Collin had been following Violet down the paved bikepath in silence for some time now. It was absolutely no use trying to get any information out of her. Collin imagined what Violet could possibly be taking him to see out of curiousity, not to mention lack of a better thing to do. Suddenly, Violet took a sharp turn off the path into the trees.

“Whoa, wait up!” He called.
“Well, c’mon!” She said teasingly.

She skipped right up to a tree, and he followed, taking every step with great care. Violet turned back with a smile that said, “you’re gonna love this!” Then she hit the trunk of the birch tree like a drum.

What Collin saw next marked a new beginning. The tree…blurred a bit. That was the only way he would have been able to describe it. The sharp lines of the trunk became soft, and then…an entirely new shape separated itself from the white, papery tree! Collin didn’t know what to call the creature, but a more knowledgeable fantastical adventurer would see that it was a driad.