Chapter 21: Chapter 20: Thriving Willow

Willow’s POV

All things considered, I was doing pretty well for myself. In the days following the uh… thing (I really had to figure out a name for the whole lightshow acid trip thing that wasn’t just ‘lightshow acid trip thing’), I’d had several conversations with quite a few of the local plants, and together we had addressed each individual issue on my list.

Issue one was water, and that was still the most difficult, but I had begun laying various containers out around my home in the hopes of catching rainwater, and a local tree that I’d taken to calling Spruce Wayne discovered that a river had sprung up a few miles south. 

Food was the easiest task on my list. I just brought it up with Crab Apple and they had explained that with a bit of coaxing and a bit of magic, damn near any plant could be made to bear any fruit or veggie I needed. They also explained that not all plants were sentient. I could technically speak to them all, but only a select few plants that were already magical on their own had the capacity to hold meaningful conversations.

All this of course leads into issue three. How do I feed the local plants? How do I work magic? It would turn out that was quite simple as well. I just had to focus inward. I would dive deep within myself until I began to feel a warm light at my core, then I just grabbed that light and pulled, dragging it out slowly and gently. It felt strange, and my head started to hurt if I did it too much, but it certainly wasn’t hard. It took me about a day and a half to figure it out, but now that I had, my garden home was flourishing.

Lastly was clothing. I still hadn’t really figured that out, but the situation wasn’t dire quite yet. I wasn’t spectacular with a sewing needle, but I was good enough to get by for now. I’d started modifying a lot of my old shirts in my free time, having turned two of them into rough open backed dresses that were much more comfortable on my new body.

All that being said, there was one thing that had been bothering me. I wanted to find A. It sounded stupid and irrational and unsafe, but I really wanted to find them. Even if they were probably dead, even if there was a chance they'd been turned into some mindless monster, and even if there were miles and miles I'd have to search before I was satisfied. I wanted to try. I had an idea too, one that just might work. You see, plants can actually communicate with each other. Like, they can convey simple information and elicit specific responses in each other even without magic, but with an extra magical kick, they can do a lot more, so my idea was to have them ask around. I'd give them a description and they'd try to find anyone who matched it, and in doing so, they could search a much wider area than I could way faster. Hopefully.

As I stepped out to ask Crab Apple whether they thought it could work, Dewdrop lumbered his way over.

“‘Scuse me, Miss Willow, but I got some worrying news today”

This was very new indeed. Since all this had begun, we’d had no shortage of unsavory visitors, from a pack of massive white wolves, to some kind of stone giant, but every time, the local foliage had driven them off without incident. For Dewdrop to be so concerned was worrying in itself.

“Y’see, that old tree you like, the one you call Spruce. They was out by the river yesterday, and they saw somethin’ that made ‘em nervous.” He was rambling again. He liked to do this. The ability of speech was still so new to him that he often added far more preamble than he needed, I figured i ought to nip this in the bud.

“Dewdrop, please. What did Spruce see?”

“Well I was right about to get to that. So, Spruce goes down by the river, just getting some water for everyone, y’know, when alls of a sudden, they take a look at the other side, and what do they see? A dragon! Just layin’ there! Lounging on the bank! Now dragon’s don’t like eatin’ folks like us, cuz we don’t have meat or bones really, but Spruce was worried about you, see? A dragon’s territory spreads out miles, y’see, and that means your little home here might be smack in the middle of it, and you do got meat and bones and all that. So then they come back here fast as they can, which isn’t very because they’re a tree, but…”

Oh shit. A dragon?!? An actual, honest to gods dragon? I was dimly aware of Dewdrop, still going on about Spruce’s rush to get back here, but I couldn’t think about that now. There was a dragon, last seen about four miles south of my house, and I had… some thorny bushes and a sentient tree. 

 

Fuck.

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