A Curious Teka

Deep within the heart of the Dryad council chambers, fingers ran over the various objects. None seemed familiar until a small pack filled with craft-able items was identified. Forest craft. A strange hobby for a teka. The Dryad harrumphed before sitting down and closing his eyes. His golden hair draped down, lifeless as a teka’s. The tree he was in noticed his attitude and made itself a bit more comfortable for him.

The sounds of footsteps drew him out of his quiet contemplation. He looked up at the old Dryad before him, antlers barely avoiding the doorway as he walked in, also sporting lifeless golden hair.

“Father, I’m glad that you have come,” Amir said, rising to his feet. “The matter of this teka boy has me somewhat perplexed.”

“I’m aware. Your daughter has been begging me for the last hour or so, to make you spare his life. She’s seemed to have developed some feelings for this boy.” Amir’s rage could not be contained behind his meticulous mask. This was not the first blunder and only cemented the idea that she was too young to be in charge.

“It’s not the only thing that concern’s me.” Amir said as he stilled the anger. “He carries no weapon I’m familiar with, and these… I cannot divine what purpose they are used for.” He indicated to the table with the array of instruments and other items from Bard’s belongings. Elwood strode over to the table, curious but with a wave of nostalgia as he saw the items.

“Curious,” he said softly, placing a hand to stroke his beard.

“Great,” Amir muttered, his father casting a glance at his son. “Just great!” he yelled, flopping down on a chair. Elwood chuckled to himself.

“You do seem to misinterpret everything I say, my boy,” he chided with a smile.

“If you would stop talking in circles. I swear I’m going to…” he left the statement unsaid. If not for the fact that Elwood was the only Dryad in these woods who was older than the war and had vast knowledge, he knew his son would have sent him off to a helpless battle to have him killed. No matter what the grand elder did, his son, their temporary leader, seemed perpetually annoyed and frustrated with him. He thanked the wisdom of the Elder that his son was not stupid, despite being a bit short-tempered when it came to humans and his granddaughter.

“The report said this ‘teka’ was found miles with in the sentries border?” the grand elder asked, becoming serious and praying that he could botch through the details without pushing more of his son’s buttons.

“Not just the sentries, but the guardian’s as well,” he said. “Was Sen the one who led him in?” Amir asked.

“That was my initial suspicion, but she said she found him there and was curious, so she didn’t report him,” Elwood responded, knowing that he would be the one to have more details on Sen’s account of what took place. Amir growled out a sigh and shook his head.

“She’s going to get killed if this keeps up,” Amir finally stated.

“You give your daughter too little credit,” Elwood said softly. Amir didn’t respond, opting to plow forward with the conversation and not his ‘apparent’ shortcomings.

“The other thing is that ‘dog’,” Amir said, resting his elbows and touching his fingertips together.

“Dog,” Elwood said, confused.

“The one he rides and who seems to possess an intellect comparable to any sentient being. He strictly obeys the teka without question, and the teka speaks to him like he would to any other teka.”

“So it understands speech,” The grand elder said, folding his arms in disbelief.

“I’ve seen Sen speak to it as well, and even I can’t deny the light of intellect in its eyes”

“Is it dangerous?” Elwood asked, his hands grazing over more items.

“Well, it initially tried to attack the scouts that found the boy, but the teka called him off. Which is probably for the best, the size of the beast alone makes me believe it would take several of our warriors to suppress him. Even now, the dog has taken up a post outside the teka’s cell and won’t let anyone near the boy unless the boy calls him off. The one exception is Sen, who seems to have no problem interacting with the beast.” Amir said, letting out an exasperated sigh.

“If the dog is as intelligent as you have let on, he must have determined that Sen is not an enemy to be guarded against,” Elwood observed. “Besides, you know Sen has always had a way with animals.”

“Did Sen say how long the Teka had been here?” Amir asked after he digested what Elwood had said.

“She apparently found him a little over two months ago.” He picked up a babble and looked at it curiously.

“Two months!” Amir shouted coming to his feet “Do you have any idea how much information he could have gathered in that time, he has clearly found a way to bypass our defenses and to remain undetected even in the heart of our forest. If such information were to get to the other teka the security of the whole forest would be in jeopardy,” Amir paced back and forth as he faced the prospects of having to face a full invasion.

Elwood had to admit that such a situation would be a dangerous one, certainly the teka would not be opposed to such actions. Since the war had started some 600 years ago, he had seen many such attempts on the forest, but their defenses had never before failed.

“Before we jump to conclusions, what other actions have we observed from the teka?”

“What do you mean?” Amir asked, sitting down and resting his head on one hand.

“Any escape attempts? Any further attacks from that dog? Any resistance either?”

“Hmmm. No… but,” he began. Elwood rolled his eyes.

“Patience, my son, patience. If he does have that info, we would have seen him making attempts to escape and deliver the news, assuming he has anywhere to go,” Elwood calmly stated. His curiosity was beginning to grow towards this fellow.

“Is this everything he had with him?” Elwood asked, moving to look over the other various items spread out on the table.

“Yes, although it took some effort to get everything off the Dog, even with the teka telling him to behave,” Amir said.

“The boy knows Forest Craft?” Elwood asked, indicating the stack of fire sticks.

Amir’s eyes held wonder and fear. Eventually the fear overtook the wonder as it turned to hostility. Elwood sighed.

“It’s not unheard of for the teka to have such skills, although it is rare,” Elwood said as his eyes continued to scan over the items. Elwood’s eyes widened as they landed on the various instruments. He picked up the instrument like it was made of glass. His eyes were wide with a mix of awe and caution, as if it were a piece of history he thought lost.

Amir watched, cautious but curious. Elwood thought it better not to explain. If his son knew what these could do, he would likely go after the teka right away. He fingered the carefully patched places on each of the instruments. Amir was quiet.

“Has he played one?” Elwood asked as he grabbed a long tubular instrument and placed fingers over the holes. He had seen a few of these in the old days, and his own curiosity had him observe what the teka did with them, but he wasn’t entirely sure how they worked.

“No, we haven’t let him touch them. We avoided any possibility that he could use them as a weapon.” Then as if a thought struck him, the color drained from his features. Elwood inwardly groaned. His son was too smart sometimes. “Who knows what havoc he could have caused if he got control of one of our soldier trees. Is this how he got in undetected?”

“You fret too much, Amir,” Elwood said, placing a hand on his son’s shoulder. “I watched many teka attempt the very notion you are treading on, and die without success.” He returned the wooden tube to the table. “They’re as harmless in his hands as they are on this table. Though they can make quite a noise if he so chose, which would only get annoying, but nothing more.”

Amir looked at his father in quiet relief. It was times like this that he was glad that the old fool was still around. Elwood glanced over the various instruments again. He knew that the teka considered music to be taboo, and had forbidden such items as this teka had in his possession. Not only that, but this teka knew how to repair them, and he obviously cared for them.

Then his eyes strayed to a small piece of cloth which held several wooden tokens. He stiffened and reached for them. Amir’s eyes were riveted on the old man. Had he spotted something important? Was this Teka dangerous after all?

“Where did you get these?” Elwood asked, a sense of awe in his words.

“From the Teka, he wore them around his neck and was reluctant to hand them over,” Amir said, his gaze never leaving his Father’s face.

“I would doubt anyone, with enough sense of what these were, would ever part with them,” Elwood whispered. He secured the cloth around the tokens and put it in his pocket, then without a word began to walk back the way he came.

“Where are you going?” Amir shouted after him. But Elwood’s thoughts were too lost in the swirling questions he had for this Teka. He wanted to speak to the lad and find out the truth straight from the source, and if he felt that he wasn’t being honest, he had his ways of overcoming foolish minds.

Amir stared at the table again. What had silenced and driven his father like that? He hated it when he was the ignorant one, but something had spooked the eldest Dryad in the wood. Dread creeped its way into his heart and he called for one of his servants. He only hoped he could sort this out before someone got hurt.

He hurriedly sent a cluster of guardsmen after his father with a messenger to find out what was going on, then ordered his own personal guardsmen to accompany him to the teka’s prison.