Chapter Text
Young Jinshi trudged through the knee high grass and wildflowers to the top of the hill. His thighs burned and a trickle of sweat ran down his temple. He looked over his shoulder and saw the gaggle of annoying girls still watching, waiting for him to come back down. At least they’re too lazy to follow me. But how long before they go home?
The new school year had started and though he didn’t attend the local one, these girls got off the bus near where he had been working. Once they spotted him, they squealed and chased after him just as they had done the previous school year. I’m only nine! What do they want from me?
Ahead of him was the blissful shade of the tree line. Unfortunately, he knew more ladies would fuss and fawn over him if he got any closer. His parents explained to him years ago how his great-grandparents bestowed blessings upon him. Blessings! Ha! If these are blessings, I’d hate to see what a curse from them would be like.
He pondered that for a moment, and a violent shudder coursed through his small frame. Happy he kept the thought to himself instead of speaking it aloud, he continued his trek. He heard stories, knew all too well how horrifying a curse from any of the Gods could be. His blessings might not be as wonderful as the envious imagined, but he knew better than to complain about them out loud.
Giggles interrupted his thoughts; a cluster of fruit trees, a couple of oaks, and a walnut tree stood before him. Beautiful women stepped gracefully out of the trunks or dropped down from the high branches, calling his name. Immediately they began offering him fruit, nuts, and acorns from their trees. The dryads were kind, they meant him no harm, but they didn’t understand he just wanted to be left alone.
Desperately he attempted to placate them, politely turning down their offerings. He knew from experience if he accepted one, the others would get jealous. Same if he sought shade under one of their trees. Trying to find a place to rest unbothered, his eyes fell on a tree further up the hill, closer to the older pine trees. It was little more than a sapling, but the swaying leaves beckoned him closer.
When the dryads saw where he was headed, they implored him to go no further. They reminded him where the property line was between his parents’ and their grumpy neighbor. Once more the dryads tried to tempt him with their sweet, juicy fruits, but only craving solitude, he ignored them and pressed on.
Looking over the valley, he knew how lucky he really was. In front of him was an idyllic landscape, fit for any artist to capture on canvas. His family’s radiant white lime-wash home was nestled in the center of their sprawling vineyards. Currently, rows and rows of the juicy grapes were ripe for harvesting. Beyond their home was the winery, their family’s business for five generations now. Here in Greece, they were known for having some of the best wine in the Mediterranean.
Over the past week, his father had been waking Jinshi early every morning. With harvest time upon them, Yang wanted to make sure the grapes were in perfect condition. Jinshi had been blessed by his paternal great-grandfather, Dionysus, with the ability to control the vines. His skill was nearly as strong as his grandmother, Anshi, and she was a proper demigod.
Turning his attention away from the panoramic view, he stepped over the single row of large rocks that marked the property line. He was close enough now to see the sapling he spotted was a ginkgo biloba tree. Its unique fan-shape leaves were just beginning to change color from green to yellow in the crisp autumn air. His hope this tree was devoid of a host dryad was dashed when he saw a small figure squatting at its base. Wearing a short, sleeveless dress made of moss with dark green hair that shimmered in the afternoon sunlight, she didn’t look any older than him. Maybe even younger, but it was always difficult to say with dryads. Depending on the species of their tree, they may have a thirty-year lifespan or a thousand, and they aged accordingly.
“I don’t remember seeing you before. What are you doing?” he asked the girl.
“I’m sweeping some leaves to these mushrooms. They like to feed off them.” She turned— appraising Jinshi with intelligent eyes. “You’re not a nymph.”
Annoyance seared in his veins. “Of course I’m not. I’m a human. Why would you think I’m a nymph?”
Her big blue eyes darted in the direction of the valley. “I heard voices, girl’s voices yelling for the nymph boy to come back to them.”
Burning with embarrassment, he stammered, “That’s not my fault! It’s those stupid girls! They were chasing me!”
“You should go back. You don’t belong here.”
Jinshi halted. No one. Absolutely no one, had ever dismissed him like that. Well almost no one. Not with the blessing his great-grandmother on his mother’s side gave him. Aphrodite bestowed not only the gift of beauty, but charm as well. Everywhere he went, people fell all over themselves just to be near him. He had to be homeschooled by his grandmother, Suiren. Having been married to the demigod child of Aphrodite, she had built-up a tolerance over many years.
Jinshi knew their grumpy neighbor was the one exception, but there was a reason he was immune. He had no idea what Jinshi looked like, or anyone else for that matter. He couldn’t discern faces. Maybe the man’s dryad has the same problem?
“Aren’t you going to fawn all over me?” he asked her.
Her brows knitted together, as if he’d just asked a rather stupid question. “No. Why would I do that?”
“Everyone else does.”
“If that’s what you want, I suggest you go find everyone else.”
“No! I mean… I don’t want to be fawned over. I’m just surprised, that’s all. You see, Aphrodite blessed me when I was a baby and—”
“I understand. You needn’t say more. Her gifts are powerful. I suppose that’s why they’re watching you so intently?” She pointed to the dryads he had just left.
“Uh huh.” Jinshi noticed this dryad’s hair had a few yellow highlights mixed in with the green. Does her hair change color with her leaves? “Would it be all right if I rested under your tree? I’d like to sit in the shade without anyone swooning over me.”
“My tree? It’s small, hardly any shade. Why not the pine trees? The dryads there are too old to care if you’re decent looking.”
Decent looking? Jinshi glanced in the direction she pointed. Barely a stones throw away, pine trees lined the edge of the forest that stood between the two massive properties. “Yea, but the pine needles on the ground poke me, plus there are ants and sap—it’s just not very comfortable.”
“I see. Well then… I suppose if you really want to… just don’t squish these mushrooms. They’re good for my roots.”
Jinshi stepped around her and sat with his back reclined against the narrow trunk.
“What do you think you’re doing?! My roots aren’t very deep yet! Your big head will knock my tree down!”
“My big head?” Jinshi grinned. He’d never been insulted before. It was strangely refreshing. “You’re fine. I won’t knock you down. Don’t worry. I just don’t like getting grass or dirt in my hair. But if you don’t like it, you could let me lay my head down on your lap instead.”
“Ew, no. I’m never letting you do that.”
A broad grin burst across his face. He had no idea it could be so thrilling to be rejected! “Never say never.” Jinshi wanted to talk more, but struggled to think of a topic. “What’s your name? Ginkgo?”
“Just because my home tree is a ginkgo, doesn’t mean that’s my name. It’s Maomao.”
“Maomao? That’s an unusual name for a dryad.”
“The man who planted me gave me the name. He’s a weirdo.”
“The grumpy guy?”
“That’s the one. Lakan. He keeps trying to get me to call him Papa.”
Jinshi crinkled his nose. He’d never known anyone to make such a peculiar request from a dryad. “Weirdo.”
From her kneeled position, Maomao peered up at him. “Exactly.”
Jinshi picked at a loose thread on his shirt just to watch it blow away on the breeze. He sighed contentedly, his lids growing heavy. “My name is Jinshi,” he spoke softly.
“Didn’t ask,” Maomao responded.
Jinshi drifted off to sleep under the watchful, yet annoyed eyes of the young dryad. Feeling his weight press against her trunk, she hoped he found himself a better spot to nap in the future.
———————
In the days that followed, Jinshi couldn’t stop thinking about the strange dryad who had no interest in him. She was fascinating, a puzzle he wished to solve. He visited her again, asked questions about her life and was sad when he realized there wasn’t much to tell. She had only been mature enough to emerge a few months before. Her only visitor was the weirdo who planted her. He was apparently interested in the medicinal uses of her leaves, particularly the benefits to the mind.
Being young, she couldn’t travel more than thirty or forty meters from her home tree. She’d had a very limited existence and he found himself wishing to do something to help her. But he hadn’t had any brilliant ideas to that end.
What he could do was talk, keep her company. He wondered if this is what it felt like to have a proper friend. Someone who wasn’t instantly enamored just by looking at him.
First, he told her everything he knew about the place they lived. This area of Greece was home to many demigods and their descendants; gathered together for mutual understanding and protection.
As he grew more comfortable around her, he shared things he hadn’t spoken of to anyone else. Like how he was given gifts from two different godly ancestors because they were feeling competitive the day he was born.
As her leaves turned yellow, he told her about his resentment towards his father who both valued Jinshi’s gift from Dionysus and envied him for it since Dionysus only blessed Yang with a sensitive palate.
Just about two weeks after they first met, Jinshi made his sixth climb up the hill. When he was in sight of the ginkgo tree he saw a small circle of yellow on the ground. The tree was bare and the dryad’s clothes and hair, which had been a beautiful, bright yellow a couple days ago, were changing to ash-gray and white.
“What happened?”
“Cold snap last night,” she stated matter-of-factly.
Jinshi felt a profound sadness he found difficult to describe. The last time he saw her, she was full of brilliant color. He felt a tightness in his chest over how quickly that brilliance was taken away. “Yeah but, all your leaves…”
Maomao scrutinized his face, he had the peculiar impression she was sizing him up. As if she was trying to ascertain his level of intelligence. “That’s what leaves do in autumn. Surely you know this.”
“I know trees drop their leaves, but not all at once.”
“Mine does. At least it does with cold. If the weather is mild, they’ll fall off slowly. What are you doing here again?”
Jinshi shuffled his feet, twisting his hands around the gift he brought her. “Here. I made this for you.”
She tentatively accepted his offering. “A wreath?”
“It’s made from grapevines. I know since you’re young, you can’t travel very far from your tree. If there’s something you want, and it’s out of reach, just hold this end and point it. It will unravel and grab what you want, to bring it closer.”
“Thank you.” Maomao eyed him suspiciously, “Why would you give this to me? What do you want in return?”
He felt his cheeks flush with heat. “Nothing! I just wanted to show my appreciation for letting me nap under your tree. That’s all.”
“Do you intend to continue?” Spotting a leaf that blew seven meters away, she tested out his gift. A crack like a whip broke the stillness around them, seconds later she held the leaf in her hand.
Getting others to smile was easy for him, a smile from her had to be earned. Seeing the corners of her mouth curling, Jinshi beamed. He could feel his heart flutter in his chest like a bird trying to escape. “If that’s all right,” he answered.
“Winter is approaching. I will be conserving energy by withdrawing into my tree. Do me a favor. Since you and your big head like pushing on my trunk, rotate which side you rest against so I don’t grow crooked or fall over, okay?”
Jinshi smirked briefly, but when she yawned and he realized her skin was growing more and more pale before his eyes, he realized her hibernation wouldn’t just be starting soon. It would be starting today. “I’ll watch over you. Make sure nothing happens to you this winter.”
“You don’t need to do that. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“I want to. I guess we might not see each other again until spring.”
“By spring I’m sure you’ll have found someone else to annoy.”
He grinned, trying to ignore the lump in his throat. He didn’t have the courage to admit she was his only friend. “I doubt I’ll find anyone more fun to annoy than you.”