The Forest
I didn't return to the hollow tree right away. I had appointments and commitments. But I also was more than a tiny bit afraid that I had imagined the entire episode. I know in my heart of hearts that I'm not entirely stable.
A few days later, when the weather had warmed a bit, I set out into the forest.
Niether the hollow tree nor the statue had changed. I stood before the tree and waited several minutes. Then spoke.
"Hello?"
hello.
The voice seemed somehow stronger. It was still a bit faint, but it was less like a whisper now.
"Can I ask you some questions?"
of course. but I cannot guarantee I will have answers.
Was that a touch of amusement?
"Are you real?"
There was a pause before it answered.
i am. at least i am real in the sense that you mean right now. you are not imagining me. but, if you were, how would you know?
That was definitely amused.
"Then what are you?"
that is a more difficult question.
it would be easiest to say that I am the forest. but that is not completely true. i am the forest, and i am of the forest, but that is not all that i am. if i were only the forest, then i could not watch the forest.
"So, you're an observer? Some kind of guardian?"
yes. and yes. and more.
"And you're a statue?"
not precisely. before the statue was here, i was. i will be, even if the statue were lost. but the statue gives me ... a focus. a center.
"Who put it here?"
i do not know. i became part of the statue slowly. i do not know how long that might have taken.
I thought for a minute or two. "You make it sound like you moved into the statue involuntarily."
that is more or less true.
"But why?"
because that was the intent of the one who left the statue. that was the intent with which it was made. that was the intent with which it was placed here.
"I don't understand. Why does the intention matter?"
Another pause.
i am the forest. every part of the forest. the ants. the beetles. the small plants. the tall trees. they all have intent, but for most it is a small thing. their lives are shaped by instinct.
but i am also the large creatures, like the deer, and the coyote. they have much more intention. they feel wants and needs, and have desire to some degree.
but true intention, the kind that can shape my world, comes from even greater creatures. the deer know me, and know i exist, the coyote know me, and know i exist, and so i exist. but a human....
if a human knows me, and believes i exist, it is a powerful thing. that intent can shape me, and give me greater influence. the statue was made and placed with the intent that it serve me. and so it serves me. and now i am of the statue and of the forest.
and now you, too, believe in me. and so i grow stronger.
Shit. Did I just became a druid?