"All plants are alive, Tulyr," Aldrec said, matter-of-factly.
"Well, I know that," Mericlou replied in mock reproach," but I don't just mean alive; I mean alive, as in talking and thinking."
"Who says they aren't?" Aldrec said.
It took a moment, but it ultimately dawned upon Mericlou that Aldrec was serious. Still, she had seen him perform feats of magic that were supposed to be impossible.
"So you're saying that this … Vinta … can talk to you?" She said.
"Yes."
"How?"
"The same way you talk to me," Aldrec said. "All plants can talk, after a fashion; some are better at it than others. Vinta is very old, and she can speak much better than most. I taught her how."
Again, Mericlou laughed.
"I suppose this is about the second point?" Aldrec said, not at all upset by her reaction.
"I'm sorry, love," Mericlou said with genuine remorse, yet still on a tittering verge of another belly laugh. "I really, truly am; it's just that all this is kind of hard to swallow."
"No doubt," Aldrec replied.
"Once I said how I thought that you elves were so in tune with nature that if you could, you'd probably live in a tree." She gestured towards the giant tree, and laughed once more. "Well, I see now that I wasn't far from the truth. And now you're telling me that you can actually talk to trees!"
"Is that really so hard to believe, love?" Aldrec asked. "You have an affinity for plants; you know exactly how to make them grow. Doesn't it sometimes seem as though they are talking to you?"
"Well yes, now that you mention it," Mericlou said, no longer laughing.
"And it might also further explain why Krako was able to communicate with you. You're more in touch with nature than you realize, Tulyr."
"Maybe I am," Mericlou said, though she did not believe that she was quite ready to accept something so far-fetched. But then again, Aldrec had been spot-on about dreams, more or less.
"Oh, and as for Vinta," Aldrec added, "there is a story to her as well. It is one of many stories that I must tell you."
"Must?" Mericlou echoed. "What do you mean by that?"
"To answer that question, we must go back inside," he said, and started towards the tree. "Come."