The faerie told her that Alvaro was in the village, although she seemed to be in a rush, so Rowan meerly thanked her and didn't ask for anything else. There was a tree nearby, and Rowan edged over to it, "I don't want to take your friendship for granted, and always be asking for things, dear Oak, and I won't do this again if you do not wish... but could you please send a message to Alvaro to meet me by my house? I would ask him myself.... but, uhm... I can't fly if he is up high, and I also don't know where exactly he is."

The tree seemed almost to lean into the woman's touch, and it radiated a peace that only trees could give. Word had spread of the immortal who had no ill intent to the trees. Granted, the Oak had seen her from a distance, knowing her power, feeling it, but scared of it. After her promise to the trees, all of them liked her (there aren't any freaky mind controlling plants here that hate people if you get what I mean ;) )) and would gladly help her when asked. Of course, if she turned rude and mean, they would no longer help her or send her messages.

The trees knew immortals and what they could become, they could only hope Rowan was different.

After the question, the tree sent an image of Alvaro under another great tree, his eyes closed. It then showed an image of him waking up and flying over to Rowan's house in the distance. It was confirming that the trees would send her message. They would happily speak to Alvaro, he was the best faerie they'd ever met, just as good as their dearly missed Kori.

Alvaro was on the verge of falling asleep when the tree above him knocked. A term used when the trees wanted to commune with someone. Unlike pixies, who forced their agenda onto the trees, or some immortals who could send words through pictures, faeries had the ability to have full conversations with the trees. Using the language of their distant ancestors, which happened to be dryads. Which happened to be the reason why faeries were so bonded to nature.

Apparently, Rowan was asking him to visit her home, so they could speak. He was startled by this, as the tree informed him that Rowan was sending messages through the trees. He didn't know when she'd learned this skill, but it worried him a bit. What if she was forcing herself on the trees? The trees said otherwise, though they refused to tell him where Rowan had learnt the skill, a concerning refusal, as the trees told Alvaro everything. Regardless of it all, Rowan was inviting him over, and he would not refuse. As he hadn't been able to see them all and sit down to talk in a long time.

So Alvaro hopped into the skies after thanking the trees and flew towards Rowan's home.

Rowan touched her forehead to the tree's cool bark, and murmured her thanks. She was grateful for nature's acceptance of her, and tried something she had been practicing.

The way immortal magic usually worked was taking energy from living objects to use do a variety of spells or to complete certain objectives. What Rowan wanted to do was begin using her own energy to do magic. The task Rowan was attempting now was transferring her energy into another being.

She sent out her good intentions and love, and felt the magic work. The tree did not give and weaken under her touch at all. Rowan felt her energy deplete, but also felt exhilarated. Her energy may not go a long way within the tree, but the fact that her philosophy that immortal magic could be used in a different way worked was a cause for some internal celebration.

Rowan stepped back from the tree, "Again... thank you, lovely Oak... thank you."

If a tree could smile, the Oak would be. He had seen many in his long life, immortals, witches, faeries, even the creation of pixies. He had met very few who cared for his kind, even the faeries sometimes lost their ways. Even now, the only faerie that still had the way with nature was Alvaro, but he had always been different. It was his mixed blood, that strong power that was natural and not twisted like most pixies were.

The tree spread the news to the other trees, Rowan was with them, and from what the tree could understand, Rowan would remain one with nature. For that, the tree was thankful. As were all the trees in the forest.

Alvaro felt the change in the trees, the growing excitement, the sudden change made him stop mid flight, his wings flapping constantly to keep him airborne. He was confused as to what was happening. Something had changed in the trees, there had been whispers for days, and even the lesser faeries felt it. He didn't know quite what was happening, but it seemed like someone had a sort of nature awakening, and that the trees felt rather strongly about this person. Alvaro didn't know who it was, but he was proud of them, becoming one with nature was cause for celebration amongst the faerie folk. As it was one of the highest honors nature could give, and had always been celebrated as such. There hadn't been one in years though, as less and less faeries had an awakening.

Alvaro shook his head to clear his mind, he had no time for thoughts. He was supposed to be at Rowan's by now. He couldn't wait to see the children, and Rowan of course.

Rowan couldn't hear the trees, like how she knew the pixies could, but she could feel the excitement throughout the forest. She felt herself swell with pride - that was because of her. She was changing the way immortal magic fundamentally worked. Once she figured it out, maybe she could find and teach other immortals.

Alvaro arrived at Rowan's place with a smile, as Nakia was outside, talking excitedly to a young faerie. She bounced on the balls of her feet as she spoke to the other boy, and they seemed to be talking as if they knew each other. Alvaro was happy to see this, as he was worried that the faeries had distanced themselves from Rowan and the others after the attack. Fortunately, it looked like that was the exact opposite of what was happening.

As soon as Alvaro touched down, Nakia's head spun to see him, and the little shifter ran at him, tackling him in a hug as he put his wings away, landing on the ground in a heap, laughing freely as the little girl hugged him tight. He hadn't realized she'd missed him this much, granted, he hadn't really seen her in probably a week. He was just so busy with leader duties, he hardly had time to sleep, let alone see how his chil- Rowan's children were doing.

Rowan thanked the tree one last time, then headed over to Alvaro, unable to keep a smile from growing on her face. Hyll was also heading over, and smiled meaningfully at Rowan. Hyll, being a dryad, could clearly hear conversations throughout the trees, and had been informed, along with all of the other trees, by the Oak Rowan had been talking to that she was a Friend. Hyll already knew this, but it was nice to hear her kinfolk seeing it too.

Neo was inside cooking still, so unfortunately he was not a part of the happy reunion, but Nakia more than made up for it. She squeezed Alvaro so hard he thought he might explode. He didn't think she actually knew that she was being so rough, as catamounts hardly did, their strength grew very fast, and he doubted Nakia knew that she was any stronger than she'd been when she'd last seen him.

"I missed you Alvaro!" Nakia released a little squeal before getting up off Alvaro, allowing the faerie to recover and slowly stand up with her. "I miss you too Nakia, I'm sorry can't visit more often." Nakia waved her hand, dismissing the thought with ease. Before excitedly looking at Hyll. "Look who showed up!" She squeaked, as her voice had a slight accent to it, a thing most catamounts had.

Hyll ran the rest of the way over, and gave Alvaro a small hug, a curious look on her face, "Hello, Alvaro," She said softly, looking for any sign that he realized what had been happening with the trees, "It is really good to see you again." Hyll shuffled away a few steps to make room for Rowan, who had arrived at the group, "Do I get a hug too?" She joked, not able to keep a smile from spreading across her face.

Alvaro hugged Hyll right for a moment, then pulled away soon. He gave her a small wink, as if letting her in on some sort of secret. "Its great to see you too Hyll." He gave her a small grin before his eyes landed on Rowan. Alvaro practically lit up, actually no, he did light up. The mark on his face releasing a green light in Rowan's presence. "Well of course you do." He gave Rowan a tight hug, just realizing how much he'd missed everyone, especially Rowan. Alvaro quickly pulled away, not wanting to cross any boundaries. "I missed you, all of you." He quickly added in the last part, though his eyes remained on Rowan's face: