The instant the glass touched her lips, Andor took a step back from her, watching her intently.

She downed the whole liquid at once.

Now everything should be swift and his task here would be done soon. The moment she had finished, she dropped the phial and her expression changed from surprise to anxiousness and then pure terror dawned on her face. She flailed her arms helplessly as the liquid burned through her veins and when she reached out for him in surging horror he retreated from her, his voice now stern.

"Do not touch me, human!"

"Please, help me," she whimpered. "I'm burning up, my insides are melting away." She staggered backwards and lost her balance, collapsing on to her knees, her hands now on her throat, a suffocating sound escaping her contorted lips.

"This is what you have asked for: to be one with the forest. It is the price you must pay."

Andor looked at her with a cold gleam in his eyes, observing her like a predator assessing his prey, as she gradually lost her life and her soul to the forest. She was on all fours and convulsions shook her, she begged and she cried, "Please, have mercy! You said t—that I was to give up my human form." Her breathing came now ragged. "Y—you didn't say that you would kill me."

"I am not killing you. I am just giving you what you wanted."

"No, no," she whined, struggling against the overpowering force that had taken possession of her. "This is not what I wanted." Her arms and knees gave in and she slumped to the ground, a whimpering mess in the midst of the grass and the flowers.

"You humans are so easily convinced," he said with disdain. "Offer them eternal life and they leave all reasoning behind."

"Please, make it stop." The contours of her body began to fade away, the features of her face disappearing, until it seemed like a blank canvas that would soon be transparent and cease to exist altogether. Silent sobs were the only thing now heard from her mouth.

"I cannot stop this. You will be part of the forest from now on until the end of all times."

Andor crossed his arms in front of his body, waiting impassively for the transformation to complete. The air around him filled with light, and the soft murmuring from within the branches rose into a powerful song, until the glade seemed to glow with the light of a thousand suns, so bright even he had to avert his eyes for a moment.

It lasted only for a second, and when he looked at the place where she had been, a dense mist pooled on the ground. In her stead another white flower had sprung into life. Andor glanced at the fresh bud with a smile on his lips. He ran his fingers over the soft petals, still curled up like a tiny orb, and said, "You are beautiful, Rose."

His work here was done. Andor turned around to pick up his bow and quiver filled with arrows as well as the empty phial, the glade behind him peaceful and serene, innumerable white flowers scattered on the green rug gleaming like pearls in the late afternoon sun. A new one had joined their ever growing crowd, so the forest could endure and his people might have peace for another forty years. 

With one last glance he bade her good-bye. He had not given her his name or else she might have taken his heart.

Andor had not failed his people, and he did not look back again.