What The World is Made Of

A spirit with golden leaves on her back put her head on an oak tree. Her hair turned shades of oranges, red, and yellow. 1

"Ah Autum. Time of change, time of transition to Winter." she said. She turned to an older spirit with black vines on her arms.2

"Such a new forest. We should have came in spring. No matter, Demetra seems to be doing fine." she said. The first spirit nodded.3

"Young, but a very talented dryad." 4

"Yet she seems to be too curious about the world around her to be concerned about having to protect the forest, my dear Maple." 5

"She remindes me of someone, but I don't know who mother." 6

Birds soared overhead. They let out cries. 7

"Are my aunts coming to see the young forest and Demetra?" asked Maple. Her mother sighed.8

"I heard that most of them are..." 9

"She's here isn't she?"10

"Don't let your emotions fool you. She might not come." 11

"Is that what you are hopeing for?"12

The older spirit was silent. 13

A young dryad with green hair and brown skin sat up in the oldest tree in the entire forest. Though compared to other trees, it was still quite relatively young. Demetra gazed up at the blue sky. She loved being the protector of the forest and she loved caring for it, yet she wondered what things were like outside the forest. She sighed. Being the protector meant that she couldn't leave her home. Demetra found it somewhat sad. She wasn't sure why, especially since Grandmother Ivy had told her horror stories about what lied beyond the boundaries of the woodland. 14

An oak tree with golden leaves on its trunk sprang up from the ground. It's branches reached out towards Demetra. 15

"Hello mother." greeted Demetra with a smile. 16

"How are you?" asked Maple the oak tree.17

"Fine, just thinking." 18

"Have you checked on things today?" 19

"No."20

A bigger oak tree sprang up with black vines around its trunk.21

"You should. You never know what will happen." it said. 22

"I know Grandmother Ivy, but I guess I just got caught up with thinking. Besides the forest is so small it shouldn't take long to make sure that everything is okay." said Demetra. 23

"It will grow young one. You have had years to get into the habit." 24

"Mother is right. The trees aren't just a bunch of saplings anymore. I know how being a protector can be a burden, but it comes with its own special rewards." 25

The wind started to pick up. The two oak trees dissipated into cloudy spirit forms with golden eyes. The wind swirled around until it shaped itself into the form of another spirit with blue swirls on her hands. 26

"Aunt Wendy!" exclaimed Maple.27

"Well if it isn't my niece, the spirit of all the trees and my sister, the spirit of all plantlife!" cried out Wendy. She flew up into the tree Demetra was in.28

"You must be the dryad Maple told me about. I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to find you!" sang Wendy.29

"You must be the spirit of the wind."30

"Indeed I am! How smart you are! Most people would think that I was just the North Wind when actually I'm her mother." 31

Ivy shook her head.32

"Seems to me that you are chatty as usual." she sighed. Thunder roared above them.33

"Oh my goodnes! I forgot!" exclaimed Wendy. She turned into the wind a flew up into the sky. She started blowing clouds that were heavy with water over them. 34

"That's very nice, but the forest is getting enough water." called Demetra. It began to rain. Wendy flew back down to the ground.35

"Guess who I brought!" she said. The rain made a puddle with dark drawn-like waves on it. When the puddle was big enough, it grew into the shape of a spirit with the same markings on her shoulders.36

"Aunt Aqua!" exclaimed Maple.37

"Good evening everybody." greeted Aqua. Demetra jumped down from her tree. Aqua took her face and studied her.38

"Hello Demetra. I am Aqua, the spirit of the waters. Your forest looks to be getting along very well." she said. 39

"Thank you." 40

The ground began to shake. Demetra absorbed herself into her tree with fright. A pile of mudd with an orange circle on it. It grew and shaped into a spirit with the same circle on her forehead.41

"Yay! Erica is here!" cheered Wendy. Erica smiled.42

"I wasn't expecting such a gathering." she chuckled. Demetra walked out of her tree.43

"Who are you?" she asked.44

"I am Erica, the spirit of earth young dryad." 45

"Oh come on. She's practically family. You could address her a little less formally." said a voice. Demetra shrieked when she saw a bonfire burning with green flames on the forest floor. 46

"No need to be afraid. I'm just your great aunt Fredricka." said the bonfire. It turned into a spirit with green nails. Wendy clapped her hands together.47

"How sweet. All the sisters are together." she said happily.48

"Nearly." said Fredricka.49

"Hush." said Ivy. 50

"Nearly?" questioned Demetra. No one bothered to answer her question. Instead they just began to ask questions of their own. She tried to bring it up again, but they brushed it off again. There was a quick flicker among the bushes. Demetra caught sight of a pair of fox eyes watching them. She smiled at it. The fox blinked and ran off. Demetra had seen many foxes, but for some reason this one felt different from all the rest. 51

The next day Demetra was patrolling throught the forest when she came to a babbleing brook in the forest. She dipped her feet into it.52

"Good morning Demetra." said the brook. Demetra quickly took her feet out it.53

"Oh, I didn't know that you were there." she apologized.54

"No trouble. Happens all the time." said Aqua. Demetra got up and walked away. She hadn't gone far when she noticed some strange tracks on the ground by the brook. They were very big with four toes. Demetra knew that humans had five and they were certaintly too big to be wolves, coyotes, or foxes. They were even too big to be a mountain lion. She puzzled it over a bit before she asked Aqua about it. Aqua swam over and studied them. Her expression grew serious. With a splash of her arms, the tracks were washed into muddy lumps.55

"Aunt Aqua!" exclaimed Demetra.56

"Sorry dear. It was an accident. Can't say what it is. Also let's not mention this to Ivy." twittered Aqua. Before Demetra could say anything else, Aqua morphed into her water state and floated down the current. Determine to find out what the tracks were, Demetra sought out her other aunts. She looked up to see blue swirls in the air.57

"Aunt Wendy!" she called out. Wendy flew down to her.58

"Hey Demetra. Did you need something?" asked Wendy.59

"I want to know about these tracks I found. I don't know what they are so I was thinking maybe you would know?"60

Demetra got a stick and drew them on the ground. The disappeared. Demetra tried again, but they vanished once more. 61

"Erica!" shouted Demetra, frustrated. She turn to describe them to Wendy, only to find that she was gone. Demetra let out a cry and ran to her tree. Her aunts were hiding something, but what?62

"Demetra? Are you okay?" called her mother. She climbed up the tree to join her.63

"Yes. I'm just trying to solve a mystery that's all." replied Demetra.64

"Oh? Maybe I could help?" 65

"Promise me you'll answer my question."66

"Why of course!" 67

Demetra grabbed some leaves and arranged them the best she could to make them look like the mysterious tracks. Maple had a very puzzled look on her face.68

"Those look a lot like tiger tracks!" she exclaimed.69

"What's a tiger?"70

"It's like a mountain lion, only orange with black stripes and much, much bigger. The odd thing is that they live far away from here."71

"So how did they get there?"72

"I have some theories, but I must talk it over with the aunts."73

With that Maple was off. Demetra now had a feeling that her mother knew what was going on. She let out a loud sigh and leaned back in her tree. She looked up to see Fredrika up in her tree.74

"Aren't you going to ask me?" she said.75

"Why bother. You're just going to run off without giving me a clue like the others." 76

Fredrika laughed.77

"I should tell you know that I just love a good teasing. So I will tell you something that will not only tease you, but your aunts as well." she giggled. 78

"What?"79

Fredirika floated close to her and spoke in a quiet voice.80

"I have another sister that you have yet to meet." 81

"WHAT! How can that be? Who is she? What is she the spirit of? Why doesn't anyone ever talk about her?" asked Demetra. Fredrika gave her another sly smile.82

"If you can guess what she is the spirit of I shall tell you the rest."83

"Thunder? Lighting? Storms? Ice?"84

"No."85

"What else is there? Come on give me a hint."86

"Alright. Think about what your forest is made up of."87

"Huh? She can't be the spirit of all plantlife, that's grandmother Ivy!"88

Fredrika laughed at her as she disappeared.89

"WAIT! What does that even mean?" 90

The only answer she got was hoot from an owl that was awake during the day. 91

The very next day, Demetra set herself on a journey through the forest to figure out what Fredrika had meant. 92

"Moss! Lichen! Leaves! Wood! Rocks! Wait that would be under Great Aunt Erica huh? Gaa!" she shouted outloud. The animals watched their protector scouring about. Demetra rested for a moment. She spotted a young robin flying in the sky. It made Demetra feel a little more hopeful. Suddenly a flock of crows streamed by, colliding with the robin. Demetra watched in horro as the robin fell to the Earth. She quickly ran over to see if it was still at least alive. She stopped in her tracks and leapt behind a tree for cover.93

On the ground was the robin and right behind it was a creature that stood on two legs. It had long hair that covered its face and covered in a plain white cloth that draped to its knees. Demetra knew what it was. It was a human. All of Grandmother Ivy's stories came flooding back to her. 94

The woman picked up the robin gently. Demetra was so scared. 95

"Leave now or suffer the consequences." bellowed Demetra in a deep, ominous sounding voice. The woman smiled and took a step towards her. Her smile soon faded away. She looked worried and turned and ran off in the opposite direction. Half of Demetra wanted to go after her.96

"I know what you're thinking. Don't bother." said a cherry tree that had sprung next to her. Demetra couldn't help herself and burst into tears.97

"I'm a terrible protector! I should be making sure that my forest is safe, yet here I am on some hopeless hunt!" she wailed. Ivy wrapped her branches around her. 98

"You're young. You need to learn from your mistakes and be focused." 99

Demetra nodded, vowing that she would be more concerned about being the protector of the forest. 100

Days went by. Demetra hadn't seen anymore strange tracks and had pushed her mysterious aunt to the back of her mind. She busied herself by tending to the plants and animals that needed her aid. Such as plants that weren't getting enough sunlight or water, and animals that had gotten injured or sick. 101

On such a day, Demetra went to check on how a small pond was doing. She waded into the cool waters and watched as a family a beavers worked on making a dam. They noticed something and dove into the safety of their lodge. Demetra turned around to see what had started them. It was the woman from before. 102

She cradled the robin in her hands. Demetra gave her a horrified look. How was it that she didn't notice her eairlier? The woman smiled at her. Then she tossed the robin into the air. Demetra shrieked and ran over to catch it. To her relife, the robin flapped its wings and flew safetly to a tree branch.103

"You weren't going to eat it, you just nursed it back to health." said Demetra shocked. 104

"Heard horror stories about humans have you?" chuckled the woman. She turned and ran. Even though her aunts would have objected, Demetra ran after her. Soon she lost track of her. Demetra decided to head back to her tree. She wasn't ten feet away from her tree when she spotted a man with an ax. 105

"My tree!" she screamed. He was going to chop down the tree! Demetra will die if that happens. She ran towards him waving her hands like crazy. The man ignored her. He slowly raised the ax over his head. 106

Right before he was going to strike a blow to the tree, the was a growl. Demetra and the man turned to see a girzzly bear with purple stripes on its face charging at full speed. The man took at swing at it. He missed and got his ax knocked out of his hands by the bear. It then pounced on him and beared its teeth. Then just was both the man and Demetra thought that it was going to rip him limb to limb, it got off and trotted away with the ax in its mouth. The man let out a sigh of relief. He got up, brushed himself off, and left. Demetra was left with a funny feeling. She didn't know much about bears, but she knew that there were none in the forest. Also she was pretty sure that didn't have purple stipes on their faces. 107

That night, Maple, Grandmother Ivy, and the others announced that they were to leave the following night. 108

"Oh really? I'm going to miss you all." said Demetra.109

"We are also protectors and must travel from place to ensure that all is going well." said Ivy. Fredrika sparked up next to Demetra.110

"So have you figured it out yet?" she asked. 111

"No." sighed Demetra.112

"Figured out what?" asked Maple. 113

"Demetra wants to know abouther other aunt. I told her I would tell her if she could figure out what she was the spirit of." confessed Fredrika.114

"Which is unfair since you gave the hardest riddle ever! 'What is the forest made up of?' You're obviously making it up!" complained Demetra. Maple checked to see that the other spirits were preoccupied. 115

"Let me give you another hint." whispered Maple, "What do you protect within the forest?"116

"The plants and the... ANIMALS! She's the spirit of the animals!" exclaimed Demetra. Maple and Fredrika clapped at hand over her mouth. 117

"Why doesn't anyone like talking about her?" asked Demetra. Maple and Fredrika sighed. 118

"They feel that she hasn't been acting apprioately for a protector." said Maple.119

"The short of it is that she tries to stand up for humans, since they are animals too. Though they will never admit it. She's tried to blend in with them a couple times, but it always ends badly. The worst was when she was with this African tribe and these Europeans came and enslaved them all. She tries tell us that not all of them bad, but you know Ivy. She's always had a thing against them." explained Fredrika. 120

"What's her name?"121

"Shela." they answered in unison.122

"I want to see her."123

"Tough luck kid. She could be anywhere." said Fredrika.124

"But you do happen to run into her, she will be the animal with purple stipes which she cannot conceal. Much like are own markings." 125

Demetra's jaw dropped. She had seen her aunt and hadn't even known it! The only thing left to do now was to go find her and talk. 126

Demetra found the woman at the pond watching the beavers at work. She went over and sat next to her.127

"Hello Aunt Shela." she said with a smile. Shela laughed and brushed her hair out of her face, revealing purple stripes. She let her human form melt away to a ghostly one.128

"Figure it out did you? I knew you were smart." said Shela. 129

"Thanks for saving my tree."130

"It was nothing. I got to look out my nieces right?" 131

"I guess so. Tell me, why are you here? I'm sure you knew that your sisters were coming." 132

"I have the right to visit you too! I wasn't going to let a little fear interfere with my plans."133

"And yet you didn't show yourself." 134

"Okay, maybe I was a little worried. The point is I wanted to tell you taht there will be times that it will be tough, but you will get through them and it will make you stronger too. I also wanted you know that you got to view the forest not only as a whole, but by each individual piece as well. The plants, the animals, the water, the soil, even the wind and fires are things that you have to consider. For these are the things that make up not only your forest, but our whole planet as well."135

Maple, Ivy, Wendy, Erica, Aqua and Fredrika all gathered around Demetra as they said their good byes. 136

"You'll come visit me again right?" asked Demetra tearfully.137

"Of course!" they all cried. 138

"I don't remember the last time I saw you guys so emotional." said a voice. Everyone gasped as they saw Shela standing right before them. 139

"What? Don't I get a hello?" joked Shela. All of the spirits came rushing to her, except for Ivy. 140

"It's been so long!" said Maple.141

"I thought I'd never see you again." said Wendy.142

"I had my doubts too." said Erica. 143

"Not me. I'm sure Aqua knew too huh?" said Fredrika. 144

"We all did, just chose to ignore it." said Aqua. Everyone turned to Ivy. 145

"Come on. You know you missed me." said Shela. Ivy sighed.146

"Although I disaprove of your doings, yes I do admit I missed you a little." confessed Ivy. Shela went over to her and gave her a hug. 147

"I love you too."148

"Now we're a big happy family again!" cried out Wendy. They all got toegeter, getting ready to leave.149

"Good bye!" they all said.150

"Bye! Thanks for everything!" shouted Demetra as they took to the skies. She smiled. She didn't feel so sad anymore. She knew what it was meant to be a protector. And best of all she loved her home more now then ever before.