Chapter 245: Fleshy Fascination

Rosalyn Losenska

“About time you show back up in here, silly.”

Rosalyn cracked her eyes open. She’d been sleeping. Why’d someone have to wake her up?

Xirali’s face nearly pressed against hers chased all those grumpy thoughts away. She’d been dreaming of Ann and her home. Why was she here?

“Whu?”

“You’re still asleep. Don’t get your horns locked. Come on, got something I wanna show you!”

Rosalyn sat up. She was close enough to where she’d left the last time. The huge oak was still giving her some cosy shade as she looked over the dale. Time always seemed to stand still in this place. Snowtopped mountains further away, their proud peaks sparkling in the sun. The small river babbled happily in its bed, attracting birds and beasts alike. Xirali had said there were fish in there, but Rosalyn hadn’t had a chance to check herself.

Their last meeting was mostly business, with Rosalyn setting down ground rules for how the relationship was going to go. Xirali had agreed to all of it pretty easily, which made Rosalyn more suspicious than reassured, but it was the best she could do at the time.

“What’s it this time?”

“Oh! You’ve gotta see this one. It’s in the forests. Something really weird I haven’t seen before,” Xirali jabbered, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her along.

“Something weird? Like… unnatural? Corruption? Some disaster?”

“It’d be kinda weird if the last one happened in your soul. That’d mean something real bad had happened to change who you were entirely. That is a rare thing. I think. Actually, is it? You’re the expert with the whole people thing. How often does that happen? A century?”

“If you’re Alfhindur, maybe, but that can happen pretty randomly for the rest of us. Heck, it can happen randomly to them, too, but they just live longer, so it averages out. Kat lost her eye and her dad in the same day. I figure that’d mess anyone up a bit. Still, she’s real strong, so I don’t think she’s gonna have that much of a change. Well, besides the nightmares and the waking up early. Wish I could help with that.”

Xirali nodded in agreement. “Yeah. We can if we learn enough. Always gotta be learning, right?”

“Yeah. Keep moving, keep your head open and your ears to the ground.”

“Why’d you have your ears on the ground? That sounds stupid,” Xirali laughed, prancing ahead on her hooves. She bent down and set a floppy ear on the leafy forest floor. “Yeah, this is dumb.”

“It means to be aware. You’re not great with metaphors, are you?” Rosalyn giggled at the woman’s antics.

Xirali stood back up with some extra leaves in her already leafy and very curly hair. “I’m plenty good at them. Just hadn’t heard that one. Good to know! Wonder how that started?”

“Well, if you put your ear to the ground, you can listen to see if there’s a large number of animals moving nearby. The plains hunters down south use it a lot for hunting herds of creatures. I haven’t really had a chance to do it, but it was in one of the books back home.”

“Wait, so like, you can hear them talking in the dirt?” Xirali stared at her sceptically.

Rosalyn shook her head. “No. Not like that. You can hear their footsteps. Big animals literally shake the earth when they all move together. Get a huge herd of them going, and you can hear it for miles.”

“Whoa! We’ve gotta try that sometime. I want to hear that! What were we doing? Oh, right, the thing. Almost there!”

Rosalyn followed dutifully along. Xirali’s legs were quite nice to watch. The chestnut brown fur and slenderness were a pretty mix, and the way she moved on them was enchanting. She seemed to always be dancing whenever she moved. Everything about her was slender, actually, and pretty. Rosalyn hoped she wouldn’t inherit that trait. Ann liked her boobs, and Kat loved her hips. She liked her everything, especially when she put on a little weight when they got back into the cities. It filled her out nicely, though the size changes in her breasts were a bit annoying. Always quick to put on and shed weight. Her Ma had been so confused by it her entire life. Pa just said she was efficient with her energy.

They came upon the thing. It sure was… a thing? Well, it used to be a tree, that was for sure. It was corrupted, certainly. Still, it wasn’t quite a tree? The bark was this black substance that didn’t reflect light all that well, only enough to see the shape. The branches looked off. Too smooth and too perfectly curvy. Like a willow, but not burdened by gravity. They snaked all over the place, swaying gently in the breeze. Leaves sprouted from these branches. They were all the more confusing since they were normal oak leaves in their usual browns and greens.

“What the?” Rosalyn mumbled.

“I know, right! Come here and touch it!” Xirali laughed, dancing over and patting the tree.

Rosalyn hesitated. “You sure? That looks bad, and I don’t want to be sticking my hand in bad right now. Especially in my soul.”

“You gotta feel this though. It’s… I dunno. Smooth? Also a little squishy. If it tries to do anything, I’ll push you away, ok?” Xirali beckoned her again.

Rosalyn wasn’t sure. Yeah, getting to touch this thing would help her understand some of it, but it was also dangerous. Could she trust Xirali to actually knock her back if it caused problems? So many uncertainties. If only Kat were here to back her up. Still, she needed to investigate this new tree-thing, and she was the only who would, besides Xirali.

“Fine, just a fingertip, though,” Rosalyn huffed. She pulled up her robes, keeping them off the ground just in case, and approached.

Grinning, Xirali’s hand lashed out, grabbing Rosalyn by the wrist and pushed her finger into the tree’s “bark”.

“Xirali!” Rosalyn cried with surprise, yanking her hand back.

“Sorry! Sorry! Couldn’t help myself,” Xirali cackled. “It really is just a strange tree, promise! See, your finger is just the same as it always was.”

Rosalyn inspected her digit carefully. The nail was still there, no weirdness under the bed. Her skin colour roughly matched the colour of the tree, too, so she couldn’t tell if there was residue. Wait, she wiped the finger on her robe. Nothing. Well, that was a good sign.

“It was warm?”

“Yeah! Squishy, too, right? Like when you poke my cheeks!” Xirali did just that to demonstrate, sticking her tongue out as she did.

“It was. Ann said she’d fought a thing like this, but it was definitely more tree-like,” Rosalyn said. She started walking a slow circle around the tree, getting every angle she could. “It also moved and was full of crows.”

“Full of ‘em? Like nested in there?”

“No, like actually in there. They acted like teeth, and it had feathers for leaves. Wonder if this one bleeds too?”

Xirali’s hoof kicked out suddenly. A gash opened up in the tree’s… hide and spilt a liquid out. Kneeling to pick some up, Xirali held it up to the light. Red.

“Looks like blood to me!” Xirali licked her fingers. “Tastes like it, too. Maybe it showed up when you were told about the tree? Could be a variation based on your memory or somethin’.”

“Maybe. It’s not as mobile, so I’m happy about that. Don’t want that wandering around.” Rosalyn turned her attention to the nearby trees. “Also doesn’t look like it’s affecting anything else. Just this one tree. So strange. Maybe the root systems aren’t connected?”

“Whoa, look at this!” Xirali called, looking at the gash she’d kicked into the weirdly fleshy tree.

Rosalyn was in an analytical mode and didn’t even think about the invitation as she stepped forward. Like Bren did with his history stuff, she was always eager to learn more about animals and plants. This one combined was fascinating.

That’s why Xirali grabbing one of her horns and pressing her close to the tree caught her off guard.

“Stop it!” Rosalyn cried. She pushed Xirali and put some serious electricity into the touch.

The goat woman staggered back, gritting her teeth and wincing as the pain hit her. “OW! What the hell, Rosy?”

“My name is Rosalyn,” Rosalyn corrected angrily. “You have to stop grabbing me! I hate it!”

“You love it when Kat or Ann do it.”

“Because I trust them! I barely know you!” Rosalyn’s staff was in her hands. She wasn’t about to be caught off guard again.

“Aw, but I know all about you! Shouldn’t that count for something?” Xirali pouted as she patted the hand-shaped burn marks in her fur. “Come on. The usual stuff can get skipped with us.”

“For you, maybe, but for me? Absolutely not. If you want to be my friend, you are going to need to show me I can trust you. You already grabbed me twice today! What did you expect when you know me so well?”

Xirali hung her head, kicking at some leaves. “I shouldn’t a done that.”

“Yeah. You shouldn’t have!” Rosalyn huffed. Despite her cooling anger, she dismissed her staff. It seemed like Xirali was actually sorry. “What’s in the tree?”

“Guts ‘n’ stuff,” the Warped mumbled. “Thought you’d like to see.”

“Then tell me next time and let me look!” Rosalyn cried, throwing her hands up in frustration. “I’m the last person to be lecturing someone on getting overeager, but when I do it, it’s all me! I don’t drag Ann or Kat into it unless they offer to help, which Ann usually does because she’s a lovely sweetheart, but still! Boundaries!”

“You still wanna see the guts n’ stuff?” Xirali pouted.

“I do! But you! You need to apologise first. Not gonna do nothin’ until you do, heard?”

“Heard. Sorry.”

Rosalyn raised her brows and set her hands on her hips. “Oh, no, not getting away with just that. ‘Pologise proper, and we can keep going. I know you can.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll try not to do it again.” Xirali said, still looking at the ground.

Rosalyn was unimpressed. She’d done that before. “Try?”

“Fine, I won’t. Happy, ya kuudhi?”

“Fine,” Rosalyn nodded firmly. That was that. “What kind of guts, and what stuff?”

Xirali glumly went over and pulled on the cut she’d made. Flesh tore with a terrible noise as the woman displayed strength beyond what seemed right.

The inside of the “tree” was fascinating. She could understand Xirali’s excitement. “How many spinal columns did you count?”

“I dunno, four? I think there are more further in.”

“Is that a lung? Why’s that next to a spleen? I don’t see any hearts, do you?”

“Nah, too lumpy and goopy. So much muscle, too. Swear it could move if it wanted to.”

“Maybe the spines inside the trunk are too coiled together and can’t flex right?” Rosalyn was right next to Xirali now. She was keeping an eye out for any more sudden moves, but the goat woman was behaving herself. “See how those two are touching each other? Think they’re locked. Then there’s the other bones you can kinda see here and here,” she pointed at sections of the fleshy exterior that weren’t smooth. “Not enough to poke through the skin, but it definitely has more in there, all jumbled up. The blood is flowing, too, so it must have a heart. Winder if that’s underground? Would make sense for a living tree, right? Heart in the roots?”

“Makes sense to me. Want to try digging it up?” Xirali asked eagerly.

“Letting something like that take root would be a problem, but I dunno if digging would make it any worse. Thing’s kinda really in there.” Rosalyn knelt and tried brushing some of the dirt away to find more of the tree. She only found more dirt and the continuing side of the tree. “Yeaaah, we’re not finding the rest of it. We’d have to, like, I dunno, cut it out and then just keep digging and digging and digging. Who knows how deep, too?”

“Would keep me busy,” Xirali shrugged.

“Yeah, but where’d you wash off?”

“The river, where else?”

“And get all of the fish and whatever else drinks there contaminated? No way. If you want to do this, you only get to do it and wash off here.”

“Dragging water over here’s gonna take so loooooong,” Xirali whined.

“Deal with it! I get to have you in my soul, and whatever this tree is, and you get to keep it clean! Ah ah ah! No more whining.”

Xirali still grumbled about Rosalyn being a taskmaster, but agreed to the terms.

“Wait, hold on. What would happen if you shocked it?”

“Sh… shock it?” Rosalyn sputtered in confusion.

“Yeah! It’s got all that fleshy stuff inside. What happens when you give it a little zap?”

Rosalyn considered that for a moment. It was… an interesting question. She didn’t know. Was Xirali trying to get her to do something she wanted to do anyway, just to cause problems? Was she just genuinely curious? Probably just curious, with how she talked about it. Even the earlier grabbing was born out of overeagerness, not malice.

“Alright, stand back,” Rosalyn said, rolling up her sleeves and summoning her staff.

“Wait, you’re gonna go for a big one? Thought you were just gonna do the zappy hands again!” Xirali gasped as she scrambled away.

“Nah, this is too big to really care, and grounded, so it will care, but probably not quite as much. Big shock, big boom, big damage or a big wake-up. Maybe we should ramp up from the lower part and go further into it from there, but naaah, this is more fun. Gonna do this. Ready, and…”

She lifted the staff, channelling the magic into the spell. Ozone filled the air. She’d always just called it smelling copper, but Ann said it was a change in the air itself when lightning was coming. It kinda annoyed her because it was a warning for enemies. Still, the actual hit came so friggin’ fast that dodging was nearly impossible. Well, at their level. Remmi might be able to dodge it. Who the heck knew?

Lightning struck the tree. Just a normal Unleash the Storm, sending a single massive bolt into a single target. The tree did what most trees do when they are hit by a storm: it split down the middle. Skin was seared off the insides as the thing bowed in two halves, long branches hitting the ground in a noisy clatter. Bits of black organs sprayed in all directions, including onto Rosalyn and Xirali.

“Oh gross!” the Warped woman shouted, wiping at her fur. “Aw, now I’m gonna have to go and get water to clean up.”

“Yeah. Maybe not. Look!”

The tree’s charred, smoking husk was moving. Bits of bone and sinew slithered over the grass and leaves back towards the trunk. Bit by bit, the detonated flesh started returning to the epicentre. The smoking bits of skin and muscle extinguished and pulled back together. Flesh melted in horrid strings that twisted through the air and connected seemingly randomly. Through the twisted mass, the skin re-grew, sealed back together, and the tree was whole again. Rosalyn was clean, and so was Xirali. Even the blood had returned.

“What?” the satyr asked, standing there dumbfounded.

Rosalyn was equally surprised. “Never seen regeneration like that before. Even the blood? Guess your idea about the heart being underground was right. That’s… really creepy.” The leaves had even popped back out of the snaking, twisting branches. “I guess we’re in my soul, though, so rules don’t matter quite as much as the real world?”

“Pretty sure I wouldn’t regenerate like that if you hit me with a lightning bolt,” Xirali muttered, prancing up to the tree and giving it a whack. Nothing happened. “You’re boring. I’m gonna dig you up, stupid mti.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Huh? Oh, means tree. So, you’re gonna wake up soon. Hope you’re satisfied for tonight. Was a fun dream. Kinda wish we got to do more of this. You’ve got so much I can learn about, even if I can look through your memories, the connections are yours. It’s a weird mess when I go through them that makes it really hard to understand, and the strings go to everything in no order at all.”

“Yeah, sounds like how I think,” Rosalyn laughed. “Guess I’m gonna get to waking up then. How do you think that works?”

“I dunno. You’ll just fade out here, and I’ll be alone.”

Rosalyn felt her heart clench a little, but reminded herself that this thing wasn’t ever really alone. It could see what she was doing. “Well, ok. I think I’ll just kinda go lay down by the tree again. Was a nice spot.”

Together they made the short trip and settled in the roots.

“I like it here,” Xirali said calmly. “It’s really peaceful. Great place for naps.”

“You nap o…often?” Rosalyn yawned. How was she getting sleepy in a dream? That didn’t make sense.

“Eh, when you’re asleep for the most part. Gets really boring. Alright, that’s it.” Her voice started to fade. “See you whenever. Talk in a minute. Bye!”

Darkness, then Rosalyn felt the weight of her blanket on her body again.