[This diary - the latest of many, it seems - reveals Nerissa's secret life as Scarletta Bloodheart, writer of romance fiction both torrid and turgid.]

And Trees Also Have Roots

by Scarletta Bloodheart

The trees of her home village always struck the young matria as a bit too familiar. A bit too much like family. And like most families, the trees of Lushleaf had a few residents who didn't play by the rules. Neither did the trees.

Matria Fondi Hoogleheart was the third daughter of village hunters who had earned no great repute, she had never planned on taking over from her second cousin, the beautiful and righteous Matria Tanallyra Oakenheart. The unexpected and mysterious death of her predecessor, who did not survive an attempt to make peaceful contact with the enigmatic and savage stemdragons of Nexus, left a gaping wound in the Weave that young Fondi could not hope to heal so soon. Instead she was too focused on just keeping her new job. She certainly wasn't expecting her consorts to so quickly become so important to her, three extensions of her very spirit, helping her to navigate the first fragile steps of her stewardship of the village.

And she had certainly never expected to fall in love.

But on that first walk through the forests of Celesttttttttttttiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzzz


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