Dance of the Forest Nymph

Ledona was exploring the forest on her weekly check. She would normally take three days to explore, going in a different direction each week from her hogan home, speaking with any creature who had a question for her and taking care of any ailments she came across. This was quite a sustainable forest, and so there was not often any distress to address.

It was late spring, getting closer to summer, and so Ledona was spending time with the flowering trees this month, making sure everyone had what they needed for the fruiting time ahead. Her part of the forest had always thrived, and she was determined to show the same resilience again this season.

There had been a heavy energy in the woods since Beltaine. None of the plants or animals had come across anything they believed would be the cause. One possum had come to her with a story of fat singing birds, though he described it as quite joyful to listen to, and so she was able to deduct the birds from the equation.

Today, Ledona had helped two armadillos finish their molding, recused a baby possum from the running creek, spoke to the oaks and the almonds to see if they needed any early fruiting food and listened to countless stories from the spiders of the gossip of the forest. One story piqued her interest in particular that she thought may have something to do with the low vibration that was troubling the whole woods….the humans were more unsettled than usual.

The humans kept the ridge to the east of Ledona's forest, and although she was still young, she knew the importance of keeping from their space. It was a well known tale she'd been told since she could remember, and these humans specifically had a very close connection with Ledona's bloodline. Her mother, Elia, was the queen of the nymph's back when such was recognized. Once, when the forest was sick, Elia had gone seeking assistance from the Council of Nymph's and ended up finding the energy needed in the new-found human neighbors that had been clearing the ridge. She was able to work with the humans in both their endeavors for food and bringing the ecosystem of the forest back into balance.

For years the forest began to thrive again, growing plants that had not been before for use in medicine for the humans, and in return, the humans returned all that was from the earth to the earth, spreading compost and seed throughout the underbrush of the forest. The food supply for the humans thrived as well, as Elia had shared her spirit with the Father of the humans.

The father had passed many years ago, and though the balance of the forest had been set off by this, both world's of life continued to thrive. Ledona had stopped to visit the ridge multiple times over the years, and found it curious that the humans left chose to continue to cut down the grains and herbs that did still grow instead of utilizing them for their means. Meanwhile, the forest continued to grow sustainably and became a wondrous working ecosystem in benefit of both the Fae and the humans. It had been a few seasons since she had visited, and so Ledona decided to cross the valley to the east and see what was going on over on the ridge.

As Ledona began her ascent up the east side of the valley, she began to hear the singing of strange birds. She had heard them before, but never near her part of the forest. The song was less of a rhythm and more of a gobbling coo screech. She giggled at that thought. As she came closer to the top of the ridge, she recognized the screech as more of a call for help and she hastened her movements. She came upon a small barn that had been built up to enclose the most peculiar looking birds. As they spoke to her, she realized they were locked in, the rain had subsided and they were near out of water, and she confirmed that they had had no new food in days as the grain and corn on the ground were nearly picked clean. They told her that even their eggs had been being stolen in the night. Ledona couldn't help but feel for the birds, and so she unlatched the gate to the barn and let them go. Two of the birds refused to leave the enclosure, and so she looked them over, bandaged their wounds and left them some lammas bread to keep them nourished.

After tending to the birds, Ledona turned toward the human's home. The garden filled the expanse between her and the structure that looked as if no one had lived in it for years. Windows were broken and the walls in between showed an excessive rot within the structure that had her wondering how it still stood. But it was the garden that caught Ledona’s attention. It looked as if someone had planted in it again, and then left it alone. There were flowers and carrots and peas, tomatoes and eggplant and strawberries, as well as corn and squash intermingled with the meadow grains that grew above them.

Ledona was delighted to come across the human food garden, it had been so long since it had thrived, the balance had tipped into the forest. This had not yet become an issue, though Ledona knew the imbalance could only last so long before becoming the blight they had experienced years before.

She was sure this was the low vibration felt all around the forest. She knew not why the humans abandoned their garden, for she still felt their energy present, but she would certainly make sure they knew the beginning was appreciated!

She quickly went to work, checking each plant in turn and providing it with the food and energy it needed for that moment. So many of them had long since depleted their original planted supply, and though the rain kept a good amount of life moving, the humans' separation of their food from the rest of the forest growth made it hard for them to keep up. Knowing she would not be able to visit the ridge but once a month at most, and that the undergrowth would continue to grow over the food she decided to spread feeding seed; adding vetch, clover and a bit of rye grass to the already thickening growth.

As she danced around the garden speaking with each plant in turn, helping to balance the soil underneath and happily going about her work, she paused as she looked across the road toward the house. Just to the north of the home was planted a row of fruit trees, still prolific, though you could see the test of time and neglect in their pattern of growth. One of the trees raised its branches in an arc, and bowed gently to Ledona. Knowing it was joining in her dance, she stopped to bow to the tree as well.

"Thank you, dear Pear! I appreciate your blessing and wish you the sweetest fruits you can bear." she spoke to the pear tree directly.

Ledona had worked and danced all day, and as the sun began to light the forest aflame with sunset, she knew she had to get back to her own part of the forest. She smiled at the garden, smelled the thyme and sage as the breeze lightly pushed over the ridge. She was confident that no matter what had happened, the humans would still be blessed with a bounty for the season. She began the trek back to the west, and intended to return the next time she explored the east boundary.

The summer came and passed as Ledona found herself very busy with the workings of the forest, this turned out to be a wonderful year of growth and she was able to welcome many new fae into the forest. Although she hadn't forgotten, Ledona was unable to make it back to the human’s ridge until just before the autumnal equinox.

With the harvest in full swing in mid-September, Ledona decided to go visit the garden from the spring. As she made her way through the east valley, she sang a song of sustenance. The forest had a great bounty to pull in and she envisioned the human garden full of fruit as well.

As she took the last couple steps to the top of the hill, Ledona ducked behind a tree. There was a girl in the garden, hard to see through the forest of field grain and cover-crop that had overgrown over the summer. She could feel the sadness coming from the girl, and began to send love blessings to her. As Ledona was looking out over the plot of garden, noticing that most of everything did not fruit out within the garden, and the sunflowers simply had died, the girl bent down excitedly. When she stood back up, Ledona saw a single habanero pepper in the girl's hand. The girl went bouncing off to tell someone else of her treasure find and it gave Ledona a great smile.

Catching the gaze of the pear tree across the way, Ledona gave a quick spin and bow, and again, the tree returned the bow. Ledona went back into her forest satisfied; even though she may not have been able to ensure a bounty for the humans, she knew that the excitement of fruit found in an untended garden would get the humans doing their part in the forest again. And she went home happy.