Chapter 13 - A Lesson on Dryads

"You… want my what now?" Noah didn't really need the repeat, he knew exactly what she meant. There wasn't exactly many types of 'seed' he could provide. But still, getting asked to provide said 'seed' to a woman—or tree as it went—who he only met less than ten minutes ago, was a bit of a rush. Even if he was suffering with an erection.

The feminine tree girl nodded her bark head, saying ~may I have your seed. Ah, do you not know what I mean by seed?~ she questioned going into an explanation not seconds later not giving Noah a chance to respond, ~I believe your species call it 's.e.m.e.n~ she said with what he guessed was quotations considering her masks lips didn't move a single time as she spoke.

Blank was what Noah's mind was. It was one thing knowing what she meant but getting such a happy explanation of what human's called seed was another. Noah's jaw fell open, a soft squeak coming from his throat before his mouth shut only to open once again, unsure of what to say.

~I will not push you for your seed if you wish not to provide it.~ the dryad said after seeing his perplexed look. Her leaves rustling sadly while her body seemed to shrink in on itself letting out creaks and cracks as her wood and vines squeezed in like she wished to sink back into her tree.

Noah flinched at how saddened the dryad looked, a twinge of guilt building up in him. "it's… it's not that I don't want to…" when he was pitching a tent, there was no way he wasn't willing. "It's just what your asking is a very intimate thing not just done between complete strangers," ignoring the fact that p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.es existed which was literally done between strangers.

~I see,~ her body expanded back into its pervious size, her wood letting out a relieved groan. ~then would you wish for me to become your… what was it called… 'marriage?' I believe it was.~ she ased shuffling on her knees.

'Does she mean wife? How would that even work?' Noah thought.

"That's, that's also something done by couples," Noah groaned, explaining all of this would cost him a few too many braincells right now. "Look, I don't even know your name, if your even have a name in the first place-"

~Serris.~ she responded, pausing Noah mid speech.

"Oh, you actually have a name. Do all dryads have names?" she shook her head.

~I was granted my name long ago by a dear friend. Though they have long come to feed my roots.~

'Please tell me she means they were just buried beneath the tree and not that she actually dragged them down and ate them.'

"Right," Noah coughed into his hand, "Serris, I'm Noah," he bobbed his head to her getting a tilt of hers in return.

~May I have your seed now that we are no longer strangers?~

And, that was a quick return to the conversation of seed leaving Noah with his mouth shut firmly, just staring at the bark covered girl. 'I'm being offered s.e.x, why am I being so reluctant to do it?' it wasn't as if he was a v.i.r.g.i.n. He may not have been popular back home, but he certainly wasn't completely extradited from society, only mostly. Which only seemed to grow worse when he was unabashedly kicked out of his own family ledger for certain reasons he didn't wish to get into.

"Serris, do… why do you want my, a, uh, seed," he forced the word to come from his lips with a slight flush to his cheeks and a twitch to his pants.

~I wish to fruit.~ she answered turning her head up to the canopy of pink and white blossoms, ~I have been blossoming for long. But never have I born fruit. I wish to finish my cycle so that I may lose my leaves and grow.~ Noah raised a brow also turning his eyes to the thousands of petals overlooking him. Their sheer calming beauty as they swayed in the wind.

"What do you mean by that? You make it sound as if you haven't been growing, but with the size of this tree wouldn't that mean you are?"

Serris slowly shook her head, lifting her arms up to show off her body and the wriggling vines in her joints. ~We dryads, as you diadras call us. Do not grow with our bodies…~ Serris's eyes brows slanted down into a look of ponderance, ~my body, the one you see before you. Only grows as my body we are upon blossoms and bears fruit. While my body we are sat upon will grow with the winters.~

'Asymmetrical aging?' Noah looked down to the bark of the tree he was sat upon, lowering a hand onto it, 'so its something like being in a coma, but not entirely. Her body, the tree will keep growing, while her soul, or the manifestation of the tree will remain stagnant and immature being left behind as her main body grows older.'

"What happens if you fruit then? How does that affect you? Physically? Mentally? Or does it affect both?" it was actually quite an interesting prospect, just how does a manifestation of a tree, work? How does it live? How does it feed? Breathe? Even breed?

Noah froze at the last one, 'right, she essentially wants me to breed her…'

~I will grow and so will my body you see before you. I do not fully understand what you mean by those other two words. I have not heard of them prior to this date.~

'oh great.' He rubbed his temple, "Physically is like, do you grow bigger once you fruit or do you stay the same. Mentally is more well, mental, do your thoughts grow more mature." He felt that she was already pretty mature in that department as she sounded like a decently rounded grown woman.

~I see,~ he hand rested on her lap, her emotionless face tilting down before raising up to face Noah with an answer. ~I believe once I have grown enough my body will undergo a change that drastically shifts my appearance into one more to the likeness of a diadras and allow me to step outside of my body for short periods of time.~

That was oddly more specific than what he was expecting, but also strangely informing. "Interesting," Noah pinched his chin and nodded, "so it's a type of evolution then? You turn from a dryad into something else then?"

Serris's head tilted before nodding, ~Yes. When I was first seeded, my progenitor was a tree mother. Ah, a 'hamadryad' I believe you call then.~

'So there's also a caste system I'm guessing?' he pondered to himself, looking over Serris's body once again, lingering on the soft, pink glow of her heart shaped wooden vulva was. Having to swallow the spittle in his mouth. "And now you want me to help you become a hamadryad then?"

She nodded, ~I would much appreciate it.~

"Why… why me?"

~I…~ Serris froze mid-sentence, brows lowering to cover part of her upper singular coloured eyes, ~I am unsure… I simply saw you and wished for you to be the one to make me fruit.~

Noah heard various beeping noises in his head, 'does… does a tree have a crush on me?' and one at first sight even. A part of him felt a bit of pride that a tree would have a love at first sight scenario with him. But now came the true decision.

Did he actually give her his seed?

Noah felt the tenseness in his body slowly melt away, the stress from the last few days being sapped from him bit by bit until he turned his head back, looking into the distance at Liora's home where she was still resting.

He couldn't stay away for long, he didn't even know how long he'd been asleep with Serris. Maybe Liora was already awake now. But something… something deep inside him told him he was wrong, that Liora was still sleeping soundly in her bed in that empty room.

When he turned back to Serris, Noah grew a sharp look to his eyes. "If you don't mind it being me, I will happily provide you my… seed." He gulped as Serris's entire body perked up, her leaves and flowers rustling while her vines squirmed around her body, even the ones making up her belly button were spiralling.

And though her face remained emotionless and unmoving, her brows tilted up and her eyes widened in pure glee. ~Thank you Noah,~ Serris said, pushing up to her feet… stumps? Without even placing her hands down onto the tree to assist her in raising herself up. Letting Noah see that she was actually quite tall, maybe just below his own height.

"No problem," Noah gave her a smile and stood up as her feet clunked against the bark of the floor as she strode up to him. "So, how does this work?"

Serris lifted her hands up, pressing them onto Noah's shirt, pressing into his chest. His pants painfully keeping his erection from coming free from their confines. Hand curling to Serris's h.i.p.s, clenching in on the rough, bark texture that made up her body.

~I believe you diadras call it 's.e.x'~

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Right so, I'll reiterate this for everyone. But this is not the final version of this chapter, nor are any currently released chapters on patre-on or here, the final versions. Once I finish this book and get to going over it, editing it, adding/removing/tweaking, those'll probably be Patre-on exclusives for a bit. But no promises on that front.

Also, writing of this story is going very slowly, I've got enough chapters to keep up with the 2 per week release on tuesdays for this, next week and the week after next week but I'll be swapping between 2 per week and 1 per week depending on how many chapters I can really get done on this while working on TCB (and another project that doesn't really include 'cultural research' (because holy crap 'cultural research' is draining on the mind and having 2 stories where it plays a big part is tiring.)

I'm really not going to rush things so this could very well change as time goes on, but I'll be informing you all if something changes.