Melliandre Oakwater
the Mossbound Elf
Named for the first oak planted in the grove, whose roots drink from a dark spring and whose bark holds the names of nine seasons of leaf-fall.
Root-sense — you can feel the slow pulse of any tree whose roots touch water, but each time you do, a day of your own memory sinks into the soil and is lost.
- Familiar
- a grey crane named Sedge
- House
- House Oakwater
People say you never raise your voice, because the oak knows when it is time to fall, and you learned patience from watching. They say you once stood so still by the pool that a heron landed on your shoulder and stayed for an hour. You let them talk. They are not wrong, but they omit the part where you had to learn stillness because the first time you moved, you startled a nesting queen and the whole grove turned against you for a decade.