Pine

'We are sorry to disru-'

'Orn talk tree. Mama talk Orn.' The little boy looked over at his mother as if waiting for her to understand.

'Little human, elven named, why do you wake me?'

'Orn talk tree,' Orn replied to the pine.

'Forgive us -'

'Orn talk tree, Mama.'

She looked at her son who beamed back at her and gave a sudden giggle. He clapped the tree on the trunk getting bits of sap and bark stuck to his hand. 'Mama no talk tree.'

'She does not speak our language - she blocks it out with darkness and silence.'

'I'm sorry but -'

'Orn talk treeeeeeee, Mama!'

'She must forgive herself, small human, and learn again to hear with her heart.'

She sat heavily on the ground, still keeping her hand on the stick and on the trunk of the pine. Hear with her heart? How would she manage that?

'Tree sticky, Orn hand stick tree.'

'It is sap, child.'

'Mama heart sticky sap?'

'No. It is unnamed.'

'Mama heart sad?'

She looked up and into the brown eyes of her child who suddenly seemed years beyond his current age. 'No, my heart isn't sad -'

'It is unnamed and those without names are lost and unable to hear.'

'Mama!' Orn again slapped the tree with a giggle and looked upward into the pine boughs.

'I'm sorry I -

'Orn talk treeeeeeee, Mama!'

'Little human, my trunk strains with the weight of my branches. Soon, I will fall and gain my eternal sleep. Please, let me rest now.'

She reached over, gently taking Orn's hand from the tree. She smiled at him softly. 'The tree needs sleep, Orn.'

'Tree night night?'

'Yes.'

'Mama talk Orn?'

'Yes, I will talk to you.' She pulled the little boy into her lap, her mind on the tree's words. 'Those without names are lost...'

'Mama!'

She smiled down at the blonde haired boy and kissed him gently. 'If only that name would do.' She looked upward into the branches of the leaning pine and sighed deeply with a resignation and an understanding. She looked down at her son again and smiled. Sanria. That name would just have to do.