Ever since that day back in May, Falias had found himself visiting the forest that was his Wonder more often.

It wasn't because of Daithi or the words that the previous Falias had flung at him during their last encounter. At least Falias refused to acknowledge it as being the case, even though his supposed ancestor's words had rankled.

After all it wasn't as if he'd particularly asked to be Falias and it wasn't as if the brown-haired man knew anything about him, so who the hell was he really to judge him...

And just because other Knights of Falias had apparently taken oath on the stone that lay in a clearing at the centre of the forest, that wasn't to say that he had to.

He hadn't seen Daithi around since that day in May, although given that he had only seen the other once before and on his very first visit to his Wonder to boot, it was hard to tell whether the lack was down to choice or to some other unknown circumstance.

But he had started coming back. He had found that whilst he hadn't been able to return immediately, that he seemed to be able to do so every 2 weeks or so.

He had done just that after the first few visits in the immediate aftermath of his encounter with Daithi, but had done little more than wander the silent forest for a little bit.

Well okay there had been that time when he had gone to the clearing where the Lia Fáil stood and the place where he had found the wooden ring, with mistletoe resting atop the golden symbol of earth in the centre of the green stone in the middle, but he hadn't done much more than stare at the stone for a bit before returning to Destiny City.

Falias wasn't sure at what point he had had the idea to do something more than just wander the forest, although he remembered that it had been at some point during August.

He had come across another clearing in the forest and had had the thought that he might try to plant something. In part it was the half-sparked memory of something... And in part curiosity about whether something else that was not trees could grow, but it had led to him spending an afternoon clearing some space in the ground.

He had had to wait two weeks before he could return, but had brought a few pineberry runners that he'd gotten from Lisa's garden. He'd planted them and watered them in carefully using water from the 5 litre bottle of water that he'd also brought with him.

He'd returned two weeks later to find them drooping and wilted, most likely down to lack of water if the dry ground that he touched his fingers was anything to go by.

It hadn't stopped him from feeling a little disappointed, even though logically a part of him had known that without water and the careful nurturing that he would have been able to give them back at home in Destiny City, that the plants would wither.

He had gone with seeds for his next attempt, a woodlands flower mix that he had picked up from the garden centre where he picked up stuff for Lisa, figuring that they would perhaps fare better than the plants.

However whilst he had diligently visited every two weeks in order to water the patch, nothing had happened.

It didn't stop him from going however, the seed planting attempts something that was outside his day to day life as Marlin and his continuing unsuccessful attempts at trying to track down Sarras.

All in all, it was with a start that Falias found himself realising that he was starting to find that he was powering up more and more often.

Perhaps it was In part because of his promise to Hvergelmir to try and keep an eye out for the Cosmos Squire who had been the only other person to survive their particular level of Mistral's 'deathrinth' or perhaps it was in part down to his equally unsuccessful attempts to trying to grow something in the clearing on his Wonder that he was starting to think off as his clearing, either way however he found that he had started slowly falling into a pattern that was not too dissimilar to when he had first started off - Wonder visits aside that was.

And then both patrolling and Wonder visits had ended up taking a back seat to Halloween season at the shop, the flood of sales and order in the run up to the Halloween day itself leaving him too tired to do much more than the odd walkabout as Falias.

Which brought him to now and tonight, the familiar words of his pledged loyalty to both Earth and Falias dancing off his tongue as the city noises and familiar surroundings of the city faded away and were replaced by the silent forest of his Wonder.

Silent, however unlike on the previous trip the trees appeared to be abloom with...

He peered closer at the nearest tree and at what was most definitely mistletoe.

Perhaps not in any great quantity on any one tree, but it was there.

"They do this at this time of of year" the voice came from a point that was somewhere just behind him.

He turned and found Daithi standing a little over and to the side of him, his gaze shifting from his brown-haired ancestor to the tree and then back again "Why?" He wasn't particularly expecting answer given what had happened on the last occasion that they'd met - particularly since his ancestor had seen fit to ignore him for the five (or was it six?) months following, but to his surprise his ancestor answered.

"It is part of this land's magic, although in the past the trees bloomed much more strongly and for much longer until the mistletoe was almost like a curtain descending" brown eyes stared into his green "Now all that is left is but a shadow of their former glory."

Daithi turned and walked past him and further into the forest, was already several steps in before turning with an annoyed "Well are you coming?"

Falias followed, a half-thoughtful frown on his face as he walked after his ancestor "To where?"

"To the city of course" Daithi paused for a moment, although continued walking. "Well at least what remains of her."

-- 1081 words --