Lotheryn the Druid

I love trees and flowers and vines and grass. I love the freedom of the bear cub playing amongst the trees, the intensity of the wolf stalking its prey, the gentleness of the deer nurturing its fawn. I love all natural life, whether it wanders or it stays.

I love people also – the laughter of a child, the touch of hands between husband and wife, the beauty of a sonnet sung with passion and reverence, the way a community of elves unites to aid one of its members.

These are not conflicting loves for me. Whether person, animal, or plant, all is life, all love, all need love in return. There are some who think these must conflict, and though this view confuses me, it will not change me.

My loves stem from my parents. My mother, Melindiel, is a beautiful singer. She can take people to times and places they have never seen or imagined. I have never heard a more impassioned performance than her rendering of the Lay of the Wood Elves and Their Search for Elvenhome. My mother, as all good elves, loves the Earth and its inhabitants, but she is never more at home than when she is sharing her gift of song with a gathering of fellow elves.

My father, Borgaladh, chose a different path, one that suited his passion more closely. His love of the Earth prompted him to join the Order of Druids and dedicate himself to the study of Nature and Her power. His life as a druid rarely brought him into contact with any elf outside of his Order, but he took infrequent forays into various elven communities to ensure that Nature was being properly respected and nurtured. It was on one of these forays that he heard my mother sing. For all his love of plant and animal life, not one blossom of elanor nor one grazing moose had touched his heart such as the voice of my mother. Despite his vows to commit himself to his Order, he married her and soon I was born. He attempted to lead a double life as druid and husband/father, but could not and left the order. As a loving reminder of his druidic life, I was named Lotheryn, Blossom of the Woods, in our tongue.

As a child of such a pair, I naturally gained both passions. My mother taught me to love our fellow elves and serve them in whatever ways Ehlonna had gifted me. My father taught me to tend to plants and animals, not to interfere, but to keep them strong and thriving. Although I learned much from my mother, it was my father’s teachings that most held my interest. I spent long hours walking amongst copses of birch trees, studying the insects as they worked industriously at their tasks, noticing how the trees reacted to both sunshine and rain alike.

This passion led me, as it had my father, to the druids. Nowhere else could I find such devotion to the care of Nature. My father warned me of the isolation the Order would require of me, but I impulsively joined anyway. I threw myself headlong into my study of Nature’s Power, especially enjoying my companionship and communication with animals. Healing came as second nature to me. But as my father warned, I soon longed for my home amongst other elves and to once again be a part of a larger community. I yearned, as my mother did, to share my gifts with others.

Although it was frowned upon by the High Council of the druid grove I studied and worked in, I took furloughs back to my home, mostly under the pretense that I was educating my community in the hope that they would learn to care for the Earth as I did. My excuse did not earn me much grace, and so I found myself in poor standing with my Order when our grove and its surrounding forest was struck by an unknown disease. Animals that were once peaceful became frightened or hostile. Trees that had stood for centuries and eons began to wither. One plant especially, the terellor flower, potent in its use as a healing agent, disappeared entirely from the land.

Our Order was in an uproar. A Council was held involving every druid in the grove; such meeting had not been called in over 1,200 years. One order of business was to restore the terellor to our grove as soon as possible. A druid would have to journey out of the forest to try to find the plant and bring it home intact. Seeing my opportunity to visit other communities and to endear myself to my Order, I volunteered. After much debate, the Council agreed to send me out. As I go now, especially to new lands predominated by humans, I see much need for a druid’s love and caring. I see much neglect and abuse of Nature and Her Power. I help where I can, but I know I must find the terellor at all costs.