The Holly and the Ivy by J A Clement

Author:J A Clement [Clement, J A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: kindle, fiction, sf, fantasy
Publisher: Weasel Green Press
Published: 2017-08-20T23:00:00+00:00

6

The Consequences of the Tea-party

“Holly!” Greta nearly fell out of Alba’s grip at the sight of her daughter. Alba set her down and loped away into the woods while Greta ran across to the child who lay, pale and unmoving on the stone, damp and cold with spray. “She’s only just breathing...”

Hyaria knelt to lay a hand to Holly’s face. “She is sleeping, nothing more. She will not stir until Ivy wakes her, but she is in no immediate danger.”

There was a shrieking in the woods beside them, and a sudden murmur of leaves heralded Alba, holding a sleek young girl by the arm despite considerable screeching and struggling.

“Hyaria? What on earth is going on here?” A third dryad strode into the clearing.

Hyaria inclined her head graciously to the other woman. “Hedera. Were you aware of your daughter’s latest mischief?”

“Her latest...?” Hedera looked blank, until Hyaria gestured at Greta, who sat rocking Holly in her arms. “Good grief, is that a human?”

“Ivy has exchanged gifts with a human sapling and I don’t think she explained anything about what that would entail.” Hyaria replied grimly.

“With a...” The ivy dryad stared, horror-struck for a moment, then she straightened the shiny green of her dress and turned to her daughter who was still attempting to bite Alba. “What have you done, Ivy? After all we told you!”

“I didn’t do anything!” The young dryad stopped struggling and stood straight, looking her parent defiantly in the eye.

“And yet a human has your token. Can you explain that?”

“We never exchanged them. We were just playing a game. Holly explained it all to me. You sit and pretend that the dolls are taking in sustenance, and then you pretend that you are taking in sustenance.”

Hedera looked at Hyaria pleadingly. “Can this be a real human game?”

Greta’s mind was blank for a moment, and then light dawned. “The doll’s tea party?” She did not know whether to laugh or cry. “All this is because of the tea party? Yes, it is one of Holly’s favourite games.”

“And you make light of this process?” Hyaria shook her head. “The connection with earth and sky, and for humans it is a game?”

“For humans, it is not about connecting with the world so much as each other.” Leoflynn had reappeared from somewhere. “But it is still about togetherness. They just enact it in a different way. Children play at it when they wish to feel togetherness.”

“But that is what you have been doing, Ivy?” Greta saw it now, and the casual danger of it horrified her. “In the night, you come through the open window, and while she has been playing a game, you have been...”

“...drawing sustenance as from a host.” Hedera finished.

Ivy held up her hands in appeal. “I didn’t mean to. But she seemed to like playing, and she asked me to come back and play the next night and the next night.” Ivy looked at her fingers. “But then she started to get all tired, and I thought that perhaps I had got it wrong, only I didn’t know how to fix it.

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