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2- The Forest Beauty

The Sweet gardener did not know what to do, she was very scared and it was about to get dark. The branches were squeezing her a little and she only asked the Gods for mercy, and forgiveness if she had made a mistake.

—Eslen, Seiros, Lasas, Ashren. And all those from the Swamp, forgive my insatiable greed in your beautiful springs! I know I had a mission, for which I was grateful, but my weak body took too long in your beautiful fountains, it won't happen again Eternals, please release me from these bonds. — said the saddened old woman Flosies pleading —

After repeating this several times, she hears a very loud thunder that makes her stop talking and scares her a lot, the rain begins to fall heavily from the skies, some branches slightly squeeze the old woman, who felt that everything was the wrath of the gods punishing her for taking so long in the sacred springs. After a couple of minutes, she hears footsteps of an elf with a certain athletic build, blonde fur, coming from the woods escaping the strong storm, he passes by the rooted old woman without noticing her, the old woman, upon seeing him, screams the name he told her, the elf who she helped give birth. —Pelfsen!

The elf turns around very surprised and immediately sees the gardener entangled in the tree and rushes to help her.

—What happened to you? Are you okay? — says Pelfsen while untangling the old woman with his tools. —

—I came to give you splendid news, your son has been born!

—What? — says Pelfsen astonished — How do you know that?

—I heard your wife complaining while trimming some bushes in the palace, since everyone is at the annual festivities, I had to help her because she was completely alone and bleeding, she gave birth to your beautiful son, whom I helped bring out of her womb and took her to one of the rooms in the palace where a guard allowed us entry because of the situation we were in… Thank the gods! Your wife needed to rest in a suitable place and couldn't afford a rainstorm just after giving birth. She told me to look for you in these woods.

—And how did you end up rooted here?

—While I was waiting for you, it started to rain and I decided to take shelter in this forest, where the branches immediately trapped me… Surely it is a punishment from the gods…

—The gods do not punish noble beings like you, I will help you so that we can see my son.

Between the storm and the strong gusts of wind, Pelfsen struggled a bit to untangle the gardener, but after a couple of minutes, he succeeded. However, he noticed something strange about the branches, as they would try unsuccessfully to reattach when he broke them.

He didn't give it much importance and started running alongside the old woman to see his beloved son and give some herbs to his wife to alleviate her severe pains. After a couple of minutes, they arrived at the palace, but this time the guard stopped Pelfsen from entering.

—What the hell is wrong with you!? I came to see my son.

—I cannot let you in, I apologize.

—But my wife just gave birth. She's in there.

—I know, but orders are orders. In fact, I broke the rules by letting your wife in with this gardener.

—It's my first child! I need to see him…

—I'm sorry…

The saddened old woman interrupts… —Can the mother come out to show him their son?

—I'll allow it, but make it quick.

The old woman quickly enters and opens the room where the elf was with her son. It was a beautiful scene, filled with great motivation for Flosies, and she felt grateful to the gods once again for forgiving her and giving her a new opportunity to make a family happy. As she saw her, she smiled with tenderness. She had fallen asleep, and her son was playing with some strands of her hair. The old woman gently approached to awaken her with whispers and tell her that her husband had finally arrived.

After a couple of attempts, the elf did not respond.

"Will she be deeply asleep?" the old woman wondered. She tried to wake her up again, this time more forcefully, but the elf didn't respond. She began to sing one of the elvish songs that narrated the creation of life. The old woman started to worry, she pulled her, shouted at her, but still nothing. She quickly lifted the cover with which the elf was wrapped and realized that she was severely bleeding and something needed to be done quickly. She immediately ran towards the outskirts of the palace in search of a healer who could help, but all she could see was the father of this child, his energetic excitement and anxiety making him smile from ear to ear. It was going to be difficult for her to tell him the situation, and on top of that, she could be accused since she brought someone alive into the palace and now she was bleeding. She quickly went back into the room, searched everywhere for something to stop the bleeding, and only found a couple of dirty, old towels. She remembered that Pelfsen was gathering some plants that would be useful for his wife's pregnancy. She left again in a hurry and asked Pelfsen for his basket of herbs from the doorway.

"What happened? How is she?"

"She has a couple of strong pains… but she'll be fine, she just needs to rest and some of these to alleviate the pain, but don't worry, everything is fine," the old woman said, concealing the seriousness of the situation.

She snatched the basket from his hands and ran towards the room, quickly preparing a mixture to apply to the elf's bleeding and calm any potential harm there. While she was preparing everything, she prayed to the gods so that this elf could see her husband again and have a beautiful life with their child. She noticed that she looked very pale, so she tried to speed up the process. Once the mixture was ready, she proceeded to apply it to where the bleeding was coming from. She paused for a moment, and after a couple of minutes, the elf opened her eyes. The old woman whispered in her ear.

"His name is Deniels, he will love you… with all his soul. But support him in enduring all hardship…"

"Stay calm, everything will be fine, just… just…"

The elf had passed away.

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