Ariadne is a Hamadryad who has been asleep for a thousand years within her oak tree on the island Bouyan, and now emerging, she is wandering through the trees that look mightily unfamiliar until she comes upon water and... Is that a human boy in the water? She coughs to try and get her very unused vocal cords working.

"He-hello?"

The unfamiliar voice startles Michael, who shoots to his feet and glances in the direction of the voice.

"I am Ariadne, of the Great Oak tree, who- who are you?"

She takes tentative steps towards the boy, not even a hint of shyness in her lack of dress as there is only a light covering of leaves. But when the water comes near her she shies away, she has never seen it before and it terrifies her. Her voice shakes with every syllable.

"What is this that comes towards me?"

Michael blinks his large, black eyes. "Uh, what? And where's 'Great Oak'?" 

Like the girl, he seems to lack any shame over his nakedness, or surprise at hers.

"In the midst of the Jungle of Buoyan sits my Mother Balanos, the Great Oak, where I have slept for many a time. It is in a..." She tries to figure out in what direction her home is in, she's not great with direction, she just feels the pull of Her Tree, so she points that way. "I suppose a that a way direction."

She looks at the boy in the blueness, mildly uncomfortable at how comfortable he seems to be in it.

"Are you from The Blue? What is your name?"

"You mean the water? Yeah, I was born in it. I'm Michael. Or Seal."

"Wa-Wa-Water?" She mangles the word. "Water! Is it safe? Is it fun? Do you prefer Michael or Seal? Do you have a Mother? Or siblings? Oh, I've never met anyone else before! Are you a human? If you aren't, have you ever met one? Are they scary? Are they fun?"

She's talking a mile a minute, now that she has met someone, she wants to know everything, the world, the island, has changed so much since she was last awake, everything is different.

"Whichever one sounds better on your tongue! And the water is the funnest fun! And I have a mother! And loads of brothers and sisters! And I'm half human! But my mother is a mermaid. It's great!"

She giggles with pure, uncontrollable joy.

"Mermaids! Now those, I know. I shall stick with Seal, I have not spoken for a long time, let's be kind to my poor tongue. Well, the funnest you say? Let's see if I can handle fun."

She takes tentative steps in to the water, a little afraid but mostly happy, and once she's up to her shins in blue, she wiggles her toes and giggles, her eyes flashing green in elation.

Seal giggles, his laugh musical. "Feels nice, don't it?"

Ariadne smiles at the boy, the water flowing between her legs. "Very. This is the most fun I've had in a very long time."

Seal disappears in a burst of sparkles, reappearing a few feet above the water. "Cannonball!"

She shrieks with surprise and happiness, impressed by his trick, but she has a few of her own up her sleeve. A jungle vine comes out of the nearby plant life, grabbing her by the hand and lifting her in to the air. When she tells it to let go, she tries to copy Seal's body position when he did the 'cannonball', b ut it doesn't go so well and she somehow ends up hitting the water straight on to her stomach with a distinct smack.

More laughter. "You're funny," he says, before tilting his head. "What's with the leaves?"

She bursts from the water with a giggle.

"Thank you. Well, I am a Hamadryad, a sub species of dryad. Which is to say I am a..." She struggles to find a word to explain herself, but eventually finds "tree nymph. I am basically a plant with a human face, and I have the power to call on all of nature as my friend. I can also speak to all kinds of things if I try hard enough. Like 'Liquid Fire Man' on the other side of the island, but I don't do well with the heat."

She raises her face to the sky, basking in sunlight and breathing in fresh air.

"Huh. So not a Miracle then?"

"Miracle? Is that a human thing? If so, then no, I've never been human. I merely approximate something pleasing to their eyes so I can protect the plants and be their spokesperson. Many of my kind cover more ground, but I can't stray too far from Great Tree, our eternities are carefully intertwined."

Ariadne interlaces her fingers together, and while she is mostly mentally there, she is enjoying the warmth of the sun on her face as she has not for so very long. She's very stuck on this, especially because it tastes stronger than it used to.

"Humans with powers."

"Ah. Not a Miracle then. Just a very weird plant girl."

She dives under the water briefly, coming back up to shake her hair a little drier. 

"So, are you actually little?"

She doesn't quite understand what he means by little, but she takes a general stab at it.

"Well, I am as old as Great Oak, we are both one, and yet separate. And Great Oak is a few thousand years old, it grew after it's predecessor, Balanos Oak burnt down and from it's ashes did I spring. But I have not spent more than a collective..." She counts for a minute. "I have been on earth and out of Great Oak for a total of 11 years, 10 days, and 13 hours."

"I mean, are you a kid?"

"Oh, as in a small human!" She takes a moment to self evaluate. "I am physically at about the growth stage of a human 10 year old."

"Oh. I think I'm ten."

"That is fun. We can be friends. Can you go on land? Because then I may not be able to show you Great Oak."