Page 103 of Tiger's Quest
We followed Faunus through the leafy trees and soon heard the tinkling laughter of many people. As we neared the settlement, I realized that the sound was nothing I’d ever heardpeoplemake before. It was unearthly.
“Faunus . . . what are Silvanae?”
“They are the tree people, the tree nymphs.”
“Tree nymphs?”
“Yes. You have no tree people where you come from?”
“No. We have no fairies either.”
He seemed confused. “What kind of people emerge from a tree when it splits?”
“No one emerges as far as I know. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tree split unless lightning hit it or someone chopped it down.”
He stopped in mid-stride. “Your people chop down trees?”
“In my land? Yes, they do.”
He shook his head sadly. “I’m very glad I live here. Those poor trees. What would happen to all the future generations, I wonder.”
I looked at Kishan, who shook his head imperceptibly before he led us on.
As darkness fell, we stepped under a wide arch full of hundreds of miniature climbing roses in all varieties of color and entered the village of the Silvanae. Lanterns hung from ropy vines that draped down from the largest trees I’d ever seen. The small lights inside the lanterns bobbed up and down in their glass houses, each one a different vivid color— pink, silver, turquoise, orange, yellow, and violet. On closer inspection, I saw the lights were living creatures. They were fairies!
“Kishan! Look! They glow like lightning bugs!”
The fairies looked like large butterflies, but their glow did not come from their bodies. The soft light emanated from their colorful wings, which opened and closed lazily as the creatures sat perched on a wooden mount.
I pointed at one. “Are those—?”
“Fairy lights? Yes. They have two-hour shifts on lantern duty in the evenings. They like to read on duty. Keeps ’em awake. If they fall asleep, their lights go out.”
I mumbled, “Right. Of course.”
He led us farther into the settlement. The small cottages were made of fibrous woven plants and were set in a circular fashion around a grassy space. The center area had been set for a banquet. A giant tree stood behind each hut; the towering limbs reached over and across, twining their branches together with their neighboring trees, creating a beautiful green bower overhead.
Faunus raised his pipe and blew a happy melody. Slight-framed, willowy people streamed out of their cottages and hopped down from hiding places in the foliage.
“Come. Come and meet those we have been waiting for. This is Kelsey and this is Kishan. Let us bid them welcome.”
Shining faces came closer. They were all silver-haired and had green eyes like Faunus. Beautiful males and females were dressed in shimmering gossamer clothing in the bright colors of the flowers that grew everywhere.
Faunus turned to me. “Would you like to eat first or bathe first?”
Surprised, I said, “Bathe first. If that’s alright.”
He bowed. “Of course. Anthracia, Phiale, and Deiopea, will you take Kelsey to the women’s bathing shallows?”
Three lovely Silvanae approached me shyly from the group. Two took my hands while the third led me out of the clearing and into the forest. Kishan scowled at me, obviously unhappy about our separation, but I noticed he was soon escorted away too, in a different direction.
The women were slightly smaller than Faunus, about a head shorter than me. My escorts followed a path colorfully lit by helpful fairies until we came upon a round, sunken pool fed by a small brook. The water dropped down from larger stones to smaller, and then dropped to the pool, creating a diminutive, hidden spray of water. It worked like a wide faucet that was constantly running.
They removed my backpack and disappeared while I took off the rest of my clothing and stepped into the pool. It was surprisingly warm. A long, submerged stone too convenient to be natural, ran along the arch inside the pool, serving as a stepping stone and then as a seating stone once I was in the water.
After I’d wet my hair, the three nymphs returned and brought bowls of fragrant liquids. They let me pick the fragrance I liked and handed me a mossy ball that functioned like a loofah. I scrubbed the dirt from my skin with the fragrant soap while Phiale soaped through my hair with three different products, having me rinse under the small waterfall each time.
The fairy lights glowed warmly. By the time I stepped out of the pool and the women wrapped my body and hair with soft cloth, my skin and scalp were tingling, and I felt relaxed and refreshed. Anthracia massaged perfumed lotion into my skin while Phiale worked on my hair. Deiopea disappeared briefly and returned with a beautiful celadon green gossamer dress embroidered with shimmering flowers.
