Author Games: Brave New World

Task Five Entries: Parthenos

Natalia "Olive" Amber

It was Aminee again.

There was no doubt in Olive's mind that Aminee was responsible for the creaking outside her tent. In the two weeks since they'd first met, fourteen days to be exact, Olive had spent twelve of those days with Aminee, to some degree. Though the dryad girl's understanding of human language was minimal at best, it was fast improving, and the dryad method of communication was universal.

Olive sat up in her sleeping bed. With all the research going on, no one had gotten around to making actual furniture yet. She couldn't blame them. She wasn't exactly eager to leave her note taking to put together a bed.

Aminee sent her a sensation of impatience. Olive rolled her eyes. The dryad girl was just as impatient as Olive's sisters sometimes, only she was more direct with it. Olive stood up and slipped out of the tent.

"Aminee?" She hissed in the cold, clear night air. "Aminee?" Aminee may not be her name in her native language, but it was the closest to it in English, and Aminee seemed to understand that it referred to her.

Aminee stepped out of the shadow of a tree. Her leaves appeared nearly blue in the moonlight. The color was so lovely on Aminee. The leaves seemed to be the dryad equivalent of human hair.

Aminee sent Olive a vibe that she thought she understood, but needed some clarification. "You want to show me something?" She asked.

Aminee reinforced a feeling of certainty through Olive. This was what Aminee wanted. Olive sighed, and Aminee sent a feeling of confusion. Olive only shook her head.

"Show me what you want to show me," she said.

Aminee sent in a feeling of delight that made Olive smile despite her misgivings. She followed Aminee through the forest.

She glanced up at the moons. One was full tonight, and the other was crescent. They looked to be the same size, but just like Earth's sun and moon, one was larger but farther away. Both of them were smaller than Earth's moon.

"We can't keep walking forever," Olive warned. She cast an uneasy look at the forest around her. "I don't want to get lost."

Aminee sent Olive a sensation of confusion, but trust, and of being rewarded for patient. She wanted Olive to wait and trust her, and they were almost to what Aminee wanted Olive to see.

Aminee came to a stop. The vibration gave Olive the desire to come closer and look at something. She didn't expect much, but when she saw what Aminee wanted her to see, her jaw dropped.

"It's beautiful," Olive breathed. It was a crystal, or rather, crystals. They had one unified stem from a stump, but grew into several points. The crystals were a shining shade of unnatural pink, but in this setting, it was entirely natural. Aminee sent a wave of confidence, acknowledging the compliment granted to her possession.

A rumble broke out through the ground. Aminee jolted, and looked at Aminee. Olive frowned. Something was wrong. She could tell.

Aminee's next vibrations commanded Olive to wait for a minute and leave. For some reason or other, Aminee had to go. Olive would bet money, if she were a betting kind of girl, that the dryad from before had called Aminee like a parent calling a child's name. Aminee hiked away.

Olive glanced again at the crystal. It was so pretty. There had to be mineral specialists that would love to study this back at the Parthenon. She might even be rewarded for bringing in such a find.

Aminee would understand. She might even have brought Olive here for this purpose. After all, she'd understood what Olive meant by beauty. Her kind might value stones as well. This could be meant as a gift in honor of their friendship.