1 The valley of the wood-nymphs

The breeze through the nearby leaves frightened the silver deer. There were many forests in the world, but no forest like the forest of the wood-nymphs, and no valley like the valley of the wood-nymphs.

The wood-nymphs would dance their ring dances. They were so quick that fire burned under their feet and the aroma of ruffled herbs wafted all through the valley... Wood-nymphs were known for their beauty. They were so mesmerizing yet they never got married... because they were unborn. "Born of golden fruit" in the valley, that's who they were.

"Make way for Phyllada, future Princess of the Wood-Nymphs!!!" someone announced.

"Do you have to do this, Bayan?" Phyllada frowned. "I am just going out to look for Elyre."

Anyway, Phyllada didn't want to become a Princess of the Wood-nymphs. This was a very responsible position. It meant she would be the official governor of Wild Wood, one of the seven vast regions of Allyria. She was born of the Royal Golden Apple Tree... So it was her destiny...

At least she had to be grateful that her annoying friend Bayan did not decide to follow her down the road and shout here and there, "Make way...!" She would've felt really ashamed then. He just said it once before she left the Sun Manor.

Where could her sister Elyre be? She was late... The first place Phyllada decided to check was the Tree of Fairy-Tales as Elyre often told fairy-tales to a group of children there. Phyllada looked around and then looked up. There she was, her sister Elyre, comfortably sleeping on a bough...

Wait. How could this be comfortable?!

"Elyre? How could you have fallen asleep... on a bough?!" Phyllada's chocolate voice woke her up.

Elyre opened her eyes,

"I was not asleep..." But after telling the children of Wild Wood some fairy-tales, she loved to climb up and swing her legs back and forth...

"Have you forgotten today we have to pay a visit to the queen?" Phyllada said. "And tomorrow is my coronation."

Elyre jumped off the tree.

"Are you sure you don't want to become a Princess of the Wood-Nymphs instead of me?" Phyllada added. She'd never wanted to become a Princess. She was a wild girl who loved nature. Give her open spaces and horses and freedom.

"Don't worry, Phyllie, you're going to be a great Princess of the Wood-Nymphs! You don't have to be like your mother. Every princess is unique." Phyllada's mother, Thyberia, was serious and strict, and very different in character from her daughter.

"Can you imagine, I will be responsible for the precious Sunstone," Phyllada shivered. "What if I lose it?"

"Firstly," Elyre smiled, "it's on your forehead. Not in your hand or on your finger. How can you lose it? Secondly, you've already kept it with you before, just it was not official."

"Elyre, you are brave and decisive. You're better fit for the position of a Princess... Are you sure...?"

"... ...Yes, I am sure." Elyre sighed. Moreover, she was not a wood-nymph. How could she become a Princess of the Wood-Nymphs?

She was a firine. Firines were creatures born of fire who could turn into little twinkles that moved with incredible speed and looked just like fireflies... But normally there were no firines in Wild Wood. Elyre, however, had somehow ended up there and she had been adopted by the Queen of the Wood-Nymphs, Thyberia, Phyllada's mother.

She knew next to nothing about her real lineage, but she didn't need to know. It had been a long time and she felt like a wood-nymph.

She dressed like them and acted like them, and danced their dances... and in her hair there was a wood-nymph veil, which they called "a wood-nymph ray"; it was an almost invisible magical veil. The power of wood-nymph magic was hidden in their attire, and the most powerful of their clothes was their veil.

Phyllada was not a Princess yet, but she already had some political responsibilities, for example, the visit to the Queen -- and that was not her mother, the Queen of the Wood-Nymphs -- it was the Queen of the realm, the Queen of Allyria, the all-powerful sovereign who took all crucial decisions and to whom the Queen of Wood-nymphs paled in comparison for she was just a provincial governor.

Phyllada had been preparing herself for that meeting for a long time, not only because it was of political importance but also because it was her first time leaving Wild Wood and she was afraid she might do something wrong. Sylvan dwellers rarely left their forest and time away from it seemed to them veritable hell. Sylvan dwellers were deeply connected to the forest -- some said this was true enchantment. Wood-nymphs were so attached to the forest they would give personal names to all trees and they treated them like people, greeting them whenever they passed by.

The reason for her visit was very important for the whole forest. She had spent a lot of time the previous few days thinking about what she was going to say to the Queen, although she was already painfully acquainted with the situation and the obvious facts. It was all related to a magical herb known as digeniche.

Digeniche was one of the symbols of Wild Wood and it had incredible healing properties. However, it was threatened with extinction because the Queen's minions kept gathering it in order to supply the army with the precious cure.

But digeniche was not simply a medicine; it was very important for the well-being of the forest. It had great magical properties and without it the forest was literally dying. Even its pace of growth was important -- the faster it was, the more the other plants were flourishing. It was difficult to explain to the Queen how important digeniche was.

The consequences of the relentless gathering were clear... Many plants were dying. Many of the wood-nymphs were now pale and somewhat ill. Another forest race – that of the elves – used their ability to merge with trees and their existence had literally turned into a legend.

"Dryads, help me!" Phyllada thought. Wood-nymphs referred to the spirits of trees as "dryads." This meeting with the queen would decide the fate of the forest, so she did need the dryads' help indeed.

If the queen did not put an end to all of this, the situation would get out of control. Without digeniche, everybody and everything suffered from maginopia (lack of magic) – a dangerous illness that made its victims melancholic, weak and pale, and the consequences for all plants were fatal. Normally cheerful, Phyllada knew she had to be serious and persuasive today...

But still she felt insecure, that's why she'd asked Elyre to come with her. When she was with Elyre, she felt much more confident. Her mother, Thyberia, had already had conversations with the Queen on the subject, so even though Phyllada was young, she'd advised her to go. Perhaps she would speak in a different way, perhaps she would find the right words to convince the queen...

The journey to the castle was neither hard, nor dangerous. But there was a slight problem - only the Queen's minions such as mages and generals could go there; and some noble guests such as Phyllada, the future Princess of the Wood-Nymphs. Elyre? She couldn't leave her sister alone, especially after Phyllada's insistence to accompany her and many reassurances that nobody would recognize her if she got disguised as a mage...

The castle was very big indeed. So, Elyre thought, perhaps nobody would pay much attention to a single companion coming along with the noble princess, so the two could go together. At worst, Elyre would be asked to wait outside and forbidden from entering.