Three

Syl'fair ran easily through the forest, reveling in her mobility and freedom. She could feel the tree she had left behind as a sanctuary that would always hold her when she needed it, but ahead of her was the siren call of a virile young man. She felt a little confused by the fact that she could sense no trace of any of her sisters outside of the Dreamtime, but she thought it was something that should be fairly simple to fix.

She had retreated to the young sapling after her last 'sponsor' had died, expecting to spend only a short time in the Dreamtime before being summoned again, either directly by some young man who had direct knowledge of the forest lore, or by her sisters bringing a gifting of a man's essence. The fact that neither had happened, and that so much time had passed, was definitely preying on her mind and distracting her from the joy she felt at the start of a new cycle of the dance.

Syl'fair made a conscious effort to shrug off any distractions as she sensed she was nearing her new human male. As she did so, she slowed down, realizing that there was something wrong; something vitally important had changed; something fundamental. It took her a few minutes to figure it out, and then she wanted to cry. The forest, the beautiful forest, just wasn't there. Ahead of her she could sense only a huge blankness, there were tiny spots where there were trees and other plants, but the sweeping blanket of forest that should have stretched for as far as she could run in a week, just wasn't there.

She had slowed down completely by the time she reached the edge of the forest. She could feel her human was very close by, but she hesitated within the low scrub bush, trying to make sense of what she saw and sensed ahead of her.

Syl'fair had more than a passing knowledge of human foibles such as houses and other unnatural structures, but this was beyond anything she had experienced before. This was no wooden house, no wattle and daub construction. Some of the basics were the same, but it was soon apparent that it was constructed out of some sort of stone and wood combination, with layers of completely foreign material overlaid and interspersed everywhere.

Syl'fair settled down to watch. She decided that night-time would be the best time to make her approach, especially if the young human had no direct knowledge of her kind. The last thing she needed was a bunch of humans with pitchforks and torches chasing her into her beloved forest.

Roy took his time with his workout, luxuriating in the thought that he had his entire summer vacation stretching ahead of him, and he didn't need to rush to get to his schoolwork.

Using the weights and his body to exercise his muscles soon brought the feeling of lassitude and a sense of tightness to his skin that he accepted as the only reward, seeing as he saw very little direct results in the mirror.

Once was finished, he toweled off and dropped the used towel in the hamper in the laundry tucked into a corner of the basement. He headed upstairs for a shower and a change of clean clothes.

As Roy emerged from his room, dressed in a clean T-shirt and shorts, he heard music coming from his sister's room. With a huge sigh, he knocked on her door, figuring that he had better get his apology to her out of the way, and he sooner the better.

"What is it now?" Sally demanded as she plucked open her door. She was visibly startled to see her brother standing there with a sheepish, hangdog expression on his face. Opening the door a little wider, and gesturing for Roy to come in, Sally reflected that it was probably unfair of her to have dumped Roy in the shit with their mother. She knew what boys were like, but that was the problem. She had just dumped her boyfriend the previous evening, after catching him fucking her ex-best friend. After that betrayal, to discover her brother had been wanking into a pair of her panties was just another betrayal, and gross on top of that. She guessed that Roy had been sent up to her room by her mother, but she decided to just wait to discover what he had to say.