Chapter 16 - Return

Noah stepped off of the small staircase Serris formed for him to get down from her treetop abode onto the soft grass surrounding her tree. Turning back to see her following him down stopping just on the last step while the others were engulfed and reformed into an undamaged tree trunk.

"I'll, uh, come back sometime later," he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, glancing down to Serris's crotch where there was still frothing fluids coloured a milky pink hue dripping down her inner thighs

~that would be nice. It was fun speaking with you Noah.~ Serris nodded her head and ruffled her leaves. Brows tilting up in a happy display.

"If you don't mind," he would be lying to say that there wasn't a secondary motive behind that.

~I will not,~ she answered covering her belly with her hands, ~I do not get to properly speak with diadras often so do feel free to come speak whenever you may wish. I will also be happy to collect your seed should you wish it.~

Noah gulped, how could he not? The woman he just had s.e.x with was offering herself up to him whenever he wanted. That wasn't something that just happened every week. "I, think I'll take you up on that offer." He chuckled with a slight blush.

~Please do. I quite enjoyed that emotion. 'C.u.m.m.i.n.g' you called it? I wish to experience it again when my body has absorbed the nutrients from your seed.~

Noah's cheek twitched, hearing her strange phrasing and her sentence in and of itself causing him to gulp. "This is probably a stupid question," who was he kidding, it most certainly was, "but can you get pregnant?" in all fairness he did just fill what he assumed was her w.o.m.b with his s.e.m.e.n, being worried he may have some tree shaped toddlers running around in the future was a concern now.

~Preg…nant?~ Serris tilted her head in contemplation, raking through the memories stored in her branches for what he meant before coming to a certain memory of a red-haired woman with a bloated belly sitting beneath her branches. ~ah.~ She nodded in understanding, ~no. We dryads do not bare children in our manifestations. Nor would I be able to form a child with the form before you. I am simply to young and harbour to few nutrients to form one.~

Noah let out a relieved breath, patting his chest, 'thank god. That's one less thing to worry about for now.' he sighed.

~Of course, once I have fruited a few times and become a tree mother I will be capable of forming a sapling that will form into a new dryad.~

"Right. And how many times do you have to fruit for that to happen?"

Serris's brows tilted down in contemplation, ~I do not know. From what my tree mother once told me and my sisters it is different for every one of us and differs depending on the age of our main bodies.~

'Curious,' Noah pinched his chin and began to think. Hehad come to find Serris's species quite the curious thing when compared to his own. A race entirely formed of trees. As unusual as they were.

A snapping noise and a small squeak brought Noah back from his thoughts, raising his head to see Serris with a long curved branch covered in dozens of petals and bulbs in her hands. Raising into the canopy was another branch with a piece snapped off.

With the branch in both her hands, Serris gave it a quick once over before nodding and holding it out to Noah, ~you seemed interested in my flowers so I wish for you to have this.~

Noah was left mouth agape, "did-didn't that hurt?" he questioned.

~mmm, a little,~ serris shrugged, emploring him to take the branch of blossoms from her hands. ~I have had larger broken during storms.~ she looked up to a large, ~this is my thank you for allowing me to have your seed.~

Noah's mouth opened, wanting to retort that she didn't have to. Yet he shut his mouth and reached out to her with his palms up. Gently taking it from her, feeling its surprising weight as he lifted it from her hands. "Thank you, I'll treasure it." Though he had no idea what to do with it, he could at least put it up somewhere.

~If you wish for another. Do ask, I have plenty to offer.~

"No," he shook his head, "this," he closed his hand around the branch, just barely able to get his fingers to touch around it. "This is already enough. I'm not going to ask you for more." Especially if it hurt her giving it to him.

~If that is what you say,~ Serris lowered her hands to cross over her stomach once again. ~It was nice speaking with you Noah. I hope to see you again in the future.~

His brow quirked, she made it sound like she was expecting him not to return. "You will," he gave her a soft smile, "I'll see you soon Serris." He stepped back, turning on heel holding the cherry blossom branch diagonally before him. Crossing over the small circle of grass now seeming to lack those unusual white and wine flowers that formed the outline. Though Noah once again didn't notice them.

Stepping into the field, Noah turned back to Serris, seeing her body slowly sinking back into her tree. Noticing he had stopped, Serris lifted her hand up and gave him a short wave before sinking fully back into the tree leaving no evidence of her or what they had just done.

Remaining in place for a moment, Noah just muttered, "I actually had s.e.x with a dryad…" and it was really good.

A grin formed on him as he turned back to the field, stepping across the straw on a trek back towards the farm house with the sun now just getting over the noon mark.

But there, surrounding him within the ocean of gold, hidden beneath the straw small bushels of white and wine flowers were hidden, all gently blowing in his direction. Stroking against his feet as he passed them by, leaving on him small golden particles that sunk into his skin before the flowers themselves sunk below the earth, leaving the land in its golden l.u.s.tre.

From a birds eyes view one would be able to see that the wheat separated in a circle nearly twice the size of the patch of green, radiating out from Serris's tree as the centre. The flowers only thinning and parting to let Noah pass them by unnoticed on his travel back to the farm house.

***

Noah sighed as he stood up from the floor of Liora's room. His shirt tossed to the side and in his hand a bloody rag he'd been using to try and wash off the blood off the ground finding little success as it seemed the vital fluid just seemed to stain the wooden flooring.

Though through persistence and a small bit of OCD, Noah had successfully gotten most of the stain out leaving him with only perhaps a few untainted towels that he could use to help dry Liora off when she had a bath or when he washed her of sweat.

Feeling a sharp and painful grumbling in his stomach, Noah lowered his hand to cover his belly. Over two and a half days had passed since he last ate anything so he was absolutely famished. 'Liora needs food,' of course his thoughts immediately wandered to Liora, the woman unconscious in the other room and had been throughout the entire day as he mopped and scrubbed up the speckles of blood and tossed the now useless mattress out of the window into the front yard to figure out what to do with later.

Wandering his way through the newly cleaned hallways of the house, Noah made his way down the creaky steps until he found himself in the kitchenette. Onceing over the entire thing, the few cupboards hanging off the walls the half a dozen cupboards on the floor, even a few drawers where he expected the utensils to be.

'There must be something here,' Noah moved to the rightmost set of cupboards and pulled them open only to be met with nothing but a poof of dust before moving onto the next, which once again held a whole lot of nothing.

'shit, how can she live like this?' after the fifth cupboard of nothing, Noah was feeling a bit of panic welling up inside him. What could he feed Liora if there was nothing but dust and nothingness around. It was horrifying, she looked so well, yet she live so poorly.

Then there, in the sixth cupboard on the floor he found it, the very thing he had been looking for. Food. Albeit, dried, completely inedible pasta, but food nonetheless. Pulling the bag out he placed it down on the counter, staring down at it with a twitching cheek.

While he did enjoy his pasta, having it with nothing but pasta water was not something he was going to subject Liora to if she woke up. Squatting back down, Noah peered into the confines of the wardrobe, seeing a few small wooden and clay containers dotted around with a few small sacks and bags in between them as well as another, bigger chest like container on the bottom shelf of the cupboard. All of which he'd have to go through to see if there was anything he could use within them.

Of course him as a curious lad started with the largest and most curious of the objects, the chest. Pressing his hands either side of it, Noah lightly tugged it out of the cupboard, feeling that it had a decent weight indicating there was hopefully something within it. It didn't have a latch or anything of the sort so opening it was as simple as pressing into the front of it and pulling it open.

The moment he did, he felt a torrent of freezing air assault him causing him to involuntarily shiver. His breaths coming out as small puffs of white clouds as he stared curiously at the box laced with hundreds of thousands of interwoven shimmering silver blue threads forming a cloth linning around the entirety of the inside of the box.

It was there he saw it, a thick slab of bright red meat and various half chopped vegetables linned up next to one another. 'These must be what Liora use last time…' he thought reaching out to lift up a bright orange, half there carrot, the thin as frosty as a winters night.

It didn't feel completely frozen as it still had a small bit of pliability to it so he could likely chop it and the meat if that also hadn't frozen.

'Why didn't these freeze?' the torrent of cold air coming from the box certainly felt below freezing. Yet it didn't freeze anything. He turned a curious eye down to the portable minifridge box. Looking around for anything that may tell him what it was or how it formed. Yet all he could see were the interwoven strands of silken silver feeling a headache beginning to well up.

"Really need to stop trying to figure this world out," he groaned returning the carrot to the box and lifted it onto the counter to search for a cutting mat and knife he could use to chop it aswell as a pan to boil water in.

It was that thought that gave him pause.

"With what fire?" he mumbled looking around the kitchenette for anything resembling a stove he could use.

"Third drawer. It's the big plate…" A tired voice answered him.

His head shooting to turn around to spot the weakly smiling woman dressed in nothing but a blanket wrapped around her body to cover her modesty with a single, leather strapped up arm holding her up against the wall.

"Hi… Noah…"