I awoke, peering through the many eyes of the forest dwellers. An intruder had appeared, a small intruder, but potentially still dangerous. The species it came from was capable of both great harm, and great good. There was no telling what this one would do.

Watching through a sleepy owl, I chuckled making the owl hoot softly. Apparently, what this intruder would do, was stumble around making enough noise to raise all the hunters in the forest. Gently, I extended my consciousness, warning them away, sending them easier prey so they left the intruder alone. No one wanted the retaliation that would come if this was a loved child, and it was found dead.

The night shifted to day, and still, the child stumbled. Still, it tried to find food, reaching for poisonous berries on more than one occasion. Watching through the eyes of a chipmunk, I pushed the berries out of the intruder's reach; convinced the plants to pull their branches out of the way. This child was worse than useless.

As day turned to night once again, I watched the child push its way deeper and deeper into the forest. It had long passed the point where it would be easily found by any searchers. And with an almost uncanny trajectory, it was headed straight towards my residence, towards the heart. After once again warning the predators away, I withdrew my consciousness from the animals and coalesced into a non-threatening physical form.

I would have to deal with the intruder personally. At least teach it how to survive inside the forest, so I didn't have to keep intervening. And I had just been planning to go down for a hundred-year nap. This would not be fun.

— — — — — — —

"What are you doing? It's a baby bird that fell out of the nest. Leave it to the first predator that comes along." I huffed at my charge. The child had grown larger, though it was still short of a full-grown adult. But it was old enough to communicate properly and was learning survival quite well. I could probably leave it alone now, but... it was nice having someone to talk to. Someone who could understand concepts and ideas that the animals of the forest could not.

"But I want to help it." The child said, hands gently lifting the peeping bundle of fluff. "It needs help."

"Yes, but the natural order of things means you are taking food away from a predator by saving its prey. Upsetting the balance of the forest. That sort of thing." I said.

"You saved me." The child frowned up at me, cradling the baby bird. "Shouldn't I have been a predator's meal?"

I sighed, turning away.

"Come on then, we'll have to go look for things to feed it while you raise it. And I will not be helping you, you will do it all on your own." The child scampered after me, moving with quiet speed, the first thing I'd trained it in; how to move through the forest without calling the wrong attention to yourself. I didn't answer the question and knew the child wouldn't ask again, it knew better than to pester me. But the question wormed its way deep into my heart, waiting for the day it would need an answer.

— — — — — — —

"Come quick, come quick!" The child— though now full-grown, I couldn't bring myself to call it anything else— ran into our sanctum at the heart of the forest. A raven sat on its shoulder, the adult version of the chick it had rescued. I raised my head, frowning at the child.

"What is it?"

"I've been to the edge of the forest and there are men there."

"I know, I felt them step into the trees—"

"They have fire!" The three words dropped from the child's lips and into my ears like stones. Fire. Rising, I moved towards the child, growing as I did so, until I doubled its size. With wide eyes, it stared up at me, as I growled.

"Stay here. You will be safe. I will be back."

I ran through the forest, the trees bending and shifting around my passage, the animals and birds fleeing towards the heart, away from the edges, away from the danger. The noise of their passage was the only sound that reached my ears until I drew closer to the forest's boundary. Fire crackled up the trees, small dark figures moving behind the flames.

"YOU DARE SET FIRE TO THE FOREST!" I shouted, my voice the sound of trees cracking in the winter, the rush of rivers, the loud screams of agonized prey and the triumphant screech of a hunter. The men ran, racing away from the forest, retreating. In two strides I left the forest, reaching towards the figures, all anger and vengeance, determined to destroy.

Arms outstretched, a smaller figure dashed in front of me, a raven swooping in, and landing on its shoulder.

"Stop!" The child shouted, glaring up at me.

"They destroy the forest!" I yelled back, though tempering the volume. "They deserve to die!"

"They will kill you." Motioning behind, the child pointed at the massed ranks of men just cresting over the hill. "Your power is tied to the forest, is it not? Out here..."

I looked at the army arrayed against me, then at the child in front of me. Anger still distorted my features, still powered my desire to kill the attackers.

"Why did you stop me? They are your kind." I lashed out, knowing the words would hurt the child, knowing it might let me pass if I hurt it enough.

"Why did you save me? I am not your kind." It stared up at me, water forming on its face. Human tears. "Why did you keep me safe, why did you train me, why do any of it?" Looking down at the child, memories of our time together flooded over me, taking me back to that first helpless moment I saw it stumbling through the forest.

"Love." It was a word the child had taught me, even though I had felt it before I knew what it was. "Because of love."

"And I stop you because of the same. Because of love." The child paused, as if summoning up courage. "Because I love you... Mother." I staggered back, the weight of that word slamming into my chest. Mother? I was a god, a force of nature, I had no children, except— Staring down at the small tear-stained face, I held out my hand, shrinking down to a more regular size.

"Daughter. Let's go home."

The child slipped her hand into mine and we turned away from the human army, back to the forest, where the fire had begun to die. She had been right, it had been a trap, destruction to draw me out. I smiled as we walked through the trees. The forest would heal, and we would remain inside. Alive, and together. Mother and daughter.

— — — — — — —

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