Alseides had not left her grove in centuries. She had not ventured from her tree in more than a decade. She could not bear to watch the depredations visited upon her beloved trees by the selfish greed of humankind.
But the dryad queen could no more close her eyes to the deaths of millions of her sisters in fires and droughts than she could uproot her tree and find a new world on which to reside. And so, regardless of the pain it caused her, she bore witness to the loss of her people and the doom it spelled for her world, knowing it was both the least and the most she could do for her people.
This story was inspired by the image. I created a series of images of dryads and their trees. This one seems to have a crown of branches. I love that the dryad is looking out both as part of the tree itself and a face within the tree. She seems to carry a deep sadness, which to me, could only come from devastating loss.
We have been careless with our world, and are far too slow in trying to rectify this. I only hope that this story does not prove to be prophetic.
So sad, so real 🌎
Powerful story. You can see the sadness in her eyes. I hope this isn’t prophetic, too!