The Tree Shepherd's Daughter

by Gillian Summers

  "What about Ariel?" Keelie asked. She didn't want to leave her in the teeny, tiny carrier.

  "Bring her with you. We're going into the forest. Ariel will be fine."

  Excited, Keelie slipped on the heavy glove and put her arm into the cage for Ariel to hop on.

  As they walked down Ironmonger's Way, Ariel perched on Keelie's arm, tenting her wings for balance. Once they cleared the bridge, Keelie peeked over to see if she could see the mysterious creature that lived in the water and had saved her from the Red Cap. Maybe the storm had washed the creature away.

  Dad turned to Keelie. "We're going into the forest, and I want you to only observe. Don't speak, even if what happens is strange. I will answer all of your questions later. We must hurry, the time draws near."

  That sounded so fairy tale Grimm. Time draws near. Okay. Dad was getting all tree-mystical on her. As long as he didn't carry a staff with a big crystal on it, Keelie was prepared not to freak out. After everything she'd seen and experienced, she didn't think there was anything that would freak her out.

  Knot ran ahead of Keelie, as if he wanted to be the leader of the expedition. Couldn't she do anything without the hairball showing up?

  Deeper into the woods, the claustrophobic feeling began to envelop her. Sweat dripped down her back, and she found it hard to breathe. It had been like this when she'd been lost and met Elianard.

  Ariel called out and turned her feathery head toward Dad.

  Keelie stopped. What if she couldn't find her way out? What if she ran into those bug and stick things? What if the Red Cap showed up?

  Dad turned around.

  "I can't go."

  Her father looked puzzled, then his eyebrows rose. "Oh, that's right. I'm so sorry. I forgot about it."

  "Forgot about what?"

  Dad placed his hand on Keelie, and soothing warmth spread through his fingers. Is this what trees felt like when he touched them? She felt her anxiety slip away, dissipating like fog in the morning sun. She inhaled, then took several cleansing breaths the way she did in yoga class at school.

  "Better?"

  "Yeah. I don't know why I get claustrophobic in these woods. I never did before."

  "It's a spell to keep interlopers out."

  "The Dread."

  "How did you know that?"

  Before she could answer, Ariel flapped her wings and rose to the upper branches of a tall cedar tree.

  "Ariel, get back here."

  "Let her go. She'll be fine. She's beginning her journey."

  "Journey. Not what I want her to do. What if she gets away?"

  "The trees will watch her. Now follow me."

  Yep, tree mystic.

  As they walked along, Ariel zipped ahead of them and waited on a tree branch. When they caught up to her, she would fly to another perch and wait. Other than the beating of Ariel's wings and the crunching of their feet on the sticks, there was complete and total silence. Knot flitted silently from one side of the path to the other.

  A gentle breeze tousled her hair, bringing a hint of decay in the air. Mushrooms again. Ariel flew to her. Keelie extended her arm, and the hawk landed precariously. She turned her head, and her golden eye glinted. Ariel rubbed her feathery head against Keelie's cheek.

  Keelie held still until Ariel spread her wings to regain her balance.

  "Come along, Keelie."

  A silver glimmer in the center of a circle of mushrooms caught Keelie's attention. "Hold on, Dad."

  Keelie walked over to it and knelt, careful not to dislodge Ariel. It was a silver ring. She picked it up and examined it. Raised leaves danced around the bright, slender circle. Raven said her belly-dancer friend Aviva had lost a ring like this one.

  Ariel called and turned her head toward the large oak tree. Something shimmered, but she saw no one. Shoving the ring into her jeans pocket, Keelie sensed something was there.

  The hair on her neck stood up. The air shimmered again. She smelled cinnamon. This was creepy. Was this the Red Cap?

  She held very still and tapped into the inner sense that let her talk to Hrok. The remaining chlorophyll in her blood sang as the trees responded. And there, in front of the tree, stood Elianard, dressed in richly embroidered robes, clutching his staff. Their eyes met, and he glared at her as he realized he was visible.

  He walked toward her, and she backed up.

  "How is it that you wield so much power, Keelie Heartwood? Hawks are lucky, they say, and this one in particular protects you. Why is that? How is it that you, a half-human brat, can tame the wild, call on the trees, and defeat my spells? What charm are you wearing? I feel its power."

  "I wear no charm. And what are you, exactly, some sort of overgrown leprechaun like the little nasty dude in the red hat?"

  Keelie toed one of the gross mushrooms on the ground. It deflated, and its putrid odor wafted up.

  Elianard looked startled. "The Red Cap?" He searched around nervously. "Is he here?"

  Keelie hoped not. She'd barely survived her last encounter with the manic midget. But if Elianard thought she sensed him, it would be like bug repellant. She lifted her chin and sniffed. Ariel called, turning her head this way and that, glaring at Elianard with her good eye.

  "He's close."

  Elianard swirled his robe, turning watchfully.

  "Elianard. You walked so silently I didn't notice you." Zeke walked toward them, eyeing the richly dressed man warily. So, Dad didn't care for Elianard, either.

  Ariel launched herself from Keelie's arm skimming Dad's head with her wing tip.

  "Come, Keelie, it's time for the ceremony. What you're about to witness is a very important ritual, one of the most important that a tree shepherd must do." Dad's face and voice were filled with sadness.

  Keelie nodded, glancing at Elianard.

  He stiffened, then must have realized that Keelie wasn't going to mention the invisibility spell. With a slight bow, he walked ahead of them.

  To her surprise, Sean and several other jousters stood solemnly by a wooden wagon, surrounded by others she'd seen at the Faire. The Equus Island horses were hitched to it. Everyone was dressed like Elianard in dark green robes embroidered with trees. To her surprise, Elia was with them, looking sad, too.

  Dad clasped Keelie's hand in his. Calmness flowed through her.

  Dad dropped her hand and raised his, palms up, toward the assembled group. "You stand in the forest of Re- inanlon. Before you lies the Aspen Queen Reina."

  As if on cue, a shaft of sunlight broke through the clouds and illumined a slender fallen tree, its trunk charred. Without touching it, Keelie knew it was the aspen that had communicated to her at the moment of its death last night.

  Goosebumps dotted her skin.

  "We have come to honor her magic and to send it forth into the world to heal, and we ask the forest and all those that loved her permission to do so," Dad said.

  Everyone bowed heads. Keelie did likewise. Ariel was perched on a small aspen nearby.

  A gentle wind blew through the trees. A fall of green leaves that smelled like cherry blossoms cascaded down onto the fallen aspen, a tribute from her sisters. Ariel flew up through the cascade, a blur of wings in the flickering green. Keelie looked up and gasped when she saw another hawk flying through the branches toward Ariel.

  The two hawks circled one another. Then Ariel called out and dove. Keelie thrust her gloved hand up and Ariel made a perfect landing. The other hawk soared higher and higher, and Keelie's heart ached for Ariel because she would never be able to fly that high and free. The bird gazed at her with her good eye, as if saying, I will.

  Sean and the other jousters walked forward and lifted the log as if they were pall bearers at a funeral and reverently placed the log in the wagon, its branches dangling behind, scraping the ground with its quickly withering leaves.

  "Come, Keelie," Dad said.

  She picked her way through the debris-strewn forest with the others, dodging dangling branches. A sadness clung to the t
rees like dew in the morning, and it wrapped itself around her Irish cloak. She inhaled, and deep grief surged through her, from the trees and from the green-robed people around her. She had to push it away. Keelie reached out and steadied herself by touching a tree. Aspen. It was an aspen, too. Raw pain coursed through its trunk. She could hear its heart beating with a slow, steady rhythm, reminding her of Skins playing his drum back at the Shire.

  Our queen.

  Root mother.

  Keelie hadn't said she loved her mother that morning she died. They'd argued over the belly button ring. Mom had been late for her flight. She'd said, "We'll talk about this later. Love you, Keelie." Mom had kissed her cheek.

  She slowly sank to the ground and let the tears flow. She would never again have the chance to tell Mom she loved her.

  How will we leaf without our queen? How will we flower?

  How would Keelie live without Mom?

  Dad touched her shoulder, and some of the grief dis sipated, sinking, like her tears, into the leaves on the ground.

  The small aspens and other trees that made up the woodland court of the Aspen Queen were in pain. Their grief was intense, and she tried to block it, but couldn't. Her heart was so heavy, she didn't know if she could move. She just wanted to curl on the forest floor and close her eyes and wish herself back to that morning before Mom died.

  One by one, the mourners came forward to lay a hand on the fallen tree, whisper a word, and step away. What were they saying? Would she do it wrong?

  "Come, Keelie, say farewell."

  Standing next to the wagon, she spread her hand over the tree. As she touched it there was a loud crack. The tree split right down the middle, revealing a center piece, a small charred heart.

  Murmurs of amazement broke out from the crowd.

  "A gift. The tree gave her its heart."

  Dad reached for it, then placed it in her hand. She clasped her fingers over it, feeling the warm roughness of the charred wood. Black flakes rubbed off on her skin, revealing the smoothness of ebony inside.

  "Not fair. She's not even one of us." Elia's strident voice killed the silence.

  Dad pulled Keelie to his shoulder, ignoring the girl's complaint. He's the rock she needed, Keelie thought, not a tree. She felt his love brimming full, overflowing from deep within his soul. She let the tears fall unbidden down her cheeks. For the aspen, for the forest, for Mom.

  Knot rode in the wagon beside the aspen log, sitting like a kitty guard. He was behaving himself, not at all like a cat with a hangover from lapping up a keg of spilled Guinness. Walking alongside the wagon, Keelie kept looking through her lashes at Sean. He stared straight ahead like the other jousters as they escorted the wagon to the Faire.

  She wondered what he thought of Elia's outburst. Others had been shocked, and they still discussed it as they walked. Elianard and his daughter had vanished soon after the incident.

  This all seemed so Lord of the Rings, except for Knot. She pressed her hand around the heart of the tree. She wondered what Sean thought of her now. She wasn't sure what it meant, other than she knew she'd been given a very precious gift from the Aspen Queen.

  The wagon came to a complete stop outside Heartwood. Dad, Sean, and the others carried the log inside the shop.

  Sir Davey bowed his head as the log passed. The turkey vulture was on the ground next to him, like a really ugly pet chicken.

  "Dad?" Keelie said.

  "It's okay. You can stay with Sir Davey."

  "New friend?" She watched the turkey vulture rub its bald head up and down against Sir Davey's pants leg like a devoted dog. Ariel skimmed over him, her talons touching Sir Davey's head before landing on the oak outside the shop. "Birds. I'm going to be bird-brained before this Faire is over and done with." The coffee in his hand hadn't done anything to improve his disposition.

  Knot hopped down from the wagon and sauntered up to the shop entrance. The turkey vulture hissed as the cat walked by. Knot ignored him, then ducked under a table as the jousters filed out of the shop.

  They moved silently and fluidly. Sean was last. He stopped, smiling, and winked at her. "May the blessings of trees be with you, Tree Shepherd's daughter." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "You'll have to tell me what you did to get that tree's heart."

  Tongue-tied by his nearness, she realized that she'd let the moment pass and he was on his way out of the shop. She watched him climb gracefully into the wagon with the other jousters. They were probably going back to Equus Island. Keelie was going to have to sneak over there one night. Their parties might be just as good as the Shire's. They had to be. Sean was there, not to mention all the other jousters.

  That evening after her shower, Keelie noticed the lights through the floorboards. Dad was in the workshop. She pulled on her shoes and slipped her cloak over her underdress and went down to the workshop.

  Dad was preparing the Queen Aspen, his tools nearby, like a surgeon's.

  "What are you going to do?"

  "We're going to make a rocking chair. The magic of the tree will be transformed into healing energy." She clutched the small wooden heart in her hand. This part of the tree would always be hers.

  It was so sad to look at the log and to know that a sentient spirit once lived inside it. As Dad bent down to remove a small handsaw from his toolbox, Keelie saw the pointed ear tip. She remembered Elianard's words.

  "Dad."

  "What, Keelie?"

  "Remember when Elianard showed up when we were walking toward the Tree Lorem?"

  Yes.

  "Didn't you think it was strange that he just appeared like that?"

  "Not really." He was preoccupied with the wood, running his hands down the charred sides of the trunk.

  "I saw him appear. He had a spell that made him invisible."

  Zeke looked up at that. "What?"

  "He wanted to know what charm I had, why I had so much power. He called me a half-human."

  The handsaw clattered onto the floor.

  Keelie stared at Dad over the tree. "Elia's called me that, too."

  With his hands, Dad moved his hair behind his ears to show their pointed tips. She pulled her hair back, revealing her own. One round, one pointed.

  "Keelie. I wanted to tell you when the time was right. I should have done it years ago." Her father looked remorseful.

  She thought of Sean's ears, and Elia's. Every other person at the Faire couldn't have the same weird birth defect.

  "No need, Dad. You're an elf. I'm...what am I? Some sort of half-breed?" Keelie touched her right ear. It was round. With a trembling hand, she fingered her left ear, which she knew wasn't exactly round or pointed, it had its own unique shape-a smooth tip.

  Walking over to her, Dad reached out a hand and gently tilted her head up to him. She couldn't look away. "Keelie, I know you've found life at the Faire shockingly different from your old life. I know life with me has challenged what you understand as reality. The world is full of different creatures, and of the ones that think and reason, humans are only one small part."

  He pointed at the aspen. "You've met the tree folk, and the bhata and feithid daoine. You must be aware that Knot is more than a cat."

  Kitty claws snagged her pants, and as she moved her leg, the hairball clung to her leg.

  Dad smiled wistfully. "He adored your mother, too."

  "Oh, and I bet she returned the love. But, I want to know more about the elves."

  "Many of us here at the Faire, and around the world, are elves," he continued. "We are more than human, and we are nature's guardians. I am a tree shepherd, and you seem to have inherited my gift."

  "That's why I have this unnatural bond with furniture," she said. He seemed pleased that she hadn't fainted from shock, or screamed and ran away.

  She didn't know what it meant to be an elf, exactly, but deep within her understanding flowed, as if the dam that had kept it back was gone. Strange things that had happened suddenly made sense. She wasn't crazy, and she wasn't a
freak. She had Ariel to thank for teaching her to open her heart.

  "Did Mom know you were an elf when she married you?"

  "Yes. There were no secrets between us."

  Relief warmed her. She was glad Mom had known, although it raised fresh questions about why Mom had taken Keelie to California.

  "The magic is real with very real consequences," her father said. "You need to master it, or it can control you. Or worse, others could use it through you."

  She shuddered, thinking of the Red Cap. Then a thought occurred to her.

  "Does that mean Mom left to get away from the elves?"

  He sighed. "Yes. To get you away from them. You were so small, so helpless. And she knew that one day you would face what she faced from small-minded individuals." He grasped her firmly by the shoulders. "Understand this, Keelie, and never doubt for a moment that your Mom and I loved each other. What we had was special. And it makes you special, too."

  Tears formed in Keelie's eyes. Unspoken words choked her. Dad moved a stray curl off her forehead. "You are what is best about both of us, my daughter," he said.

  "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

  "Because I didn't know how you'd take it, Keelie. No, that's not true. I knew exactly how you'd take it. You wouldn't have believed me.

  "I just got you back in my life. We're both grieving for your Mom. I didn't want to lose you, as I feared would happen if I told you the truth. Would you have believed me if I had told you?"

  She shook her head miserably.

  Dad put an arm around her shoulders. "Leaving California was hard for you, but you would have come to me soon, anyway, Keelie. Your magic matures between puberty and adulthood. Your mother would have brought you back." He kissed her hair. "I just wish you didn't have to come because your mother was gone."

  "Would you have been together?" She couldn't believe that her mother would have been comfortable as a Rennie.

  "Time worked against us, I'm afraid," Zeke said. "And after a while we found that the only common ground we shared was you. I'm not going to lose you again, Keelie. We'll work it out."

  The aspen's charred heart tingled. She opened her hand and looked at the heart resting on her palm. Would she break Dad's heart by returning to L.A.?