[Eivyonydd]

The portal was in sight, just one more step and he would be among them again. He had no choice but to take that final step, and yet he hesitated. He wasn’t ready to go back.

In all the time he had spent with Chloris, learning, practicing, the one thing they had never focused on was the one thing he was afraid of. Castalia had called it the allure, and whenever her looked at her he knew why. She was beautiful sure, but it was more than that, she was inescapable, it was too easy to be drawn into her presence, to like her without conscious will. And he knew it was like that for him too. Everyone Vyon had met since discovering his heritage had treated him well - he could never know whether they were true to themselves or influenced by his uncontrolled allure.

It was the reason he left. Everything had fallen too easily for him and he didn’t like it. He wanted people to like him for who he was. He wanted the harshness and hardness of life. It was what he was used to. So he marched out into the world beyond to find some peace, to discover this new world he found himself a part of.

Somewhere along the way he found Chloris. She exuded nothing, showed no beauty, and yet in her age and her wisdom, her control and her composure, she was truly beautiful. Vyon knew he looked on her with clear eyes, and Chloris who had not seen a humanoid soul in decades gave him warmth and respect. Since that day he had stayed with her, performing tasks for her that she or her animal followers could not, learning from her, becoming one with the earth and the plants. It was serene. It was what he needed.

But they never did address his fear of the allure - for she treated him naturally and his fears subsided. Instead he learnt to understand the plants, the earth, and to practice the other gifts that his strange heritage had given him. Now as he stared into the portal, exhausted and fatigued from his long run through the forest, breathless, scratched and bleeding, all he could think of was the fear that others would not see him for what he really was, only the beautiful inescapable nymph he often wished he wasn’t.

But he had to go. Her life depended on it. So he summoned the last of his strength, closing his eyes as he pushed into the portal and felt the lurch in his stomach as he crossed over.

Continued...

Vyon picture by me with help from Evie on the nose. Forest background modified from a Leet Software image. Brushes from SS-vector-foliage brush set. Code from Piper's Boutique with help to get it all working from Emma.