Bree

I saw myself in the water. Drifting like a mirage, floating on the service, the ripples of my eyes staring back at me.  I had been in the forest for too long. The water showed that clearly. My face was splashed with dirt, my blonde hair wild and tangled, and the antler headdress I wore was lopsided.  I whipped the water of the stream into a small tornado, hiding my face, and cast it upward. The water spout hovered over the stream spinning faster and faster as I concentrated. But even the bliss of watching what I could do with nature didn’t lift my spirit, and I let the tiny vortex drop back into the stream. I had been out here for too long, I needed to leave.  

I missed my community, I missed people! I hadn’t used my voice in over a year and I was slightly scared to use it, to hear myself speak. I had come out into the wilderness to attune with the Old Faith, with nature, to study and gain in strength with my abilities. I had always had an aptitude with the elements of nature. As a young child I was able to commune with the earth like no one else could. The wind whispered wonders to me, the moon called me from my bed at night, and animals seemed to speak to me. However, I didn’t fully let myself become free until my late twenties, the sense of home and community had been strong; the comfort of the already known...  

Then one bleak day the rain whispered to my heart that it was time. It was time to let myself become fully me.  I left everything that I had known and loved and set out to discover and learn. I knew what I was. I had heard the half-concealed conversations of my neighbors. “Druid,” they had whispered behind my back as I passed them in the village. That had been years ago now.  

I raised myself from the stream, clutching my quarterstaff to balance myself. I wasn’t going to learn anything more on my own. I needed experience. I needed a sense of community. However, more importantly, I needed to train and see what I was capable of. I couldn’t get that wandering around the forest anymore. It was time to venture into populace once more.