The Areson Stories

Dance of the Trees By E. M. Areson The trees crowded around weighting for the storm. They could feel it coming. Birds nestled in their branches huddled together. They could feel it too. The rabbits, gophers, foxes, and mice hid in their holes. They could feel it almost at hand.  Every insect, every rodent, every lizard, and frog were safely tucked away. No living thing in that belonged in the Wild was about. They knew better. They knew what was coming. The old tree near the center of the forest had a good view of anything going on. Not that the tree had eyes, mind you, but a small sparrow lived in its branches near the heart of the tree. Not an actual heart, of course, but the place where the sleeping dryad lay unwilling to be moved. The sparrow would whisper, in its native voice, humans call its song, to the sleeping dryad the things of the forest. So when the sparrow saw the human girl wandering in the Wild when any creature with sense would be hidden he whispered of i...

Wizard's Tricks Part 3 By E. M. Areson I left the greenhouse and I went to the arena. I managed to get there without running into Horon, everyone was avoiding me. I went to the strategy booth, Horon would be here soon. I set on the floor, wishing he’d never get here. I held the pendant tight in my hand, careful not to crush it yet my nails dug into my palm. I rested my head on my fist and with the pendant still in my grasp. Horon walked in and I was slightly amused by his appearance. No wonder everyone thought I’d cursed him. He was ugly. I could still see the light hair and dark eyes that hadn’t changed though everything else was different. He looked like the bruit he really was. I raised the corner of my mouth slightly but I couldn’t greet him. Horon my be my brother by blood, but he holds no place in the now empty hollow of my heart. What’s blood anyway? Does it really bid people who despise one another? I don’t even really care enough to hate him anymore, strange wh...

Wizard's Tricks Part 2 By E. M. Areson When the practice round of the War Games had ended my family had come in for dinner. I’d promptly excused myself and went to my greenhouse. I’d set down on the grassy floor and opened a book. I’d barely read a paragraph when Furon had begun chewing on my foot. I’d pulled away my foot but his grip had been so firm he’d removed my boot. I’d laughed and gone back to reading when Helper fell onto my head. She’d been ready to become an egg and was very affectionate at the moment. I’d set down the book and picked Helper off my head and held her for a moment. I’d played with her soft chick feathers and hadn’t been able to stop smiling. “Very well Helper. I’ll get you ready for hatching.” I’d stood and had to try to keep my balance without one boot and Furon running around my feet. I’d managed to get to her nest, set in the hollow of a tree. I’d given her some extra straw for the nest and I’d got her comfortable. Furon had set on my foot...

Wizard's Tricks By E. M. Areson Fate has never wanted me to be normal. My birth had been three months early, I’d been expected to die. So, naturally, I decided never to die. If I told people I remembered the day after I’d been born they would think it was nonsense. Maybe it is. But that doesn’t change what I know. I’d been left alone in a crib in a forgotten room of my family's home. My tiny lungs couldn’t handle the weight of the air within them. If I had been the kind of person like any of my family I would have fought, pushed my lungs even when they hurt and not given in. But I’m not like my family. My lungs hurt, so I stopped trying to breathe. My lungs stopped, I couldn’t help but want to smile. I hadn’t panicked, I had heard past the silence and into myself. The sound of my lungs had been blocked out the sound of something better than the ways of my family. At that moment I could have started breathing again and embraced the path of all my family. I could have be...