Chapter 534: Lost Kin
"Hello, old friend," Ashlynn said, gently brushing her fingers across the bark of the Ancient Oak. Standing this close, the shadow of the tree felt both deep and heavy, and the creak of the branches in the gentle autumn wind sounded like the movement of old bones shuffling in the night.
To stand beneath the Ancient Oak was to stand beneath the weight of time itself and for a moment, Ashlynn felt the weight of a number of years that were impossible to count settling down on her shoulders, like a faint preview of her future with Nyrielle before the weight fell away and the tree rustled in a gentle greeting.
"I’ve brought a friend," Ashlynn said, holding a hand out to Virve and gesturing for her to approach the mighty tree. "She’s helped to keep me and my coven safe, and she’s watched over my love for even longer than she’s watched over me."
Virve reached out to Ashlynn slowly, taking the younger woman’s hand in her large paw and allowing herself to be led toward the towering oak. She had seen the Ancient Oak once before, but she had never come beneath the canopy of the venerable tree. Seeing it from a distance was already impressive, but now that she stepped under the branches of the mighty oak, she found herself needing Ashlynn’s support and guiding hand just to approach the trunk.
"Her name is Virve," Ashlynn said as the older woman approached the trunk of the tree. "And I’d like your help to bring her into my coven as the next Oak Witch."
Virve wasn’t a young woman anymore and she’d long come to accept that, unless she stretched or warmed up her body, there was a growing stiffness in her motions and a weight to her movements that hadn’t been there twenty or even ten years ago. Moving under the canopy of the Ancient Oak, however, brought all of the minor aches and pains of her body into sharp focus and the closer she came to the trunk of the tree, the more stooped her posture became as the strength of her muscles faded.
Only when her large paw touched Ashlynn’s small and delicate hand did the feeling of advancing years retreat, replaced by the warm, comforting feeling she had once felt as a young cub playing at her grandfather’s feet. No longer was the tree ancient and imposing, rather, as someone who was a friend of the Mother of Trees, the tree welcomed her into its shade, filling her with the feeling of returning home after a long day away.
"Hello, Ancient One," Virve said softly as Ashlynn guided her paw to touch the bark of the tree.
Above their heads, branches shook and trembled as a wind felt only by the great tree swept through the branches. The place where Virve’s hand touched the ancient bark grew warm to the touch, enveloping her claws in a soft golden-green glow that quickly spread along her arm before spreading across her chest.