Rebirth of the Nephilim

It was an interesting experience meeting Meli’s extended family. It seemed that just about everyone who had a connection to the Dryad lived in that one grove, which truly cemented just how extreme Meli’s course of action was to move so far away from the wilds of Volto. Considering the distance and the emotion that had to have been behind the flight from her family, Jadis had expected Meli’s relatives to be colder, unwelcoming, or perhaps even hostile towards the druid. Instead, they were quite open and friendly, not only to Jadis but Meli as well, who they treated as a prodigal daughter who had finally come home.

Well, Kreios was still sort of cold. But Jadis was willing to let that go, considering she was pretty sure what was going on with the man.

Soteria was, just as Jadis had expected, ancient. While she didn’t give an exact date, the elder Dryad admitted that she had been a child when the Nephilim had been alive. Considering where Soteria’s grove was located, Jadis imagined that the woman might have even personally witnessed the fall of the Nephilim’s Last Bastion. When she had broached the subject, Soteria had waved Jadis off.

“I will speak of the past later,” she had said. “You want my decision on Volto, do you not? Do not distract me.”

Soteria had then withdrawn to a small section of the grove and promptly ignored the world around her, muttering to herself, for the rest of the evening.

Meli’s mother, Acantha, seemed to be elated at her daughter’s return, though Jadis couldn’t understand the exact words coming from the woman. Acantha didn’t speak imperial beyond a few halting sentences, and Jadis could only guess at a few of the words that were being said in the language of the Dryads. Still, Meli’s mother was kind from what Jadis could tell. She constantly doted on her daughter, fetching food and drinks and hovering around. Jadis did not get the same impression from her that she had from Sorcha’s mother, who was definitely the overbearing sort. Instead, Acantha just looked like a woman who had been worried sick about her child for a very long time and was beyond overjoyed to finally have that child back. Jadis could only imagine how much relief the woman felt, especially considering what had happened to her son so recently.

Most of Meli’s family couldn’t speak Imperial, as it turned out. Other than her father and grandmother, only a few of the older Dryads who had traveled abroad at one point or another in their long lives had bothered to learn the language of a people who lived so very far away. The younger members of the grove didn’t speak any Imperial at all, which was unfortunate for two reasons. The first reason being that Jadis found it hard to follow most of the conversations around her, and she was reliant on the translations that Meli provided. The second reason being that she was completely blindsided when Meli introduced Jadis to her younger sister.

The young Dryad who had approached Meli had seemed like just another relation, at first. Then, Jadis had been confused to the high heavens watching the two anxious women talk uncomfortably in their native tongue. Their body language had been awkward and stilted, and every few seconds it looked like one of them was about to reach out and touch the other, then bailed on the idea almost immediately. When the tense atmosphere had reached its peak, Jadis had broken into the conversation by asking Meli if the other woman was an ex-lover or something of the sort. That had caused quite a bit of confusion, and some barking laughter from Soteria, who Jadis had not even realized was listening to them from the other side of the clearing.

“This is my younger sister, Charis” Meli had awkwardly introduced the younger woman. “…she is pleased to meet you.”

Charis was a much younger sister. While fully grown by decades at that point, the woman had been a ten-year-old girl when Meli had departed for the south. That meant that Meli barely knew the adult sister who had stood awkwardly before her, which explained why their interaction was so… off. Taking a second look at the woman, Jadis could see the family resemblance. Charis looked a lot like her mother, with the same spider plant style hair fronds and light green skin. Her eyes were a lighter purple, and she had her father’s nose, but otherwise Charis was quite obviously her mother’s child. In a moment of ribald humor, Jadis internally noted that the strongest similarity between the two sisters was how both were as flat as planks, which was funny in so much as Acantha had a lot more real estate to work with in that regard. Clearly, that was one area where neither daughter had taken after their mother.

“Χαίρομαι που σας γνωρίζω,” Charis had said with a stiff bow. “Μπορώ να σας κάνω μερικές ερωτήσεις?”

When Meli had translated that Charis wanted to ask her a few questions, Jadis had naturally agreed, assuming that the Dryad probably wanted to get to know the woman that her sister was attached to. Instead, Charis had launched into an exhaustive series of highly detailed queries concerning Nephilim, Jadis’ multi-body skill, her wings, what life was like in the empire, what life was like in Weigrun, what other kinds of magic that she was capable of casting, what her guardian soul grub was like, and a dozen more questions that kept coming all the way through supper. By the end, Jadis was scared to put Meli’s sister and Aila in the same room together. The risk of an infinite feedback loop was too great.

After a late meal of an oddly spiced vegetable strew that was shared with all of the Dryads, Jadis and Meli had been led to a small section of the grove that was the equivalent of Meli’s old room. The little patch of grass that was surrounded by carefully grown and cultivated trees and vines couldn’t really be called a room; the walls were literally just leaves and branches and there was literally no roof. But Meli had collapsed to the ground and closed her eyes, completely exhausted. After taking off her armor, Jadis had followed suit and bent her selves around her lover, doing her best not to snap any twigs.

When the silence was finally broken, it was Meli who spoke first.

“My father did not imply that he wanted me to die instead of my brother.”

“Yeah, I think I see that now,” Jay murmured as she gently stroked her lover’s stomach.

“He only meant that my brother likely would not have died, since he would not have been in the κήπος when the Demons attacked if I had remained in the grove. A statement of fact. Nothing more.”

“I understand,” Jay nodded along, closing her own eyes for a moment. “Meli… there are terms for certain types of people that I don’t think you would be familiar with. I’m not going to try and explain them to you now. But, does your father…”

“Think differently from the rest of the Dryads in your family?” Dys continued after a moment’s hesitation.

Meli was quiet for another long while before she answered.

“He loves my mother very much. He loves—he loved Silenus. He loves Charis. I know… that he loves me. He cares for the grove.”

“But he’s always had trouble expressing himself, hasn’t he.”

“Yes.”

“It’s just the way he is,” Jay said, pulling Meli a little closer against her body. “He’s just a little different.”

Another long silence filled the night air. With her eyes closed and her breathing slowed, Jadis almost thought that Meli had fallen asleep. Then, some time later, the Dryad spoke once more.

“I am my father’s child.”

“Meli—” Jay began, but the Dryad cut her off.

“I know I can be difficult to speak with. I struggle with things that I see others have no trouble with. Words. Thoughts. Conversation. Connection. The differences do not escape me.”

Before continuing, Meli rolled over on her side, meeting Jay’s open gaze.

“You are much easier to talk to then others are. You understand my intent, even when others do not. I lusted for you before, because of your beauty. But I love you now because you hear me when others do not.”

“I love you, too,” Jay smiled before giving her Dryad a gentle kiss. “Truly. Your honesty and willingness to stand up for what you think is right is what attracted me to you from the moment we first met.”

“I tried to kill you when we first met.”

“And you were very honest about it,” Jay laughed before giving Meli another kiss.

“Also, just saying, major violence was involved in how I met Aila, Eir, Kerr, Thea, Alex, and Sorcha,” her Syd self called out from behind Dys. “I mean, Sorcha really did try to kill me. Sort of a running theme in my relationships.”

“That was when she thought you were a giant monster trying to kill her,” Meli said. “She thought she was going to die.”

“Did Sorcha tell you that?”

“Yes,” Meli nodded, rubbing her head against the top of Jay’s chest. “She was quite panicked.”

“Like you were panicked?”

“Yes.”

“I do have that affect on the ladies,” Dys grumbled with a suppressed grin.

“I am certain that you make men panic as well,” Meli pointed out. “You are quite intimidating when you wear your full armor.”

Jadis only chuckled in response, happily squeezing her lover close from two sides. Once again, they lapsed into silence, for long enough that Jadis almost fell asleep herself. Two of her, anyways, as her Syd self stayed awake, more out of habit than anything else. That her third self was still alert and observing was the only reason why Jadis heard the quiet statement that was uttered by her lover.

“I was supposed to be a caretaker.”

Rousing her other two selves, Jadis focused her full attention on Meli. She didn’t say anything, but she could tell that the Dryad felt her movements and could tell that she was listening.

“My grandmother is a Grove Caretaker. It is a class that is held in high regard among Dryads. Her father was a caretaker. And her grandmother. And her mother for her. My father is also a caretaker...”

Meli paused and shifted around, hugging Jay more tightly. When she continued, her words were hesitant, as though it were a struggle to put her thoughts into the air.

“My father is a Wildwood Strider. I am a Wildwood Strider. My father is an Animist. I am an Animist. My father has the Caretaker class. I… was supposed to earn it as well. He… wanted me to follow, to be as he is. To do as he does. But when I unlocked my secondary class, and I saw that all my choices were animists… I saw that—that I was just like my father. Just like him. In every way.”

Jadis heard Meli’s voice catch in her throat as a shudder ran through her thin body.

“I was so upset. I cannot even remember all of my reasons. But I chose Cloistered Animist because it was the one class that would let me be as unlike my father as I could be. I told him that I refused to be a caretaker of the grove. That I would never be like him. We fought. I said things, and he said... We… I left that day. I did not even tell him goodbye.”

There wasn’t much Jadis could think of to say. How did one repair a relationship that had been left aside so purposefully, and for so long? If she was frank with herself, it was entirely possible that Meli and her father might never fix what hurtful words had broken. But Jadis didn’t like to think of any situation as hopeless, especially not where her loved ones were concerned. After all, hadn’t Kreios said that he was glad to see that Meli wasn’t dead? The man cared, even if he was bad at showing it.

“How do you know that your father loves you?” Jay asked, a sudden inspiration having struck. “I mean, does he say it in words?”

“He does not,” Meli shook her head. “He shows it in the way that he cares for us. My mother would never expect to hear him say words of romance. But she has always had the brightest of smiles when my father makes her tea. He is very careful to prepare it exactly the way that she likes it, so that the tea is perfect for her.”

“You mean like the tea that he made for us, this morning?”

“It was the tea that he always made for me,” she said, and Jadis could hear the smile in her voice. “Just for me. Exactly as I remembered it.”

“Well,” Dys nuzzled her nose against the back of Meli’s head. “Maybe you should make him some tea tomorrow, just the way he likes it.”

“I think that he will be unhappy with the result,” the Dryad said warily. “I was never as good at preparing tea as he is.”

“Maybe it won’t be perfect,” Jay told her. “But it’ll be from you. I think that will make all the difference in the world to your father.”

Some time later, long after two of Jadis’ selves had closed her eyes again and drifted off to sleep, Syd heard Meli whisper three words that made her smile.

“…I can try.”