The blood shone in the sunlight light from where it was held aloft by the branch, my blood. It's dark brown was giving off an oily appearance as a rainbow of colors could be seen from the right angle. It was a truth only seen in the right light. A truth I hated. I didn't like the colors.

"Well?" The man asked again.

It's not like it mattered. It was not my name anyway. Still I didn't want him, I didn't want an Other, to say it. I didn't want to be their Alice.

"Aice. Her name is Alice." Pitri answered, stepping forward.

"Alice." The man drew out the word slowly, testing it in the air where it hung.

Anger shivered through me, kicking at things that had lay dormant. I felt warmth flow from my eyes...they were no tears though. The roots whirled tighter a moment, fighting, before being forced into retreat by waves of commanding energy. They snapped and broke under the pressure of me, of the Others' power in me. The dryads floated back, they could feel it and it made me happy. I wanted them to know what I could do. I wanted them to see the strength I had been given in the name of humanity. The only one remaining near me now was the tree-mask man, even Pitri had retreated with fear on his face.

"It is sad to see one so young, so full of hate and anger." His whispered, reaching out to touch a nearby tree. "They can feel your pain as you force them to bow to your whim. You are connected to the Earth child and in a way normal humans will never experience. You have both a gift and burden thrust upon you. Don't waste it on revenge for a war that had mistakes on both sides."

The trees swayed with him when he turned and left, his people falling into step beside him. A canopy bending and dropping to shield them. I was tempted to go after him, kill them all where they stood while he watched for saying the name. However, his words rubbed and picked at the scratch made by Pitri earlier. No, I couldn't be wrong. My people couldn't be wrong, still...I let his disappearance into the forest go unhindered. I could always come back and fight another day.

Pitri handed me a cloth, withdrawing it from the sack on his back filled with a meager array of supplies. I touched it against my cheek gently and pulled away. It was covered in a glittering gold liquid.

"The blood of the High Court Fae." Pitri awed.

"Only the best."

"The best what?"

"I mean the best, at least according to some algorithm including things like strength, magic, glamour, endurance, durability, speed." I scrubbed the rest off from where it had dried. "The list goes on and on. I'm not even sure of all of the variabilities taken into account or the ones chosen for that matter."

"You're not making any sense."

Reaching over, I placed the cloth in his hand and closed it around my blood. The proof of what I was and could be to humanity, to the Others. "The world makes far too much sense as it is, so why should I?"

I skipped off, rather happy. That had been the first time I had ever used magic. It didn't take long for the excitement to wear off. Despite focusing with all my efforts, I couldn't re-channel the High Court Fae and the trees remained stubborn to my attempts at coxing their movements. They wouldn't grow forth and when I angrily thought to stay still, a root popped up to trip me. Pitri only made things worse with his talking to himself. He was holding a complete conversation with air. He only stopped his monologue to chuckle at my face screwed up from frustration and concentration. When I tripped and ate dirt, spitting it out with distaste, he actually bent over laughing and grabbed at his stomach. That was crossing the line.

"Where are you going?"

"This way, that way. What matters is away from you."

"You're joking right? We were just ambushed by dryads and you want to wander off by yourself? They're not even the scary ones!"

My hands were placed tight over my ears. "La la la la. I can't hear you. La la la la." Diving deep into the woods, I wove through the trees to avoid his keen hawk-like harpy sight. Feeling like I had gotten a good distance away, I climbed a tree and waited.

And waited...and waited....and waited.

Darkness fell in the woods. The dense canopy stitched an almost suffocating blanket of black even difficult to cut through with my night vision. Where was he? I knew he had tried to follow me. Was he that incompetent a tracker or did he give up? Didn't he care if something happened to me? Well, I didn't care what happened to him either! Stupid Halfling.

Red and blonde air waved, cutting through the dead air. I had let myself fall and flip over, so I hung upside down off the tree branch by my legs. Turning about in the darkness, I searched for anything movement. It was such a creepy forest, no wonder Others lived here. A massive presence passed a mere foot from my upside down face. My eyes widen, holding my breath that it couldn't see me in the darkness. The creature paused, swiveling to show a lumpy thing thrown over its shoulder inside a burlap sack. It peered into the darkness, passing over me and moving on.

Flipping down, my feet landed with barely a sound onto the leafy ground, the benefits of Other's grace. I sniffed the air and scrunched up my nose. The rich pungent reek of Earth and decay was in the air as well as just a hint of human and harpy. Oh Pitri.