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Desmond huffed and folded his arms, staring down at Greta with an imperial look. “Puck stays with her.”
Greta rolled her eyes. “Of course he does, you buffoon. How else is she supposed to learn to control her magic?”
With that statement, Greta pushed on Desmond’s chest with more force than Claire would have thought the old Elf capable of and shut the door in his face.
Claire bit the inside of her cheek at the outrage coming from her bond with him as Greta turned to face her.
“I understand your desire to train me alone,” she began, needing to set some boundaries with the old Elf, “but they are still my mates and Triad and need to be shown the respect that comes with that. We’ve had a rough few weeks. They’re overprotective.”
Greta studied her for a moment before nodding. “Good. You have a backbone.” This time Claire rolled her eyes and the old Elf cackled. “You’ll need it. Just like your men need to let you do this yourself.”
Apparently, that was as much concession as Claire was going to get from Greta as she turned and headed towards another door on the opposite side of the trunk. Greta turned back and saw Claire still standing there. “Come on, young Princess, get moving. We have lots to cover.”
Claire followed Greta out the door and back outside into a small garden. Wait, not outside. Claire lifted her gaze to the tree’s trunk still surrounding them. “How…” she trailed off, spinning in a circle and making sure she couldn’t see any daylight before asking the question.
“Magic,” Greta answered anyways. “Most of our most precious plants don’t require the traditional Realm way of growing crops.”
“Huh,” Claire mused, looking around. The garden was dimly lit by lanterns hung on the trunk of the tree and posts dotted throughout the garden. Some of the plants were familiar to Claire but most were foreign. Instead of the shades of green she was familiar with, the Elven plants ranged in shades of blue, purple, silver, and yellow. It was like looking at a muted rainbow. The garden was as large as Professor Helene’s at the Academy.
Damn it. Claire stiffened. Professor Helene. It had been days since Claire checked in with her tree to let her know they were all okay.
“What is it?” Greta asked sharply.
“It’s nothing. I’ve just forgotten to check in with some people at the Academy for a few days. They must be sick with worry.”
“How have you been checking in?”
Claire hesitated. Was her Energy Reading ability normal or abnormal to Greta and would she treat her differently because of it?
“Spit it out, princess. We don’t have the time and I need to know how much you already know.” Greta’s tone was sharp but her words made sense. They would have to leave for the Dragon Mountains eventually. Claire needed to stop dawdling.
“I’ve been communicating with my professor’s tree. She’s a Dryad and we found out that I can push feelings and maybe messages even through her tree. It’s how we’ve been keeping in touch since we entered the Forest. But then so much happened and I forgot to do it. That’s okay, I can do it later though.”
Greta shrugged. “Do it now. Then you won’t be distracted during my time with you.”
Claire bit her lip. Greta’s tone was still sharp but Claire was beginning to understand that might just be her way. Toan clearly had a lot of respect for her so Claire should reserve judgment on her sharp tones until later.
She knelt to the ground and placed her hands down. Instead of grass, cool moss met her palms and fingers and Claire let herself sink into its slow steady Energy. Taking a deep breath in, as she let it out she closed her eyes, reaching out for Helene’s tree and its unique Energy signature. She had to wait longer this time until she located it and Claire wondered if that was because she was deeper in the Forest.
Nevertheless, she waited patiently, taking another deep breath and letting it out until her magic landed on the tree’s Energy. The Energy felt Claire’s presence and was a bit chaotic in its response. Helene was probably worried sick. Claire pushed down feelings of warmth and safety until the Energy calmed. Then she tried pushing a picture of the Royal Tree so Helene would know they found the Elves. She had no idea if the picture went through but she tried three times before calling her magic back into her and standing up.
“Remarkable,” Greta complimented and Claire blushed. “In addition to your mother’s gift of Sight, she also had a way with the trees. However, not to the extent you seem to be developing.”
Claire’s eyes widened as she realized that’s what her mother had meant by her visions in her letter last night. “She had the gift of Sight?”
Greta nodded. “Lorna also had it but to a lesser extent than your mother. Your mother could predict events within the week with stunning accuracy. She was often gifted visions of events in the far future but those were more fragmented and not as clear.”
Claire wanted to ask more questions but Greta changed the subject.
“Anyways, time’s a’wasting so let’s get started,” Greta said. “I’m not going to cover every detail of the Elves’ history. There’s books that you can read for that. Instead I’m going to teach you everything I know that I think will help you with whatever is coming.”
Claire paused. Greta’s words were similar to her mother’s written ones. “Do you know what is coming?” Claire asked hesitantly.
Greta shook her head and sighed, leaning on her walking stick and all of a sudden looking every bit her ancient age. “No, I don’t. But whatever it is, is bigger than the Realm has seen in a long time. Your mother knew that. I’ll teach you everything I know about how and why this started and let you and your mates put together the pieces.”
It wasn’t the answer that Claire wanted and she had more questions for Greta but she bit her tongue and nodded. She could work her questions into whatever Greta was going to teach her. The Elf didn’t seem like someone who appreciated interruptions.
“Like I said earlier, our most precious plants don’t need sunlight to survive and are found deep in the Elven Forest or in our tended gardens only. These plants are not only essential to Elven life, they are also our tools of trade. The plants and the potions we can create from them were our primary source of trade before the Great War.”
