Eldertree children are heavy. They are slender and long, mostly made up of slim angles and long cylinders… but nobody told me they would actually be heavy. They don’t look heavy.

The tree. Grab. Hurry! I say to the Eldertree child, hoping she understands my disjointed thoughts. It's tough clinging to the treetop like an overgrown koala bear while it bows ever so slowly towards the ground, feeling as much as hearing the crackle and pop as the tree gives against our combined weight while holding her ankle in my hand. Thank goodness their feet are giant and monstrously huge... gives me a better grip to keep from dropping her.

She slowly uncoils her slender fingers from her face, her double lids blinking languidly as she takes in the air below her. She shrieks and bucks against my hold, her knobby and almost smooth skin slipping. With her struggles, she twists enough to see the tree a good arm's length from her.

Grab. Tree! I bark at her, sending an image of her grasping the slender tree and holding tight.

She reaches ever so slowly, her long arms and fingers curling around and bringing her upper body flat against the tree. Just in time, as my fingers slip from her foot, and she bends her feet around the tree, safe.

I breathe a sigh of relief a mite too soon.

I kind of forgot about my predicament. “Oh, snap and bullwinkle.”

A high-pitched scream erupts from my throat and abruptly cuts off as the treetop breaks, sending me pitching to the ground. A limb slaps me in the face, and I scramble to grab on, but I’m not quick enough. The next hits my back and is sure going to leave a mark, something cracking as my ribs re-break on impact. Then something soft and plush slams against me, pressing me into the tree itself and smothering me in sweaty, stinky fur.

Gotcha!

Oof. Get… off! Can’t breathe.

Oh, sorry.

I quickly wrap my arms back around the tree and limbs that’s a lot thicker here than it is at the top.

That was too close. Let’s never, ever do that again. Please.

Agreed, rider. Never, Ran pants from where she digs into the tree under me.

Looking up, I meet the gaze of the Eldertree above from where she looks down with wide eyes in her smooth face, clinging upside down to the tree.

A laugh bubbles from my throat at the absurdity of our situation, then I cling tighter when the tree sways in the wind. Thank goodness Momma doesn't know what I risked. She would've killed me.

Come on down, sweetie. Let’s get you to your momma, I send to the little one above when I get ahold of myself and can breathe without threat of passing out from hyperventilation.

She says nothing, but eases down the side of the tree. I can't begin the climb down until she arrives next to us, lacking the gumption. Even then, it takes some threats from Ran and high-pitched grumbles of encouragement from the little Eldertree before I can uncurl my claw-like fingers from the bark.

I have the unladylike urge to kiss the dirt when we reach it.

Never, ever, ever, ever again.

The climb down was so much worse than the up. And I just thought I wasn't afraid of heights. Hah.

The Eldertree child rides behind me on Ran as we make our way to the mother. Her bulky feet almost scrape the ground, so she curls them before her with so much flexibility that I'm jealous.

She is heavy, Ran grunts.

Right? I reply.

When the mother sees us, she moves faster than I have ever seen of an Eldertree... except that one time, but we won't mention that.

The mother keens softly to her baby, bending down at eye level. Her eyes alone are the size of my head. Her nose is only a slit running horizontally across the center, and her mouth is a slightly larger slit. The ears are large and round, sticking out from the sides of her face and peeking through the green, vine-like hair.

Her eyes are a shimmering gold around the edges and grow greener towards the center until the pupil is not black like I thought, but a deep green.

The child hops down from Ran, and I realize the little one is limping, almost dragging one foot behind her, high-pitched keens emerging from her throat that the mother responds with deeper, softer, soothing sounds. The beautiful reunion makes the pain flaring in my back completely worth it.

The mother scoops the child to her breast, then glides away toward the Eldertree forest without another backward glance.

How’s that for a thank you?

I set a hand on Ran’s shoulder, a smile on my lips. “It’s not about the thanks, crazy cat. It’s about the deed.”

But thanks would be appreciated. Despite her words, I feel the warmth in her heart and the satisfaction of her soul that matches my own. A deed well done will always make my day. But now... I must face my mother.

Ran smirks at me, one ear cocked back and her brown eyes sparkling with mischief. This is going to be fun.

~~~

We stumble into the clearing around my humble home. Momma is out the door and stomping my way before I can even get off Ran. Jenny glides behind her as if she owns the place and Hans has his hand on his sword, walking beside his wife. Jack's blond head peeks out before he ducks back in.

"Where were you?" Momma asks, hands on her hips as she rakes me from head to toe, looking for injury. She frowns when I get down a little slower than my usual hop off.

"I-I was—"

"Jack fell and busted his head, Jill had another seizure, and I have been up all night trying to care for them both! And then these two strangers show up on my doorstep, claiming to have sent you here. Please, tell me you are alright? I can't handle anything more." The words fall from her lips with venom, but I can see the worry in her eyes and the pain in her trembling lip she bites to hide, and I know her anger isn't directed at me. At least not entirely directed at me.

I squeeze her arm. "Momma, look at me! Breathe. Take a deep breath. It's ok, I'm ok."

She takes a breath, her eyes focusing on me. She cups my cheek. "You're alright? You're not fibbing?"

I nod against her hand. "Didn't Ran let you know I was fine last night?"

She hisses what is almost a chuckle. "She tried to write with her paw, but all I ended up seeing was 'Ri stuck city. Ok, but mad two-legs shouldn't have stayed idiot.' She wrote more, but that's about the time Jack fell from a tree. And then you go and disappear this morning. What am I to do with you?"

She crosses her arms and tries to look stern, but the relief in her eyes is growing and the anger is dissipating as she realizes I'm fine... plus, I've learned to remain calm and steady when she gets like this. Anything else and she's likely to get even more emotional.

"I'm fine... Momma, there's a palace healer coming today."

"What's that red stuff coming out of your forehead if you're fine?" She pokes said forehead.

I wince. "Well, I'm mostly fine. I tangled with a pine tree."

Hans coughs into his hand and Jack pokes his head out the door from where he was eavesdropping. "You'll tell the story later, right, Ri?"

"Of course, little bud," I reply, smiling. He grins back, then ducks his head back inside when Momma gives him the look. The one that says he better not be doing what she thinks he's doing, and if he is doing such an idiotic thing, he better stop... or else.

She turns back to me, easing the hood off my face and checking the cut above my brow from the tree branch. "You're truly alright?"

I nod, a smile parting my lips.

"And you truly finagled your way into finally getting a palace healer for Jill?"

My grin grows.

"Praise the Great King. Thank you, you little rascal. I suppose I should forgive you for running off and leaving since you hired a palace healer."

"You suppose? I should get a raise."

She smiles at me, catching my shoulders in a side hug. "You should, but you ain't." She kisses the side of my head.

"Momma!" I scold, batting her off as I glance sheepishly at Jenny and Hans.

She grins, swatting my backside. "Get in there and clean. We have a healer to prepare for."

A laugh escapes me despite our audience. I give her an impish grin. "Oh, clean? It will be sparkling!"

"Don't you dare do whatever is in that dastardly mind of yours, daughter of mine."

"Oh, don't worry."

"That is the very cue that I should worry very much."

I grin back at her. It will take time, but we have hope and we have each other. And that is most important of all.