life she could never have, things she should never want. But she did, and Liam had shown her in a few short days all that she was missing. “I suppose I’ve realized the humans aren’t so different from us, not really.”
“Ah,” Vall said neutrally .
“Of course, there are those who possess evil in their hearts, those who aim to hurt and harm our forests. But Liam has a heart which is simultaneously so gentle and fierce. He chose to fight for our trees, putting himself in danger. I only wonder… Vall do you think we are capable of such human feelings?” As she spoke, her voice sped up the words until they were spilling out and tripping over one another. Her heart hammered in her chest, the vulnerability of the words setting her face on fire. “Do you think it terribly unnatural, the way I feel for him?”
“Oh, sister.” Vall looked back at her, not with the disgust she had feared, but with something much softer. Vall threaded their fingers through Iona’s, and she squeezed tight as they continued walking along. “I cannot pretend to be an expert in such things, but how could anything so pure be unnatural? The things you are feeling… I am sure they are perfectly normal. As you say, there is little difference between us and them. Though Tove and the others are convinced otherwise, I do not believe so easily.”
“Tove tells us their frail human lives are too short to be concerned with,” Iona whispered. “And I am to live many centuries longer than any human in this valley.”
“My experience of such things is limited, but do the humans not believe it better to feel fully, even if those feelings are short lived?”
“It all feels rather terrifying, though.”
“Of course it does,” Vall said “Otherwise it wouldn’t be love.”
Their lips curled up into a sly smile, and Iona whipped a hand at their broad chest. Not a true blow, only one of mock-irritation.
“It’s not love,” she argued.
“No, not yet,” Vall agreed, with a wink.
Iona sighed, growing serious once more. “Do not taunt me, you know that Liam has left our forest, likely for good. And for all that you say we’re able to feel the things that the humans do, what I feel now most strongly is… pain.”
Vall looked back at her, then off into the trees. “I do not think this is the end of the story, yet. Have faith.”
Iona stared at Vall. Did she want to believe the words, or was this another instance of some wisdom she couldn’t see? She frowned, tired of her kin and their knowing, ominous words. As much as her heart wished to believe the words, her pragmatism won out.
“I must rest again, Vall. We will speak of this later,” she finally said.
Tired as she was, Iona was capable of stepping through to her maple. Only when she arrived did she discover the visitor, waiting for her in the clearing.
***
Iona watched for a moment, not yet revealing herself.
Annie was gazing up at the maple before her with a look of uncertainty. She was not wearing a raincoat, since the day had started off dry, but her long, silky hair was tucked under a knit hat.
Maple the dog had been sniffing around the clearing, but her head snapped up the moment she noticed Iona. Her tail wagged, and Iona debated with herself whether to show herself. Moments passed, and the dog did not settle. Annie looked down at her with concern.
“What are you looking at?” she asked.
Maple only continued to stare, and a single bark pierced the quiet of the clearing. With a sigh, Iona took her human shape, leaning against the trunk.
“It’s me she stares at,” Iona said.
Maple bounded forward, jumping up and resting her paws on the mossy limb, licking at Iona’s face. For her part, Annie did not seem overly frightened by the sudden appearance. Her eyes only widened for a moment.
“Oh,” Annie breathed. “I guess I wasn’t expecting you to be here.”
“This is my tree.” Iona smiled up at her, scratching behind the dog’s ear. “I can leave you to your thoughts, if you wish.”
“No!” Annie said quickly. “I mean, I don’t want to keep you. It’s just been a lot, the last few days. I haven’t spent much time out here, recently. Liam left this morning to go visit his parents, but I wanted to stay a little longer.”
Something troubled her, Iona knew, from the way Annie wrung her hands together and the upturn of her brow.
“You know, I’ve not spoken to humans until the past few days. I’ve watched, of course, but my small world is only a sliver of the larger one that you inhabit. Liam’s life fascinates me so, but I want to know more about you. After all, you spent nearly as much time here beneath these branches as he did.” Iona smiled, patting the trunk beside her and indicating for Annie to sit. “Perhaps you and I might be friends, and you might tell me of your life. It would be a nice reprieve of my own troubles, anyway.”
“I’d like to be friends.” Annie sat on the trunk and looked out to the clearing. Pain washed over her expression before settling and when she spoke again, and her eyes glazed over in memory. “I grew up out here, you know, and it reminds me so much of my dad. He died a long time ago, but the pain never really goes away.”
“Your father… he was native to these lands, yes?”
Annie nodded, a weak smile on her lips. “He was.”
“I am not so old as many of my kin, but I know those who came before cared for the trees, as we do.”
“When I was young,” Annie said with a nod, “my dad and I always joined the Canoe Journey. Every year, native people from across the peninsula paddle boats carved from red cedar along the Sound. It’s a sacred thing, to harvest the wood with care and respect. It was my favorite memory of him, those times.” Then Annie sighed. “Just another connection to my heritage lost with him.”
Tears spilled from her eyes as she spoke, and Iona took Annie’s hands in hers, trying to comfort her when words alone would not suffice.
“That sounds wonderful,” Iona soothed. “But your history is still a part of you, even if you do not know it. Come, let me braid your hair. That is what Vall always does for me when I am distressed. I’m not so good at it, but it should have the same effect.”
Annie smiled appreciatively, pulling the hat from her hair and shaking loose the long dark strands. Iona ran gentle fingers through the tangles, and set to work dividing the hair into two long braids in the style of Annie’s ancestors.
“You do not ask for my advice,” Iona began, “but I am stubborn and so I’ll offer it anyway. You should participate in the canoe journey, in the memory of your father. He would have wished it. Is that not what it means, to be human? To have a legacy, and find ways to honor it? ”
Annie was quiet for a long moment, closing her eyes as Iona worked.
“I guess so,” she said. “Sorry, to bother you with these things, I’m sure you’re quite tired of us.”
Iona laughed. “It’s true I have given more advice these past days than usual, on topics I know little about. I imagine though, sometimes one needs an unusual perspective.” Her fingers worked quickly down the length of the braid. “Your fathers people—your people, they understood the gifts the forest gave them,” Iona thought aloud. “They took what they needed, and cared for it deeply. Quite unlike those we are dealing with today.”
“I think that’s why it bothers me so much. Liam isn’t the only one willing to help.”
“And I thank you for that. You are kind, and your light is a gift to this world.”
Annie flushed deeply, but seemed to accept the compliment. They settled into an easy silence after that, listening to the sounds of birds singing in the trees above.
When the braids were finished, Annie thanked Iona for everything, and wished her luck with the loggers before retreating back to the house. Iona watched her go with a pang of sadness that surprised her. The forest, now quiet around her, felt much lonelier than it had before.