Amerie stabbed a meatball on her plate. It was spaghetti bolognese for dinner, her favourite. But today Amerie felt like she had a lot more on her plate than a famous Italian dish.
“Mum?”
“Yes, Amerie?” replied her mother, still seriously concentrating on twirling her fork around the spaghetti.
“So when is Kin -, I mean the tree, going to be cut down?” Amerie asked.
Amarine put down her fork in mourning, “The tree surgeons said that they’d be coming this Saturday,” she sighed.
“Oh, so soon?” said Amerie in surprise. But seeing her mother’s woeful expression, she decided it was best to change the topic. “Um, Dad. This spag bol is really good. Really...tender.”
Her father thanked her kindly, knowing she meant well.
That night, Amerie wrestled with her conscience. Her parents were fast asleep, and the dark shroud of the night would make it even easier to sneak into the forest. Maybe it would be breaking their trust, but perhaps for once something in her life was important enough to warrant rule-breaking. Amerie didn’t know if Grandmother Lyndzei somehow knew if King Cedrych was going to be cut down, but it seemed too important to risk not telling her.
The nice thing about living in the wide, flat cabin house Amerie lived in was that it made sneaking out of her window incredibly easy. There was no fuss of tying up blanket sheets to make a ladder. All Amerie had to do was literally clamber out of her window. Which was a shame, because she had always thought the blanket sheet ladder looked quite cool in the movies.
In one breath of the night wind, Amerie stole into the forest. Amerie had forgotten to put on a jumper, but luckily it was a warm night. Still, it was a little chilly. Amerie made a mental note to be more prepared next time.
It wasn’t long before Amerie reached Grandmother Lyndzei.
“Now, Amerie. Don’t think that just because I’m not your real grandmother I won’t scold you for being out late at night!” Grandmother Lyndzei, feigning seriousness.
Amerie knew that Grandmother Lyndzei, the self-proclaimed rebel, was only saying this for the thrill of (for once) being able to tell someone off. She rolled her eyes, “Come on, Grandmother Lyndzei, I know you're secretly proud.”
The old oak rumbled in the starlight, “Right you are! You can’t imagine how excited I was when I sensed you coming in. So what is it? The parents bugging you? Won’t let you dye your hair or get piercings? Not even a tattoo? So you ran away from home? Going to live life in the wild out in the star realm with your old Grandma Lyndzei, eh?”
Amerie blinked, “Um, no. They would probably be happy if I did, but I have this thing against toxic chemicals...and pain.”
Grandmother Lyndzei huffed, “Just my luck. The first child to come into the star realm for a year and this one’s no fun.”
“Ha-ha,” said Amerie dryly, “Wait, did you say in a year?”
“Ah,” the mischief on Grandmother Lyndzei’s face faded, “I didn’t mention it before, did I? No one has fallen into the star spot of Shepherd’s forest for a year. I had blamed it on urbanisation at first, but I think it must have been Desaraelfrun intercepting people this whole time.”
“I wonder where she went,” pondered Amerie.
“What do you mean?” asked Grandmother Lyndzei.
“I’ve travelled through the realms a bunch of times since yesterday. And I haven’t seen her once. Not since the first time, I mean. She’s had plenty of chances to snatch me, but hasn’t. I wonder why.”
Grandmother Lyndzei herself paused and thought for a moment, surprised by Amerie’s level-headedness.
“I don’t know,” Grandmother Lyndzei said finally, “But Amerie, as I said, she deals in deals. Maybe the fact you said no to her affected her magic somehow. It’s only been a day, but I already feel that the forest has been released by whatever hold she had over it.”
“So that’s why she hasn’t come back yet?”
“Possibly. But if that’s true Amerie, you might have already saved both realms.”
“What?” Amerie was taken aback.
“Think about it, if Desaraelfrun can’t intercept the gap between the two realms anymore, half the battle’s over. Beyond the sorcery of binding people to deals, she’s powerless as a sorceress in both the human and star realm. To my knowledge, she otherwise only has the power of an ordinary mortal.”
Amerie was flummoxed, “Then how is she so powerful?”
“She traps people, Amerie. Never underestimate trickery.”
Amerie nodded. She looked up at the sky and sighed, “Even if her powers are limited and she can’t do any more damage here, she’s already done enough. Jack and the others are still missing. Oh, that’s right!” She jolted, “I came to tell you something really important.”
Grandmother Lyndzei raised her grainbrows.
“Grandmother Lyndzei, King Cedrych is going to be cut down. This Saturday.”
Amerie didn’t know how to explain the emotion on Grandmother Lyndzei’s face. It was like a type of stifled grief. Unsure how to react to the silence, Amerie continued.
“My mum had to inspect him...he’s hollow on the inside. He’s been infected by something, they think. So they have to cut him down,” Amerie finished quietly, wincing on the inside, “Grandmother Lyndzei...what happens now?”
“Ah? Um, my dear. I’m not too sure,” said Grandmother Lyndzei distantly, “I really, uh, I really don’t know.”
Amerie gently placed one hand on the side of the bark, “Are you alright?” she asked, feeling the grooves on her palm.
Grandmother Lyndzei smiled sadly, “I will be. At my age, you begin to expect these things sooner or later. I knew he hadn’t been himself lately.”
Amerie nodded, waiting for her to continue.
“I know you might not have the best impression of King Cedrych, Amerie. But I’ve known him for nine hundred and ninety-seven years. He has been a good tree for all of them bar one. The kindest and wisest there was.” Here she gestured to some trees to the left, “Before those trees grew here, we could see each other through the clearing.”
“Were you friends?” asked Amerie, already knowing the answer.
“The best of friends, Amerie, the best. We would send leaves to each other every day. The leaves got annoyed at us for sending so many, so they went on a strike,” Grandmother Lyndzei laughed fondly, “So we tried to bellow at each other as loudly as we could across the clearing, but it never worked! Those first few hundred years we had together were some of my fondest memories. Though more trees grew between us and we couldn’t see each other anymore, we still sent leaves to each other every day.”
“Then what happened?”
“Well, no one called Cedrych the Kind and Wise because they were forced to. Cedrych loved children, whether they were playing on him in the human realm or the star realm. A long time ago, oh I’d say roughly three hundred years ago, Cedrych was actually the Gateway Guardian. He encouraged children to fall into the star spot so they could have a childhood filled with magic and wonder.”
Amerie was shocked, “So it wasn’t always you? The Gateway Guardian, I mean!” she exclaimed.
“Oh no, and Cedrych wasn’t always the King. I remember the day Cedrych became King was the hardest day of his life,” Grandmother Lyndzei paused, “I’m not sure if you realise this Amerie, but whatever happens in the human realm directly affects the star realm. Only we can’t see clearly what’s happening in the human realm, so whatever happens looks like it comes out of nowhere. Like it’s done by an invisible hand.”
“How do you mean?”
“Cedrych was the tree next to the old king when it happened. I’ll never forget what Cedrych told me in that leaf that day,” she closed her eyes and repeated his words, “Lyndzei, the look on his face haunts me each time I close my eyes. His whole body shook. I saw the crack at his side deepen and deepen until our king...he stood with us no longer.”
If Amerie’s heart hurt this much, she couldn’t imagine how Grandmother Lyndzei felt.
“He was illegally felled for timber. The man who did it was probably arrested or he moved on with his life, but that was the day everything changed for Cedrych and me. Cedrych was renowned for his kind and wise nature, so was elected King. And so King Cedrych appointed me Gateway Guardian. We were a great team, but neither of us were the same after that day. Cedrych more so than me. As time went on, the responsibility weighed heavier and heavier on his branches. With deforestation on the rise, his every moment was plagued with worry that his forest, his family, would be next.”
Grandmother Lyndzei said none of this accusingly, but Amerie felt the same rush of shame she had felt when she realised she had carved her name into Grandmother Lyndzei’s trunk tenfold.
“He eventually stopped confiding in me, not wanting anyone else to suffer his burden. But maybe if I had pushed him to say how he felt, none of this would be happening. At least you and I both know that his actions now don’t reflect his true character. His mind has been poisoned, that’s all.”
Grandmother Lyndzei attempted to smile cheerfully but when Amerie let go of the bark, she found that her hand was wet with dew.
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