Zagan stayed where he was and sat down but kept a close eye on Li, his telepathy still in range. The children, seeing the demon sit down again, felt comfortable enough to approach and ran their little chubby hands up and down his coat of matted black hair.

"Are you insane?" whispered Li to the treant. "Saying you're not human right in the open? Do you understand the risk that puts this farm in?"

"That is my mistake, yes, but I cannot control my excitement. Not in decades have I felt such hope," the treant said, her hazel brown eyes practically twinkling. She grabbed Li's arm with trembling and oddly cold hands. "To know that there is still a living forest guardian is truly a blessing. I feared this world was once lost to the old ways, but you are a s.h.i.+ning sun amidst the dark. I, Iona, former root of the incendic woodlands, will serve you with all my being."

Li let go of Iona, and she almost looked like a lost puppy with how her hands still stayed in the air, still grasping where his arm used to be.

"Look, who said I needed any help?" said Li. "I can manage this farm perfectly by myself. And how did you not know what I was the first time I met you? All the other spirits I've met have noticed immediately."

"I-I'm terribly sorry if I offended you by not recognizing." Iona rolled up on sleeve of her robes, revealing an almost bone-thin arm. "It has been so long since I have been properly rooted to a guardian, and so my spirithood has worn thin. I am afraid that my senses have dulled as well – it is only when I witnessed you destroy those Black Vine heretics that I truly understood the scope of your being."

"Wait, you were following me?"

"From a distance, yes, I was worried about you. At first, I thought you a young talent soon to be put under Black Vine's culling, but to think that it was you who culled them. I have worked long to battle their heretical defilement of the forest's bounty, and now I see that they have stopped all their distasteful underground activities – you are truly a guardian spirit worth following."

Li raised a hand to calm Iona down. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Look, I understand that you want a place to call home, but this place is packed already. Plus, I really don't need an a.s.sistant."

Iona wrung her hands together as she pursed her lips and tried to think of something. "I can be useful; I truly can be!"

Somehow, despite how emotional she was, her eyes still managed to maintain a deadpan stare. The dark bags underlining them didn't help at all, making her seem even more cold. Yet her lip quivered and her hands shook as she waited for Li's answer. Whether this was due to a lack of energy or her regular expression was a question left in the air.

"Okay," sighed Li. "How?"

"All of this-" Iona cast her hand across, motioning towards the cottage, the farm, and all the building work in progress. "It is all just a front to hide your being, no? I know it - you must be a guardian spirit that has lost his domain and divinity, maybe from the demon invasion thirty years ago?"

"No, not at all. I am not some kind of divine outcast hiding out in the boonies. And-"

"Regardless," continued Iona excitedly. "I can a.s.sist you with things much greater and more important than this simple farm. There is no reason one such as yourself should stay shackled here. I can aid in restoring your divinity and your connection with the wilds and restore you to your rightful place as lord over the green. The Winterwoods nearby has long missed a guardian – perhaps you can even become its heart."

"No." Li narrowed his eyes, and Iona shrunk back like a cowering mouse. "I'm not in the mood to talk about divinity and G.o.dhood or higher existences. I've had enough of that for a while. All I am is someone who wants to tend to my farm, which is very much more than just a simple front, and it looks like you have nothing to offer me in that regard, so goodbye."

Iona stood frozen, her mouth agape as if she wanted to say something but couldn't. Li turned back to the cottage and as he made his way to the door, Zagan followed him.

'The treant is correct to a degree,' the demon said telepathically. 'You may be an Elder One, but that is because you have ascended from being a forest spirit. However, since you are essentially a human that has been suddenly transplanted into the being of an Elder One, you have not learned what it means to be either Elder One or forest spirit.'

Li shrugged. 'I'll deal with that after the old man's pa.s.sing.'

Zagan nodded. 'Understood, master. Yet I shall still give you my counsel, for it is my duty: I believe it prudent to still have a being that can tend to the forest spirit side of your being. You may be able to learn how to cause life to flower with just a thought, for example. I am sure that will aid in your cultivation of this farm.'

'How do I explain that everything's starting to grow all of a sudden to Old Thane? Plain old magic?'

'A possibility. He is blind, after all - it should not take much to convince him of things. And he will have to come to terms with your true existence someday, after all.'

Li sighed as he opened the cottage door. 'No, not a possibility. All he knows right now is that I'm a powerful warrior. Maybe attuned with some magic, but still human. The moment he knows I'm something far, far more is the day he stops treating me as family and more a deity, and I want him to be around family during his final moments.'

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Zagan bowed his head as Li entered. 'I respect all your decisions, my master. I merely provide counsel.'

'I appreciate that.' Li stood with the door open, looking at the floorboards. 'Look, let's talk about this more when I'm thinking clearer. The past night has given me a little bit of a bad taste for all this talk about higher existences, and I think I just need to let that bitter taste pa.s.s.'