Willow Sam turned around, and saw fire.

A man stood there. His face was drawn, weathered. His silver hair was worn in fine curls that trailed across his face, thinning as he neared middle-age. He wore fine furs, lined with filigree.

Even so, this was a man who knew how to wield the axe by his side, or the torch in his right hand, held aloft. And from the look in his eyes, he had every intention of using either should the situation deem it.

Sienna’s eyes widened. “Father!”

Lord Smyth frowned, and nodded to his daughter. “Sienna. When you did not return with your wards, I grew worried.”

“I was talking with Vi…consulting with the countess,” she corrected herself quickly.

Lord Smyth nodded, and turned to the treemen. “And then I look at the edges of my estate to see these…men, here. Consulting, with my daughter.”

Willow Sam stared back implacably. “We had a message for the countess’s counselor.” He nodded to Sienna. “And a request for counsel of our own.”

Sienna felt more than saw her father draw closer. “My daughter is busy. If you would talk with her, arrange it with staff. Or better yet, do without.”

The treeman’s eyes twinkled. “Are you scared of a tree, Lord Smyth?”

“Why should I be?” Smyth asked. “If you sticks were going to claim vengeance, you’d have done it before I felled the first thousand trees.” He turned his back on the treemen, and walked away. “Come along, Sienna.”

Sienna followed her father. She snuck a glance back at the treemen, curious and a little embarrassed of how Smyth had treated them.

They stared back. Silent, and never seeming to judge. Sienna didn’t know if they had moved through the entire exchange. They hadn’t even flinched when Smyth had mentioned cutting down trees, or waved fire in their faces.

Willow Sam was the lone exception, the spokesman for them. And he kept his smile on his face. Small, wooden.

She tripped, and stumbled to the ground. Sienna scrambled around, her hands seeking purchase.

A branch reached out to help her, closing around her wrist.

Sienna shrieked, jumping back up. Smyth’s axe was in his hand, ready to strike. His face was contorted in fury, and his arm swung down.

Sam caught the man’s arm by the wrist. The treeman’s twiggy fingers wrapped around the lord’s wrist. Smyth wriggled, but could not move.

“Why harm a tree?” Sam asked. “We never try to hurt anyone. We just live here.”

He released Smyth from his grip. The lord prepared to strike again, but Willow Sam simply melted away. In seconds, the two appeared alone.

Sienna breathed in deeply. Viola was counting on her, and she couldn’t be rude to the treemen.

“Thank you!” She called out. “I hope we can live together in harmony.”

There was no response.

Sienna felt even smaller then. She had not seen the treeman, at all. Could anyone mistake treemen for trees if they weren’t looking closely? Were they still there, watching the humans?

What had Viola done?

copyright 2018 Jack Holder

Sienna rode home later that afternoon, alone. The Koskovs had been summoned back to the manse at Smyth’s request, shuffled along by her father’s own men. Sienna had been offered a space in the carriage, which she declined. There had still been discussions to be had with Nalus, which went nowhere, and quiet pleading with Viola, which went worse.

She nodded to the guards. It had been somewhat funny to see guards trying to hide the cream puffs they had been snacking on. Where had they even found them? Probably some cook had slipped it to them.

Sienna herself had left the countess’s manse just an hour or so after the children, but already the shadows were starting to loom. The already cold air was becoming far colder, but still she rode on horseback. She wore a heavy cloak, and though her breath wafted out from underneath her hood, she ignored it.

Sienna was changing, something she truly hated. She had been vain, and silly, and able to grasp the comforts of the world and hold them to her chest. But the noble had soon realized that that was something Viola Konstantin would not tolerate, and changed out of necessity. Now, she could see the necessity there, but no Viola.

The girl could not stop seeing shadows. The Valley which had once been a beacon to her, now loomed. There were whispers she was once deaf to, rumors that she had ignored for far juicier, more risqué ones of the court.

And what was she supposed to do about them? Sienna shivered, consumed in that question. She wasn’t a soldier. She didn’t have magical powers like the countess. She was Sienna, a glorified gossip. Trading on her looks as much as her father’s name. Sienna was, in her own modest opinion, pretty useless in this respect.

“Lady Sienna,” A voice crackled through the trees.

The horse reared up with a whinny. Sienna’s hands clenched, and she looked around for a weapon. Why did she not carry one? Of all the vestiges of civility to remain, a lady remaining unarmed had to be the worst.

“Peace, human.” Willow Sam emerged out of the trees. “We merely want to speak.”

We? Ah, Sienna could see them now. Leaning against the trees, or hidden in the boughs. Their own appearance a natural camouflage in the forest. Sienna wondered how many treemen were now in the Valley.

“Willow Sam.” She managed. “Speak.”

He bowed his head. “We did not want to speak. We are content with our grove, provided by the countess. When there are problems for us, or our flock, we know that the countess can be relied upon for response. And to not offend your countrymen, or anyone else, we stay silent. It is our way.

“However…” The treeman looked back to his brothers. “When it comes to her own safety, we do not know how to proceed.”

“Her own?”

Willow Sam nodded. “We are fae. We know humans, of course. But someone like Viola…is there such a thing? We do not know what will break her.”

His face cracked into a smile. “You humans are just so fragile. One wrong move and you’re broken.”

“Was that a threat, tree?”

copyright 2018 Jack Holder