“You said you were a botanist, yes? Surely you of all people should know the value of a plant’s life?”
Well, she certainly had a point. You probably could have tried studying the flower more gently, or at the worst try removing it from the soil without damaging it. But in your excitement you almost destroyed a potentially endangered plant. You lower your head in sadness.
“You’re right, I’m ashamed to have done such a thing. I shall leave the forest at a moment's notice, or you may simply end me here…”
A look of pity came over her face as she sighed. “Well, I suppose I can let you off this once. Not many travellers seem to care about the well-being of plants or flowers these days. You may continue to explore this forest and study the plants for your research.”
Your sadness instantly turned to happiness and relief. “Oh thank you great Dryad! I’ll be sure to-“
But before you could say anything else, she cut you off. “But know this human. If you endanger any of the forest life again, I will show no mercy.”
By the look on her face, you could tell she was serious. You simply nodded in return, and she lowered you back down to the ground. The pressure from the vines around you was released, and they retreated back into the dense forest. You took a minute to catch your breath, and watched as the giant Dryad sinked into the grass, making eye contact with you as she descended.
Once again, you were all alone in the forest. You looked down at the flower you almost killed, and gave it a quick apology. You weren’t sure if it could understand you, but it felt like the right thing to do.
You took a notebook out from your backpack, sat down on the grass and began jotting down notes about the flower. You spent the next half hour or so just writing down any observations for it, as well as making a quick sketch. Unbeknownst to you, the Dryad from earlier had its head poking out of the foliage behind you, watching you inspect and catalogue the flower. She was rather pleased you didn’t go back on your promise. And, to a lesser extent, was glad there was still someone out there who appreciated plant life as much as she did.
Over the course of the afternoon you went from plant to plant, cataloguing your findings and making sure you didn’t disturb them. As you approached a great oak tree, you heard a loud bang deep within the forest. Obviously, this was quite alarming, as you were quite certain elves didn’t have tools or weapons that could produce a noise such as that. You quickly made your way to the direction of the noise, and came across a clearing. Hiding in a bush, you observed two human males, both carrying guns. A few feet away, you saw a dead deer lying in the grass.
Considering it was outlawed for other races to hunt within these forests, these must have been poachers. You were dumbfounded that there was people stupid enough to try such a thing, but here they were. The only weapon you had brought with you was a small pocket knife, and even then it was mostly to cut through any large leaves in your path.
You watched in horror as the poachers trampled over dozens of plants and flowers, seemingly not caring that many of them were an endangered species. The dryad from before hadn’t shown up yet, but you couldn’t imagine what she would do if she saw what they were doing.
It was then that you saw a flower that you had only seen in picture books. It had a head around 2ft wide, with its massive petals being a dazzling rainbow of colours. It shimmered in the sunlight, and unfortunately the poachers had taken notice of it.
“Hey Dave, check out this weird plant!” one of the men said as he pointed to the flower.
“Ugh, it’s so damn bright. How much you think we could sell it for?” says the other man, who you now know as Dave.
“I dunno, but it looks crazy enough that we could probably con someone into thinking it’s some rare healing plant.”
The two men snickered as they approached the massive flower, with knives in hand.
You were tempted to wait a little longer for the dryad to show up, but the fear that this once in a lifetime opportunity might slip away grew greater and greater. You had to stop these poachers somehow.
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