Work Text:
I have always enjoyed moments alone in the forest. Staring at the sky and sitting calmly at a fire. The fire itself drew my attention most often. Watching the sparks dance and the strange shadows playing on the trees. I was never quite sure what I liked the most. The silence of each night or the crackling sound of embers as morning drew close.
At times I did feel lonely. I wondered if something would appear to add to the kindness of the night. Other times I wondered if I was a fool. Out deep enough no one could reach me, where I could disappear in an instant. I let out a content sigh. All the wondering was part of what I loved.
I closed my eyes, listening to the world. The calm noise of crickets just at the edge of my camp. The wind as it whistled through all the trees. The way the silence sang once the crickets joined the world in sleep. A part of me wished this could be my life forever. A life of calm and joy in the midst of nature.
The peace I felt was disturbed by a rustle nearby. In the years I spent out here not a single creature came close. I tensed, worried that my luck out so far and alone finally died. I opened my eyes to stare at the sound. It grew louder long before any sign of a creature arrived. I had no weapons, just the fire in front of me. The fire I would never use to fight in this forest.
Out of the rustling darkness came a small form. I quickly relaxed, expecting something I had seen rarely. A rabbit, a squirrel, something like that. Out of the darkness and creeping towards the fire it came as I watched. I was almost certain it had yet to notice me. Finally the light hit the creature and I saw nothing I could have expected.
There in the smallest hint of light was a person. Small enough to hold in one hand. Their hair a green like the trees. Their skin the same shade as the bark. The small person was enough of a shock I leaned closer. That movement made them aware of my presence. The eyes, pitch black, reflected the fire I loved in a way that captured my heart. If I could I’d watch it dance in their eyes for hours.
The calm of night settled on us once more. I considered the options presented to me. The way I could act. This looked like a person, could possibly be so. At the same time they could just be a small animal looking for warmth in the cold that night would always bring. I chose not to move, merely watch the little body as it sat in the edge of the light. Time ticked on and I made a choice that I hoped I would not regret.
“I can only imagine it’s cold over there,” I said. The small face looked at me with emotions so hot they matched the fire between us. “There’s plenty of room by the fire, feel free to join me.”
I expected them to run. To leave me to wonder if this night had been a strange dream. Instead the small being stood, walking on two legs towards me. The closer to the fire the more I saw they were at least similar to humans. Clothes of leaves covered their body, bare feet taking silent steps along the ground. So much of me wanted to know more.
The person walked deeper into the light of the fire. I wondered if they would burn, if the heat would hurt them. They never reached the flame, leaving a large space between the fire and themself. Walking and walking until they reached me. The spot I sat on the ground, my back against a log. There they sat within an arm’s reach basking in the warmth of the night.
“Will you try to take me?” they whispered. “Is your kindness a lie?”
I doubted the questions were truly for me. The small being by my side looked uninterested in my answers. I allowed their wonders to sit and watched the flame for a while. Enough time for their small body to start to warm. To remove the chills of a night alone in the dark of the trees.
“I merely invited a traveler to join me, must there be anything more,” I whispered.
The dark eyes stared up at me, once more letting me glimpse the beauty they must see. Another period of silence. I watched the fire through them. Allowed my mind to wonder about the life someone like this would lead. I didn’t ask, letting the crackling flames be our voices.
My guest stood up. A heaviness settled in my chest thinking that they would leave. Another surprise from them as they came closer instead. Resting their back against my leg we watched the crackling flames together. The symphony of the forest played a backdrop to our night of peace. I chose not to sleep. I wanted to enjoy the time together. Sadly my choice didn’t matter, my eyes opened to the smoldering embers and my little friend long gone.
I spent the day assured I had a strange dream. I let the thought sit in my mind of what could cause such a unique illusion. Perhaps it was my loneliness. The days outside the forest wrought a pain on my soul. A time of strife when no one else understood the joy of a simple fire in the dead of night.
The sun began to set and a smile graced my face. I took a stroll around my camp, gathering the branches and twigs I would need. The moment the sun disappeared, the moment the stars began to pepper the sky, I lit my fire. I watched the start of it burn bright, jumping up to grasp greedily at the air. It was colder tonight, the fire a presence I could only be thankful for.
With the dark came silence, even the crickets failed to make their music. Too cold for even them. I didn’t mind. The silence was music enough for me. Mere moments passed before I heard the rustling again. This time I was positive it was my imagination, but turning to look graced me with that same tiny form. The green hair and black eyes a welcome sight.
They walked in slowly, questioningly. I smiled at them before looking back to the fire. In seconds their tiny weight was resting against my leg. I had my companion of the night and I would sit there in silence again. Happy to know there was someone enjoying a fire as much as I did.
“Why do you sit here with the fire?” they asked after hours of silence passed. “Other humans go to sleep, but you always stay up. Why?”
“I like the fire,” I answered. “In the dark and silence it’s beautiful to watch. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“This is the first time I’ve seen it so close… It is beautiful, beautiful and destructive. Where did you gather the wood for this?”
“I walk around, looking for the branches and twigs that have fallen. Rarely do I take one from a tree directly. I’ve neve had trouble finding the old wood out here. It adds to the beauty. A goodbye to what has been lost so that something new could grow.”
“You are a strange human… I think I like it.”
“I believe that’s a compliment then.”
The night continued in silence. This time I was awake to watch my little friend leave. They offered a wave before disappearing into the dim light of dawn. I had so much I wanted to know and yet I couldn’t ask. The nights were for a calm simple companionship. Not the onslaught of curiosity. On a day they visit I would ask, not before.
Unfortunately the new day passed painfully quickly. Tonight I couldn’t watch the fire and sleep at dawn. Tomorrow I had to leave. Return to the life of pain. Return to the wrong silences surrounding me in the dead of night. To the noises of a city I never wanted to live in.
When the night drew close I still gathered my wood. I started my fire and I sat watching. I would wait for the light of the moon to reach overhead and then I would sleep. My sleeping bag next to me where I could slip in easily. My companion came again, joining me by the fire. This time they sat on top of my leg, where I could see them watching the fire the whole time.
A few times I caught myself watching them instead. The fire played beautifully on their brown skin. The green of their hair looked to change shades each time the light hit it. Under the moon and next to the fire I knew they were the only person in the world more beautiful than a fire.
As I planned the fire died halfway through the night. I watched their tiny expression turn conflicted as the embers replaced the flames. The smoldering remnants of my last fire for months. The somber beauty it beheld paled next to the tiny person on my leg.
“Did you… not find enough wood?” they asked. I smiled at them as I shook my head.
“There was enough wood, but tomorrow I must return to my city,” the reluctance slipped in to my words. They watched me for a few moments as the embers continued to die and the heat of the former flame dissipated.
“Do you want to go back?”
“I would stay if I could. I am not a capable hunter or gatherer. I don’t know what is safe to eat here in the forest. Without a guide I would always have to go back. I would need funds for supplies… Too much for me to find a way around alone as I am.”
“Are you alone in the city too?”
“I am. There is no one waiting for me or looking for me. I take these moments where I feel less alone. The nature around is a better companion than I could ask for,” for the first time I risked reaching out to them. Using the joint of a finger and the tip of my thumb I turned their eyes to mine. “At least until you came along my little companion. I hope you’ll visit if you’re still here when I return again. Sadly that would be months from now.”
“I see… I…”
The silence hung heavy. I let them go, looking at their beauty in the moonlight. A fire’s glow was the only way I’d ever seen beauty in things. Here in the dark as the embers finished their fading I found a new beauty. A beauty of a person I would love to keep with me. It wasn’t possible though. A beauty like this would die in the cities I visit. I would never be able to torture them that way. A shiver ran through their body, reminding the fire was dead and that I had to sleep.
“I have to sleep.” My whisper in the night sounded almost cruel. Disrupting the calm it was clear we both loved. “If you’re still cold, you can join me in my sleeping bag. I would ask you to stay on my chest though, I worry I might hurt you any other way.”
“...Is that truly alright? You would keep me with you? I’ve never been here in the day. I could be a monster then. A horrible sight to behold that would take away your love of the forest around us.”
Once more I brought my finger and thumb close. I forced them to face my eyes, meeting the pits of blackness that reflected the beauty around us. “You would never be a monster. Your soul itself is beautiful.”
They nodded, grabbing the fingers I held near them. A strength I didn’t expect forced my hand to move. I would have followed without that strength. They climbed on my palm and I brought them close to my heart. The small form of my companion was a welcome weight in my hand. Another thing I would selfishly hold onto if they allowed it. Something I could only enjoy on these trips into the forest.
Carefully I slipped into my sleeping bag. I rested my head against the log that had formerly been for my back. Then I moved my companion, comfortably holding them over my heart. I looked down at them, their eyes holding so much wonder and fear. There would be no form that would make them a monster in my eyes.
It wasn’t long before I fell asleep watching them on my chest. Seeing how each of my breaths lifted their tiny body. The hands clutching the fabric of my clothes. It was amazing to see. I dreamed of a life with them. A home out in the forest where we could watch flames together. Enjoy a world of nature’s beauty.
I woke up under shade. The weather was kind to wait until the day I left for rain. Looking down I found my companion was already gone. I could understand, it was the day I left. I sat up, stunned to see what looked to be legs sitting in front of me. Folded as my own were each night by the flames.
Slowly I followed the legs up to a body and that body up to a face. A face I had stared at and dreamed of. Green hair framing beautiful black eyes. Here I could see a sharpness to their teeth as they bit their lip. It took time for them to notice I had woken up, but I could feel their heavy gaze when I moved. I climbed out of my sleeping bag, into the shadow of my companion.
“Are you scared?” they asked with a voice that vibrated my spine. A voice I loved hearing in the silence of night. A voice that was loud enough to drown out the noise I hated of the city days. “I am a monster like I said. During the day I’m only a little shorter than those trees you love, at night I can choose to be the small companion you’ve had.”
“Beautiful,” was the only word to escape me. They were beautiful, in those pitch black eyes I saw the world reflected. I saw the flickers of flame that I had loved until now. Emotion raging in those eyes like a raging fire. “You’re beautiful. The moonlight and the fires pale in comparison to you now. I could stare into your eyes for hours, just like the flickering flames in the night.”
Their hand came close to me. I wondered what they would do, if they would grab me. Instead the fingers a little taller than me rested on the ground. I put my hands on one, their skin felt as warm as the summer sun. I climbed onto them easily. My hands sank into their skin. A feeling I couldn’t believe I loved.
Crawling slowly over their fingers let me admire their hand. Soft skin where callouses had yet to form. I couldn’t stop myself from reverently tracing the marks of time in front of me. Looking up I was met with a blush that blinded me. The color the same as smoldering embers. Eventually I made it to the center of their palm.
The fingers curled up around me before the hand moved. I felt safe as they brought me up into the sky. It was invigorating. They brought me up past their chest where a beat of their heart faintly reached me. It was pounding, my own likely was too. They stopped with me near their eyes. Seeing myself reflected only proved how small I was, how small they were to me at night. An experience I think I enjoyed seeing.
“You’re amazing,” I breathed. The words fell hastily. “I have met a forest spirit or a deity these nights. It’s all I could use to describe you.”
“You’re unique. I’ve never seen a human acting so lovingly to my forest before…” Their voice vibrated through my body. It made me smile as it processed in my mind. I liked this, liked that it was the companion who understood the fire I loved. “You said you have to go today.”
“I cannot provide for myself in these woods. I would stay if I could.”
“Would you stay with me? I cannot make fires, they would burn me. I had always found them beautiful and you let me see how true that was.”
The offer made me slap myself. A love I never expected asking for me to stay in the forest I adored. Their face was covered in worry from my actions. All I could do was smile as I hugged a finger close to me. The warm soft skin mixed with the hard signs of work aided in proving this was real.
“I would stay, I would happily stay. Watching fires dance in your eyes and living in peace is a dream that flit through my mind for a moment, but accepted would never happen. The city would crush your small beauty. Together we can enjoy the calm of the forest, as long as you’ll have me.”
That day they took me to their home. A cave protected from the elements. Their steps shook the trees and scattered animals, but I was safe in their grasp. Outside the cave was more than enough of the wood I would need to make fires forever. They brought some in after dropping me off with my things.
Together we waited for nightfall. We watched the forest of the day and I often found myself staring into their beautiful eyes. When the sun set I made my little fire. This time they offered me their hand. They brought me up to their chest. They were lying on the floor of the cave, head resting against the wall. A mirror of the night before.
On their chest the deep beat of their heart replaced the silence of the forest. A wonderful replacement that made the night even better. I watched the fire dancing in their eyes rather than the flames themselves. Tonight I would sleep comfortably in their hold. I had all the time to watch flames now that I was with them.