Daughter Nature

Kade urged his metal steed onward. Ahead rose the enchanted dome of briars--his kingdom’s only hope. The lands of Kir were dying, barren and starving his people. Across the continent, the kingdom of Mare was doing no better as the seas turned hostile to the fish. 

Kir and Mare were preparing for another war with each other, one he knew they would not survive. But his people were desperate and nobody cared for a young prince’s opinion, especially when he believed in the legend of Mother Nature. 

Kade focused harder on the briar dome and the patch of blue sky opening above it. He hoped he wouldn’t return a fool, and more importantly, he hoped he would return from the cursed kingdom of Vida with salvation.

---

“Willow, where do you think you’re going?”

Willow stopped only when Grandmother Sage’s hand came down on her shoulder. “This is the second intruder. I will not stay after the last one,” she said.

Grandmother Sage frowned at her disapprovingly. She wasn’t Willow’s grandmother by blood--that grandmother had passed at a young age, just as her mother did--but Sage had supervised Willow’s upbringing and was family nonetheless. 

“Daughter Nature, your crowning ceremony is coming,” Grandmother Sage reminded in a stern voice, but the corners of her eyes crinkled with mischief. “Soon there will be no more running around.”

“Indeed,” Willow said, already taking off to the border. “Soon I will be royally running.”

When she arrived at the briars, Willow was surprised to find a single guard detaining a young man. Even in a shielded, secret kingdom, the guards worked in pairs. She nodded her acknowledgement to the guard, taking note of the closing hole in the briar wall, the foreign sword on the ground, and the second guard lying unconscious beside it. She frowned. Either they were getting sloppy or the intruder was dangerous.

“You may go. Take your partner to the healing center,” Willow told the guard, despite what Grandmother Sage would say. When he hesitated, she commanded him. “Go.”

The guard obeyed, but only after tying the intruder to the briar wall. The young man looked to be about Willow’s own age--on the brink of adulthood. He stared up at her with wide brown eyes, a determined set coming to his jaw. 

“This is Vida?” he asked.

“It is,” Willow said. She kicked the sword behind her, further away from the intruder.

The young man looked at the buildings rising tall behind her, before looking her directly in the eye. “Your people are alive?”

Willow couldn’t help but laugh. “As much as you are.”

“How is that possible? The enchantress--Mother Nature--she cursed this place centuries ago with briars, spelled you all to sleep until death came,” the young man said. “Vida was dead.”

“So you came to raid a cursed kingdom?” Willow asked, sharpening her voice into a blade as Grandmother Sage had taught her. “You dared?”

He swallowed visibly and sat up straighter then, as well as he could while bound. “No. Please. I am Prince Kade of Kir. I have come to find the legendary Healing Blossom to save my lands. See, they are dying and my people will die with it.”

A pang went through Willow at the thought of dying lands. She knelt before Kade, taking in his boots, simple pants, leather jacket, and disheveled hair. A light layer of dirt had settled on his clothing and skin, specks of sand in his hair, but hardly much more on his boots. “How did you get here?” she asked.

Kade turned his head, gasping as his temple grazed a briar thorn. Red trickled down his brow. “My steed. It’s just outside the dome.”

Resisting the urge to wipe away his blood and tend to his injury, Willow peered out from between the briars. Silver, matted with a fine spray of sand, formed the shape of what Willow had learned was a horse. It was still as stone, devoid of breath and life, almost like the statues around her kingdom. But this was sharper, metal, and unlike anything Willow had seen before.

“Please,” Kade said as Willow stepped away and picked up his sword. “Please, my people are dying. We need just a cure for our lands.”

Willow ignored him. With a quick glance around, she swiftly sliced through the briar wall and slipped out. Quickly, she pushed with all her might to bring the metal monstrosity Kade called a steed inside the briar wall. By the time she made it back in, the thorns were already closing.

“This is for travelling? You… ride this?” Willow asked.

“Yes. It runs on fuel, oil, that is.”

Willow ran her fingers over the metal, brushing off the rough layer of dust. She grinned. “Kade, is it? I’m Willow. If you’re looking for Healing Blossoms, how about a trade?”

---

Once he had agreed to give Willow his sword and steed, Kade found she was much friendlier. She had untied him, tended to his cut with a leaf, and offered to guide him through the city--that was, after she had threatened to end his life if he dared to harm Vida.

He couldn’t imagine harming anything or anyone in this place. It was ancient, magical, and the buildings that rose to the top of the briar dome were vaguely threatening themselves. The kingdom had built itself upwards, so high that looking up made him dizzy. Vines bearing different leaves and blossoms were strung between the buildings at all levels, forming a canopy over their heads. Along the walls, the cracks in the ground, in window sills and shops, were yet more of the plant life that seemed to have overrun the city. It was more green than he had ever seen in one place.

“So Kir has brought themselves to ruin?” 

Kade tore his gaze from the bright blue blossom that hung over his head. “We’ve been negligent. Now we face the wrath of Mother Nature,” he agreed.

“No,” Willow’s tone was sharp again, like the blade she had taken from him. “Mother Nature is kind. She gifted your kingdom with life and you ruined it. That is no fault of hers.”

“And what did she do to your kingdom?” Kade asked as they rounded a corner. Here roots clawed through the nearest building and tore through what had once been a street. “Did she not curse you? Strangle your kingdom with her children?”

Willow laughed, startling him. It was light and musical, like the chimes people hung outside in Kir. She led him atop and around the bulging roots as she explained.

“We are her children. I am Daughter Nature,” Willow said, all harshness leaving her voice. “Ages ago, Kir and Mare began a war, and meant to involve my kingdom. But Vida did not have Mare’s navy and enchantments, nor Kir’s technology. We had only our lives, our homes, our gardens. The ‘enchantress’ Mare sent to curse us--Mother Nature, she was kind. She cast a spell, for the earth’s spirit to protect us. The enchanted briars shielded us and these roots and vines rooted its power in our lives and the earth’s spirit. Kir and Mare thought us dead and let us be while we lived on.”

Kade nearly tripped on a root trying to piece her version of history together. What she said… now that he saw the verdant kingdom of Vida… must be the truth. Mother Nature clearly had not murdered them. Not only did she let them survive, she helped them thrive.

“Is she still alive?” Kade asked to the back of Willow’s head, where shining hair cascaded in waves like the leaves of the tree they approached. 

“Mother Nature gave her life to protect Vida,” Willow said. She stopped at the tree and placed her hand against the trunk. The contact seemed to help her breath as she continued. “Her spirit lives within the kingdom. She left a daughter who helped build Vida up. When her life ended, her spirit was also planted into our kingdom. The spirit of every blood daughter from Mother Nature’s line fortifies Vida.”

“And you are Daughter Nature,” Kade recalled.

Willow met his gaze steadily. “I am.”

---

“The Healing Blossoms are nearby,” Willow said. She came to a halt at the edge of the park, the temple where the blossoms grew in sight. “You will wait here.”

Kade glanced around, taking in the scattered willow trees. His gaze landed on a group as their voices rose up in song. “What are they doing?”

Willow took a seat in the grass, laying her palms against the earth beneath her. She observed the group and listened to the song they sang. “It’s a planting. This one is for a birthday.”

“A planting?” Kade carefully sat across from Willow, glancing back at the group.

“For special occasions, we hold a planting. You plant the seed, water it, and sing to the sprout. In that moment, as you care for that sprout, you are acknowledging its spirit. Mother Nature always notices and acknowledges yours in turn.”

Willow pressed her fingers downwards, feeling the earth give way to her touch. It was cool and energizing. She thanked the spirit and a soft tingle licked her fingers as Mother Nature and the grass’s spirits acknowledged her. 

“We take care of them and they take care of us,” Willow said softly, recalling Grandmother Sage’s teachings. 

“Please teach me so I may restore the lands of Kir,” Kade said. He bowed his head toward her and pressed his palms into the earth as she did. When he lifted his head, his eyes found hers pleadingly. “There are people paying for generations of neglect, innocent and undeserving. Now the youth is looking for a miracle, but there are no secrets stowed in our lands like Vida or magic in our seas like Mare. War is coming. Please help save those spirits too.”

Willow’s heart ached at his words. She glanced around the park. The group let out a cheer that made the willow trees sway against the background of Vida’s structures that kissed the tops of the briars. She couldn’t imagine living in a place without life climbing all surfaces and people rejoicing. A place of withering spirits that vanished into dust. She shivered as she recalled looking past the briars for the first time. At the highest tower, she could see both Mare and Kir through the thorns--the gray skies, empty fields, and nearly black waters.

She cleared her throat. “War is coming?” 

“Mare threatens Kir with war.”

Willow nodded. “They threaten Vida as well.”

Kade’s eyebrows shot up, scrunching the cut on his temple where a hint of green stayed from the leaf juice she had used to disinfect it.

“You are the second intruder,” Willow said, turning over a blade of grass with her fingers. “A soldier of Mare delivered the news not a week ago. Their scouts discovered Vida’s secret. It seems we cannot hide much longer.”

“Are you prepared for war?” His eyes traveled back to the celebrating group and the vine covered structures.

Willow swallowed. “I hope so.” Her words came out as almost a whisper. 

The Elders were rushing her crowning ceremony now. A crowned Daughter Nature had a stronger connection to Mother Nature. Then she could conduct greater ceremonies for strength. Even then, they were concerned. Some Vidans were warriors, but their experiences were nothing compared to Mare’s soldiers.

“WILLOW.”

Willow cringed. There was no hiding from Grandmother Sage now.

---

Kade wasn’t sure what was happening. He understood that Willow was not supposed to take him further into Vida, nor offer him a Healing Blossom, nor even be near him. The woman she had called Grandmother Sage took them away to one of the only buildings that didn’t grow to the top of the briar dome. Someone--a guard--had bound his hands together behind his back. Then he had been left in a stone room for hours before being led to a large space at the front of the building. 

He was placed beside Willow in the middle of the room, pillars and open space at their backs and to their sides. Before them was a long table. Across it, a group of adults, many elderly, stared down and spoke quietly amongst themselves.

“Willow?” Kade asked. 

“Kade, it’s alright,” she said under her breath. “You’re a prince of Kir, right?”

“I am… But what--”

“So.” The eldery man in a dark brown robe stood at the center of the table, his voice booming out. “This is the intruder. Prince Kade of Kir?”

Kade cleared his throat. “I am.”

“And I will speak for him before the Elders,” Willow said. Her voice was round and warm as she projected it toward the entire table of Elders.

The leader nodded solemnly and Willow launched into an explanation. She told them of his intrusion and the plight of Kir. “He has come seeking help, a way to save spirits, and I intend to help him,” Willow said.

A thrill went through Kade. He had done it. He had convinced Willow to help his lands. From the way she had spoken, she wanted to help. He had found salvation.

A murmur went through the Elders. The head spoke to her. “You are Daughter Nature. We need you. It is your duty--”

“I know my duties.” A fire seemed to ignite behind Willow’s green eyes. Her voice became a challenge. “And I will fulfill them. My spirit is sworn to Vida, but it is also sworn to heal the earth and preserve life. If Mother Nature had not blessed us, we would be nothing. It is my turn to do as she did.”

Kade held his breath.

The elders chatted amongst themselves for what seemed to be ages before the leader spoke again. “A war that we are not prepared for is coming,” he said. “There is a compromise we can come to.”

Kade let out his breath. Compromise. He glanced at Willow, surprised to find resignation in her expression. 

“Kir and their technology, like the ‘steed’ at our border, would be a great alliance against Mare. Daughter Nature, after the crowning ceremony and the strength ceremonies, you may travel to Kir and heal their lands in exchange for an alliance bound through marriage. Then you will provide us with the next Daughter Nature.”

It suddenly became clear to Kade why Willow faced this compromise as she did. Of course. She had known all along what it would take.

“No.” The objection came with a fury, not from Willow, but from her Grandmother Sage. “She is too young. She should have her youth, her choice. Already she must face war, but to be forced--”

“I accept.” Willow said boldly. All eyes turned to her. “If Kade will have me.”

Kade struggled to mask the tremor through his body as he felt the heat of everyone’s gazes on him. Willow’s expression was unreadable now, open and blank as she waited. He shifted his weight on his feet before nodding. 

“Yes,” he said. “I will.”

---

Willow was glad that Grandmother Sage was willing to stay at her side, no matter her constant grumbling. Though disappointed, she helped lead Willow through the crowning ceremony, the plantings, and the strength ceremony. She would help Willow through the marriage ceremony too after she returned from Kir. When it finally came time to leave with Kade, she knew Grandmother Sage was hoping she would change her mind.

“Are you sure?” 

Willow lifted a Healing Blossom from the ground and nodded. Like all flora, it held the earth’s spirit within its leaves. But it also had Mother Nature’s spirit in its roots and her blood in its crimson petals. 

These flowers could only be grown under special conditions, and Willow had been responsible for them since she was old enough for Grandmother Sage to drill the ritual into her mind. It was one of the four responsibilities she had grown in her heart and tended to with her spirit.

1. Her spirit would be planted into the earth to strengthen Vida. It would likely happen at an early age like her mother and grandmother.
2. She must produce a daughter to succeed her before she passed on her spirit.
3. Healing Blossoms were hers to tend to as only Daughters Nature could grow them.
4. As Daughter Nature, the earth’s spirit, a healing spirit was in every fiber of her being. With it, she must preserve life.

“Grandmother,” Willow said, “You taught me my duties, and I am going to fulfill them.”

Grandmother Sage nodded slowly and placed a firm hand on her shoulder once more. “It is more important that you live a happy, fulfilling life, daughter.”

Willow squeezed her hand back. “I promise. I will.”

---

With the blessing of the Elders, Grandmother Sage, and Mother Nature, Willow and Kade departed Vida to restore the lands and heal Mother Nature’s spirit in Kir.