//------------------------------//
// Gaea Everfree and Errant - Chapter 2 
// Story: Discord 
// by AppleCider120 
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As Discord grew to love his new friend, in the Timberwolf he named Errant, Mother Nature realized that to make him truly turn into her perfect putty, she would need to create a new adversary for him to come against within the upcoming year. With her heart set on exactly what she would need, she set about creating the perfect daughter to guard the Everfree Forest, perhaps for even the future to come. And so, as she let Discord grow with his companion, she turned her eyes to the rest of the forest, considering the best path to creating someone who would be the perfect guardian.

The first hint she took was the greenery in her surroundings. She wandered a great distance from the human, and settled her own encampment within a very lush opening, where she began to sculpt the one she would name Gaea Everfree. She began as she had so long ago, with the same process she used to bring the humans into existence, focusing her attention to the clay beneath the ground in a nearby pond. She would gather the clay into large patches, soaking them with a persistent rain as to prevent it from ever becoming solid while she worked. She constructed a being, not unlike herself; a very beautiful, human-like female, with slender legs, arms, and the intellect on par with her developing brother.

She was also slightly gifted in her height, matching up with her male counterpart quite closely, with the strength of the hardened clay giving her otherwise frail-looking frame a deceptive amount of natural strength. As Mother finally sculpted the last of her form, a fire from her breath worked to harden her figure into a solid clay statue, packed as tight as naturally possible. Following what she believed to be the perfect base, she began to focus on her daughter's appearance. Unlike most of the developed humans, who were often a great array of colours, from orange, to red, she decided upon a rarer colour for her spawn. She gave her a rather distinctive green skin, borrowing the colour from the healthy dark grass in the landing. And upon her clay base, the green formed a beautiful blend with the scenery around her.

She then turned her attention to Gaea's hair. Mother tried many combinations of the normal human pigments, but could not strike a great balance that offset her creations green skin. After observing a pond fish who had managed to wrap itself in some weed from the bottom of the water bed, she finally found the perfect resolution. Gaea's hair was created using a mixture of ivy, long bladed weeds, and even soft long grass blades. From a distance, her hair looked quite beautiful, and the grass made her hair look natural amongst the forestry. If Mother could be jealous, she would be quite upset at making her own daughter look better than herself.

All she needed now, was to cover the girl. While Mother did want Gaea to be a guardian of the forest, sometimes going completely natural was not the strength of the humans. And there, she crafted the perfect gown for her daughter. Using the thin, but wide leaves of a nearby "Elephant" grass-- she did often love the nicknames humans gave to her creations-- she fashioned the outline of the dress. She made it long enough to cover her daughter's modesty, but not so much it would hinder her movements, stopping the dress at just below her knees. To make the dress more sturdy, she borrowed the strong bark of a nearby oak tree, and lined the bottom edge, along with her arms and neck, with the bark.  She left enough space in between to allow for easy maneuverability.

Now it was time to sculpt her facial features. She decided to give the form something that Discord could appreciate. She gave Gaea the nearly perfect features of the dream form she used over a centuries ago, when humans were just out of the reach of their industrialization. Though, her eyes were given a dark brown to match the dark hues of her gown, with eyebrows that matched her flowing locks, and lips forever stained a natural rose red. Mother stood back from her creation, admiring the detail and adoration she could remember from the very beginning when she made the humans. But, she had not given the humans the gift she was about to bestow upon her own daughter. She had gifted Discord immortality, on the unspoken condition that he would form to her every wish; she had even left him blessed with his natural gifts with other creatures, who dared not harm him.

Instead, Gaea Everfree was imbued with some of Mother's own power. She had control over the blooming cycles of the forest flowers, but only within her new home; she could control the growth of any flora Mother created. She was given immortality, as to never grow past her new brother. She was also given a mind of her own, as he had been given in the beginning of his time. Gaea Everfree was to be strong, intelligent, and most of all, powerful. If it all came to a head, Mother wanted the Everfree to be protected even when the world came to an end. With a final snap of her fingers, power flowed from Mother, gifting the creation the first breath of life. And while Mother was indeed pleased with the perfection of her creation, she was not done, as of yet. She still had just a year before her children needed to confront one another. She had a lot to teach Gaea, and she was going to make the absolute most of it.



While Mother would go about her next year training her young daughter far from Discord, he had started working with Errant, trying to discern the young pup's diet, and how to properly work with him so they could both survive. After the first night, where he saved the Timberwolf, he found that the usually absent life of the Everfree was slowly beginning to make its way back into the picture. At first, he was lost in the return of his beloved songbirds, and the adorable rodents he could only dream of seeing before were now within reach outside of his stone prison. What Discord had never realized, is how dangerous it would have been.

The very first month of his new year was the time to teach Errant how to hunt with him. While Discord had grown quite used to simply consuming the foliage around him, he had also grown to miss his old diet that consisted heavily of the fish and cattle. While he was sure Mother did not appreciate that aspect of his humanity, it was one that remained, and she had curated into their very nature. The he recalled that the only bovine creatures that likely remained where the White Tailed deer, and the Minotaurs that he greatly feared. Nature would be on his side, it seemed, as Errant did quite easily prove to be capable of gathering the smaller creatures at his current size. Discord could only assume this was just their nature, though he still questioned the way Errant would be able to naturally consume these things. Once more, he attributed to some sort of absorption that the wood inside the pup would do.

So, the first night, Errant proved his worth quite quickly, gathering an easy to manage meal of some small rodents, as Discord cultivated his greens. He made the two of them a minor feast. Enough to fuel them to prepare a good cover inside the cave. Using hot and normal springs in the cave, working through the night, and into the following day, her worked to move many of his crops into the cave. He relied on much of the moss inside to serve as the base, hoping it would last long enough to make a more solid structure later on. Errant simply sat by, watching, unable to provide much more than a break buddy when Discord would get tired. During his short breaks, they would recline on a newly made bed of grasses and leaves, huddling together as if they had known each other forever.

Discord had, early on, concluded that Errant was likely a gift from Mother, as he could not rationalize, otherwise, how swiftly the young pup had grown attached to him. Though, being alone, and so young might have been a major reason on the side. Nonetheless, he would work tirelessly to provide what he could as time would carry on. After the first month, growing tired of the small game, and having to constantly go out for more food, Discord made up his mind that it was likely time to go after some White Tail. He would not rationalize going after the Minotaur, as they were herd creatures, and would likely overwhelm them within the first few seconds of an attack. Errant had grown considerably, and was now just above Discord's knee, so he was hoping that the young wolf would be able to handle some doe.

With this in mind, he gathered some small clay containers, made during the early days of his first year for water collection, and allocated a few of his strength potions into them. While he did not think he would necessarily need them, he had not hunted in a long time. Sparing enough thought to also allocated a couple of bottles with a healing tonic, Discord and Errant made their way from the cave. Sealing it off with a rather rickety wooden door, they wandered slowly into the initial clearing surrounding the cave entrance. It was no longer quiet, as it had been the year before. Insects, birds, rodents, mammals, and even some of the wandering Minotaurs were audible all around. As before, though, he did his best to avoid annoying the Minotaurs, and they likewise let him be.

Making their way deeper, he reasoned that his most rational move would to go where he had historically seen them outside of the dream realm. He made his was towards what he believed was the old clearing where the Changeling's had destroyed the band of thieves, and began to wait. While he was desperate to find the new food, he would not simply attack at the first sign. He wanted to scout the camp, and ensure that he was on the right path. Thoughts of running into the old Changelings also still ran through his mind. Maybe if he ran across the Queen, he could finally have a friend to talk with. 

But, what if Mother didn't bring her into the dreams? What if she simply brought those carnal drone-like soldiers? I fear the revenants without a queen far more than with her.

His thoughts indeed were grim upon his own possible fate, but he found himself still quite willing to press on, and set up camp in the middle of the old clearing. Most of the wooden cart had finally degraded, though much of the metal was still there, sticking out of the ground, heavily rusted. He made a conscious effort, wandering over, to see if he could pull any of the metals out, as he had been needing some new tools; iron would definitely make for a better source than his stone and clay muses. He approached the first, which appeared to be a rod from the old cart's axle. He started to pull on what could make perfect mixing stick. He needed more potions, and was more than willing to experiment on the new plants he was seeing since his emergence from the cave. He also considered trying to collect some of the old blue flower, which had been growing in new patches, forming alluring new carpets of flora.

The rod was sturdily buried beneath the ground, but the harder he pulled, the more it began to shift, so he began to twist, and stir it in circles, until it finally broke free. Unlike what he thought, this was no axle. It was a smaller rod, nearly the length of his arm. He tried to think back in his mind of what the new tool could be from, but would draw blanks the closer he got. Regardless, this was still perfect for his cauldron, and he wandered back over with errant as they sat around his camp. It wasn't much of a camp yet, as no fire had been started, and they had no discernable shelter. He wasn't planning on starting a fire in this clearing though. The smoke would likely chase any potential food away.

For several days Errant and Discord would make their trip, scouting the area, often seeing much larger potential food sources; beavers on the river, some well sized rabbits and other creatures made themselves visible. The White Tail was still elusive, however, and he was ont he brink of moving to a new camp entirely. That was until the first day of the following month. He noticed some brush moving just across the clearing, as he scouted from behind some shrubbery. And indeed, he spotted the first of the White Tail, though they were far different that what he could have recalled. The emerging buck was quite massive, coming just above his head. While the tail was indeed white, so was the majority of his coat, with some golden fur accenting his chest, and the edges of where his stomach met his sides.

This was beyond the beauty he had seen in the forests, thus far, and was truly the first to make him completely speechless. Gone, almost instantly, were any thoughts of harming this creature; of course, being that it wasn't the White Tail he wanted, that played a strong role in turning him away from hurting this deer. Instead, he motioned for Errant to sit, as they both emerged from the brush; the pup obeyed cautiously, sitting just in front of the brush, as Discord observed the large creature. His eyes widened as he saw more begin to emerge from the brush on the other side. A stunning doe, with similar coloring, followed by a few more, with fawns following them. While Discord was watching them, he did not realize that the buck had taken notice of his existence. What would happen next would catch him by complete surprise.

"I would never have imagined seeing one of your kind this far out in our dear forest," came a voice, though no lips were moving.

Discord jolted, quite startled by the clear, but gentle buck's voice. His eyes were likely wide as saucers as he stared at the creature, mouth slightly agape.

"And though I have been through many things in the last few centuries, I never imagined I would see the day that fauna would communicate with me," he said, shaking a bit. While in awe, he did not want to seem so rude to this stag.

The two shared a glance, as the stag nods slowly. 

"It seems you are not new to the forest, as your companion sits idly by," he said, wandering closer, despite the warning growls from the wolf. His eyes wandered over the human. Discord could tell by his look, that the Stag was likely used to seeing some like him; but as he had hinted, not this far into the forest. "Though, what intrigues me the most, is you said centuries, my friend. There is only myself, an one other I can recall who makes such claims, and she rarely ever makes herself visible to her spawn outside of their conception.

Discord blinked, tilting his head. "Mother was around during your creation?"

This time, the Stag looked quite surprised, stepping back a bit as his ears twitched. Discord couldn't tell if his eyes were open any wider, as their eyes were already quite big. The Stag nodded after a bit, regaining his composure, unlike the human in front of him.

"Interesting," he said softly, still not moving his lips. Discord could only come to the conclusion that he was hearing the voices in his mind. Remembering the voices also told him something else; the whispers were no longer as prominent as they had been when the forest was empty. "Stranger, I would appreciate it if you did not mind meeting with me here tomorrow. I believe we have some things to discuss."

Discord could not help but nod his head nervously. "I would not consider denying that request. Though, do you have a name I could use to reference you?"

The Stag stood straight, almost as if boasting, though it was clearly surprise. "Of course! I cannot believe I could forest such a simple thing. Though, perhaps only knowing your own species' language makes that a natural barrier. I am King Aspen, of the White Tail Woods. Though, our home was destroyed long ago.

Discord gave a respectful bow. "My name is Discord, your highness. As with you, my home likely no longer stands as I once knew it. I do express sympathy for your loss."

The king gave a soft chuckle. "I do appreciate your sympathy, but most of my herds were not alive to know of those times, so we have learned to move on."

Discord just gave a light nod, as he and the king bid a silent farewell, agreeing to meet when the sun would approach its midday peak. Errant had slipped by Discord, during their discussions, and was playing with a few of the fawns. The Timberwolf was far sweeter than the ones they had grown to know, and was patiently letting them crawl over him. The king gave a genuinely visible grin. 

"It seems you may have a gift in that pup, I would not be against you bringing him; though, I assume she is all you have." he said softly.

Discord nodded. "Wait, she?"

The king nods. "I know very little of the Timberwolf, though I do know they have a slimmer structure to the wood on their bodies compared to the males. She's also way to sweet to be a male. They are quite mischevious, like a fox."

Discord just gave a nod, giving a loud whistle to Errant, which alerted her to his voice. She carefully nudged her way out from under the playful fawns, who returned to their mothers. King Aspen and Discord once more shared a farewell, and the human waved goodbye to his new hooved friends. He then stood in disbelief, as despite the centuries Mother had been coaching him, he had never seen a talking animal. Taking quite a few nudges to get his attention, Errant finally got him to settle on returning home, and they made their way back to the caves.

The following morning brought no distractions to Discord and Errant, as the mand began gathering some items to share. He collected his potions, one bottle of each, and put them in a wooden basket he had made from things he collected on the way home. He also gathered the crops he had managed to cultivate into bearing larger fruits over the year, using a specific growth potion to  speed their cycles in the absence of pollinating insects. He had never considered himself a wizard, but he assumed he could technically use that title now; despite the lack of any actual magic, he was able to make tonics and elixirs that would have driven his old aged scholars wild.

And as such, with his clay creations, potions, and companion in tow, Discord and Errant made their way to the clearing, heading out early to try and set up the area for the two parties to be more comfortable. They made their way through their usual pathway, though Discord over the previous months had broken out enough to where a walkable path was visible when they had been scouting. It took almost an hour, with rests in between to take care of Discord's gradually more sore arms. He didn't realize how heavy all those clay pots and wood would be, and even with his slightly more built physique, he was still not a strong man. After almost four stops, they finally made their way into the clearing, with what Discord approximated to be about an hour before the guests would arrive.

He set his equipment down, and began to work on gathering surrounding wood and moss for the tents. He decided to build the shelter off the sides of a few trees, forming small canopies to protect themselves from the deceptively warm sun. And within the time he was managing to form the floors and roof with the soft grass and moss, King Aspen arrived with one doe, presumably his queen, with him. Discord spotted them on the horizon, and made note of the size of the abode he had constructed, and found it would be just perfect, if a bit large. With his happiness at this, he stood outside the structure, leaving his tools of trade inside, and giving a friendly wave when they were within a reasonable distance; they did not come from the same direction as they did the previous day, and Discord gathered they might be a nomadic herd without their old kingdom.

When they were within reach, he gave the two a bow, which they returned to him.

"Honestly, Discord," he said, chuckling. "you did not, by any means, need to go to such lengths just for us."

Discord smiled, not realizing he was showing off his teeth. "Well, I would come to hope that Mother, despite not exactly teaching me forest etiquette, would appreciate it if I brought the old school human's hospitality with me."

The king nodded, as he and his wife took point upon a motion from Discord to sit. He sat across from them, as Errant came over to the queen, sniffing her. The doe smiled, giving the bigger pup a gentle nuzzle. With tail wagging happily, she returned to Discord, relaxing on his lap. 

King Aspen chuckled. "There's another way to tell that your partner is a female. That short exchange let my mate know that could sense her fertility.

Discord chuckled, another smile forming. "Oh, so your... queen, I assume, is bearing a fawn?"

She nods happily. "As far as we can tell, yes. And we could not be happier."

Discord nodded. "So happy to hear that for you, madam."

King Aspen nods. "Indeed, and we already have a name decided upon, should it be a stag. Prince Bramble."

Discord gave a slight head tilt. "Interesting. The old humans I recall, often used the names you have for the tress. Unless Mother named you, as well."

The king gave another affirming nod.  As she did. Upon my creation, she named me after the closest tree she could find, in the Aspen trees. My mate, is Queen Fyr, though I do not recall a tree under that name. Bramble isn't a tree either, so I would say the royal family is breaking from traditions.

Discord shrugged, chuckling. "Hey, I can't say I wouldn't, either. I came from a species known for destroying the land and never giving it back; I am told by Mother that is why she plucked me from my old life. Sadly, I cannot remember that lifetime in very good detail, anymore."

The King smiled. "Would you mind giving me some small introduction on how you met our dear Mother?"

Discord nodded, beginning his tail with his introduction by the song, that he would hear all throughout his initial contact with Mother Nature. He retold his many tails of being trapped in the stone, praying for the dreams to come faster, and to never leave when hey arrived. He recounted how the dreams then began to slowly waver; never remaining constant, to the point that even today, he cannot recall whether he was in a dream, or not. He recalled how beautiful mother had appeared, and how she had coddled him at first. She had even admitted to him that her first appearance was an attempt to seduce him; but instead of treating her like the humans normally did, her took to her like a child. Discord then filled their thoughts with how the dreams changed. Going from a beautiful oasis, to nightmarish hellscapes that soon came to the point, as he said earlier, he does not know whether he is in a dream, or not.

The king and queen listened patiently, though quite surprised at how cold that Mother was concocting this human's life; her gift of immortality was seeming more like a curse to the physically young man the further he would go. Then, his tone shifted as he started to approach his first year's trial. He told about the whispers he could hear in the wind, when it would blow through the brush. How he felt he had nearly grown to understand them, going so far to write his own script, just to know he could still read and write, even if he would be the only one to recognize it. He was not upset, during these recountings, however. His voice was growing happy, as if the very irony that he had conjured friends from the wind, and used them as the pathway to create his own written script was good. 

Then he grew even happier when he brought up the most joyous of his discoveries with Errant. Though, he had thought her to be male the entire time, without any real reference, he said she was the greatest thing Mother could have given him. She had shown him unconditional love, and loyalty. She had even taught him some ways to hunt he had never considered, when it came to the small creatures. Then he hesitantly brought up what he was doing when had met King Aspen and Queen Fyr.

The royal pair could sense his hesitance with describing what he was hunting for at this point, and decided now was a good time to speak up. Queen Fyr stood, coming over nad placing a hoof on his shoulder.

"Discord," she said said kindly, "Do not worry yourself so much with this description. We understand the law of the land, and if we saw you as a threat, we would have made it abundantly clear."

King Aspen nodded in agreement. "Truthfully, me friend. I do not sense any disdain in your voice for us, and judging by the past humans you describe, you do not wish to harm something that can fully articulate its thoughts.

Discord just took a breath, nodding in agreement.

The king continued. "Then do not fear speaking the truth. While I am unsure what the future will bring, I can safely say you can consider the White Tails a willing ally, for the time being."

Discord nodded, smiling as Queen Fyr sat back beside her mate.

"Well, thanks for stopping me, then," he said, looking to them. "I decided to bring a couple of the potions that I thought would be the most important to offer as some gifts for you."

He moved the box in front as Errant shifted to give him reaching room, sitting beside him instead of on his lap. The king, nodded looking through them. "And you say you developed these?"

Discord nodded. "As I started to lose my sense of reality, I started using my runes and old knowledge of our early medicines, and decided to play around with them. I mix different plants in a small stone cauldron I have carved into my cave. The very first I developed was the growth elixir, marked with the symbol I use for our old term for foliage. When you pour a couple of drops onto the seed before covering it with dirt, the elixir interacts with the plants natural process, and can produce a budding fruit plant within two weeks. This allowed me to mix the different fruits I had been getting, and get larger ones."

He reached into the back, pulling out the examples he had made from berry plants, of which were nearly the size of plums now; and even the plant he used for making bags for certain items had much larger leaves than their original ancestors.

King Aspen stared curiously. "That is quite an impressive feat. While we could definitely benefit from this, with your help, we couldn't really do much planting with our hooves."

Discord blinked, nodding slowly. "Oh, right."

Queen Fyr smiled softly to him. "However, that does not mean we cannot trade something ourselves, my dear. My King, would you join me in a private discussion?"

The king looked to her, nodding as the two wandered out of the shelter for a minute, walking a distance out of earshot of the human. While they talked, he began to play with Errant for a bit, scruffing her hardening ears and neck, as a thought slowly began to eat at his mind with the growth elixir. 

"I wonder if you can use this elixir," he said to the canine, who licked at his hand, surprisingly not leaving any splinters in him. "Even if it was only... it is likely temporary; seeing as the plants of the next generation don't grow as quickly."

He thought about this while King Aspen and Queen Fyr were still discussing, and decided he would test this when they returned home, just to see how his little wolf would react to the growth elixir. As he made these debates in his head, the royal pair made their way back into the shelter, seemingly focused.

"We have an idea for a trade deal to make with you, Discord," King Aspen said.

Discord perked up, keeping his attention on the stag.

Queen Fyr continued his sentence. "Our herd travels almost once per week, weather permitting. Would you be willing to shelter a herd in your cavern-- if it's the one I imagine you are using-- in exchange for us bringing you new ingredients to work with over time?

Discord blinked, thinking deeply to himself about the sudden offer. From his very perspective, there was no reason he couldn't house them, as the cave you used was no small hideaway. And to get new plants and things to mix into his elixirs would be absolutely a fair deal; and he would also have his new friends visit often.

"While I must say," he said, smiling, "I would give you guys shelter without such a bribe, I would be a fool to deny the opportunity for our cultures to mix and learn about each other. I would love that arrangement."

The couple's eyes seemed to light up, filling Discord with a joy even he didn't recall having in centuries.

King Aspen smiled. "My friend, Discord, you do not realize what a comfort that is for us; I assure you, we will always be grateful for your hospitality."

Discord nodded happily, expressing his gratitude to the couple once more for the opportunities. While he was still hearing the whispering winds, while he would still hear the horrors of his past life in what could only be his dreams-- you can't dream in a dream, can you?-- and while he was only just a man with a long life with a Mother few men could even imagine, he did finally have something to keep him steady during these trials. He had friends; and he was going to make the most of this.