Honeysuckle

After telling a few reapers about her plans and giving them a couple more instructions, Ione left without too much of a fuss and appeared under a dense thicket of trees.

That seemed to be communicating with each other with all the creaking and groaning they were making the moment she appeared.

Huh, this must be the trees Death mentioned, she inwardly concluded. Fascinating.

Ione swept a gaze around the area, curious and intrigued.

The forest was incredibly old and sentient, she perceived, the vegetation thick, vibrant and untainted. There was an overgrowth of moss everywhere that gave the woods a dark and menacing look, probably a glistening reputation too, especially when they were making such daunting sounds with equally terrifying silhouettes. She had a feeling that none has ventured the woods of their own free will unless they absolutely needed to.

Ione took in a deep breath. Just because she could.

The air was certainly clean and refreshing, with a hint of dampness she already expected. The scent was more of woods, leaves and soil than that of flowers and fruits, something that Ione definitely preferred over the smell of foul fumes and toxic wastes.

This would've been the perfect place to build a small hut, completely isolated and to just be with nature… if she had any plan on staying within the forest for a very long time in the first place. But no, Ione was here to explore and explore away she would do.

She just needed to know where in Merlin's name she currently is.

She really should've asked Death for a map, something she could still do anyway…

But, hmm… Nevermind.

She walked closer on what looked like a birch tree and placed a palm against its rough bark, her magic gently reaching out and feeling the ancient wood and the woods around her.

The trees went silent, the agitated rustling of the branches dwindled and became still. The trees were curious about her and her purpose in their woods and Ione felt the need to reassure them she meant them no harm and that she just passing through and oh, aren't you all lovely, strong and pretty…

Then suddenly, she could hear a Song.

It was a story, Ione realized in profound marvel as she saw and listened, a story about the creation of this world―Arda, they lovingly chimed in wonderful decibels―and how they were born from the thoughts of one goddess and awoken by another when the light was reawakened for the whole of Arda, of how mighty and great their forest was once, embracing a vast expanse of land up to the North until change, time and wars happened, and of how they couldn't speak until the Elves came and taught them, delighting themselves in learning the many tongues of this world until they created their own.

Ione heard and learnt of the Valar and the Maiar and their power, of the Ents and the Entwives who can talk, walk and are the immortal Shepherds of the Forest, of the many races of creatures they know that continue to thrive and decline through the passing of time.

Of the evil and dark creatures who likewise roam around the lands, several of them inhabiting a significant part in the nearby forest, killing and destroying the forests and all that is good. All because of the bidding of a Dark Lord who wants to conquer Middle-Earth.

Well, didn't she arrive in the most opportune of time?

Ione continued to caress the tree, distracted and pensive as she pondered over the myriad of information she obtained, the branches swaying along the faint drift of wind as vines and leaves alike fluttered across her face and through her hair.

It was after a moment when Death spoke into her mind, breaking her out of her complex thoughts, "How is the forest, love?"

"Enlightening," was her pleasant reply.

He let out an understanding hum, "You heard the Songs then. Aren't they marvelous? Did you meet any of the Ents?"

"Hmm, not yet but I doubt I'll get to meet any of them. The forest is large and they've either retreated into the innermost depths of the woods or up into the roots of high mountain slopes. It is best to leave them be. I won't be here for long anyway," Ione nonchalantly replied before letting out a mischievous smile, letting out her magic as it thrummed around her, brushing through the entire vastness of the forest and making everything seem brighter and lighter.

More magical.

The magic here was wild and unblemished. It just needed a bit of a nudge to make it… glimmer some more.

The singing amplified and the trees rustled a bit more, delighted and affectionate, and Death laughed aloud, sounding the same.

Ione nodded in satisfaction, feeling much better now.

"Have you changed your mind and is now planning on slaying the Dark Lord yourself to protect all of Arda's forests, my Ione?" he teased.

Ione snorted, patting the tree, "Of course not. My plans remain awesome and unchanged. No amount of persuasion will make me join on such… tiresome work. Besides, if I want to protect forests, all I have to do is put up some charms, which isn't really difficult."

Ione bid the birch tree farewell and started to walk, not yet knowing which direction she wanted to go and instead just wandered around, confident that the trees won't do her any harm, considering the jovial tunes and happy praises they were chanting about.

Death came out beside her, letting out a petulant whine, saying, "That's too bad. Summoning legions of armies and winning the war would've been so easy and effortless." He looked at her imploringly, "Aren't you at least a little bit tempted of hearing the victorious cries of the people hailing you as their savior? Or the triumphant feasts that will surely come after and would, without doubt, persist for days?"

"Still prefer simple and serene afternoon teas over rowdy and crowded festivities," she crooned, hands flitting between barks and plants as she continued to stroll around, "I'm still not over the last war we pulled."

Death let out a euphoric sigh, his grey eyes glittering in wistfulness as he remembered the chaos they caused a few millennia ago, "You have to admit, that was entertaining."

"It was awful. Horrible. In ghastly proportions! I should've known your hidden intention the moment you slithered in those fine-aged bottles of wine," she countered venomously, stomping her foot for good measure, "You know I get drunk easily and yet you kept plying me with those exquisite treasures until you conned me into involving ourselves with some war I knew bloody nothing of!"

He let out a giggle, girlish and completely out of character, "It's surprisingly endearing how you still can't hold your liquor, Ione! You've lived for hundreds of years and it's that one peculiarity you're stuck with. It's dreadfully hilarious!"

She glared daggers at him, suppressing her great need to set this primordial being on fire, the smug bastard, "The paperwork I did for that took months! Months! While you were off gallivanting in some island!"

He put up an impertinent finger as he averred, "It was Maldives and I had a lovely time, thank you very much." His lips curled into a smirk, haughty and perceptive, "Would you have resisted the wines then?"

She thought about it really hard and her scowl eventually diminished into a pout, grudgingly assenting, "They were excellent wines. How in Merlin's name could I?" She glanced at her companion, still wearing his expensive-looking suit―it was an oddity here amongst nature, considering that even the most advance of races residing here in Arda has yet to discover and invent such a style―before her eyes caught the attention of his feet.

His feet covered in luxurious, tailor-made shoes and hovering several inches above the ground.

Snobbish bastard.

She sent him a glare, scowling, "You're cheating."

Death inquisitively regarded her, "Hmm?"

Ione pointed at his shoes and asserted, "You should ditch the shoes and feel the warm, dirty soil beneath your feet. You're not even properly dressed for this momentous occasion."

"Like you're feeling the warm, dirty soil beneath your feet," he sardonically echoed, pointedly eyeing her own footwear.

"They're sandals," she shot back as her scowl deepened, "At least I'm not afraid to get my sandals muddy. Why are you even here?"

Death made a tutting sound before replying, his tone utterly humorous, "I'm just killing some time. Do you know the riot you left back in there? Someone noticed you were gone and a few of them lost it."

Ione groaned in disdain, "Hopeless… the lot of them. They're still dreadful in circulating information. I left a word with a few reapers that I won't be returning for a while."

He slid an arm across her shoulders and gave her a soothing pat on the head as he cooed, "They'll be fine. They're just acting like you're never coming back, which is silly because you always do. No matter how long it takes. It's like they still aren't used to you and your eccentricities. Awful, awful…"

"Not like it's going to take a couple thousand years. Babies..." she grumbled under her breath before stopping, sweeping her gaze around her as she assessed where she was.

Yeah, still in the middle of the forest with the singing trees.

She let out a contemplative hum before turning to Death, extending out her grabby hands, "This is taking me a long time. May I please have a map of this Middle-Earth?"

He complied with a flourish of his hand, a piece of parchment appearing in her hands, his grey eyes lit with amusement, "You haven't even been here a full day yet you're already complaining. Whatever happened to just 'winging it', eh?"

Hmm… parchment. Classy.

She let out a distracted grunt as she scrutinized the map, "The trees are knowledgeable and wise but they're predictably indolent against the fast pace of time. Arda is vast and ever-growing but their roots are imbedded deep beneath the earth and they don't care for whatever is happening far outside their forests."

"Is that your way of saying you've abandoned 'winging it' and that you're now deliberating your courses of travel?"

"Yes," she let out, dragging out the 's' before looking up to him, a lopsided grin plastered on her face, "My afternoon teas are waiting."

"You have the whole Arda to explore and you're only looking forward to afternoon teas," he muttered lowly before raising a skeptical eyebrow, bending down closer to her and eyeing her map, "And do you know where you'll have that, hmm?"

Ione fluttered a dismissive hand above the paper, "It's out there somewhere. I can feel it in my heart and through my bones. Folks who appreciate afternoon teas just like me. But first…" she considered a few of the sketched forests, absentmindedly mumbling, "I'm probably in Fangorn Forest…"

Death hummed in assent, crossing his arms and waiting for her to make her decisions.

"Haven't got a bloody clue where exactly I am though. Hmm… There's a river… Limlight? What kind of name is that? Nevermind. I'm not in the liberty to judge strange names. Hmm… Who says I can't go out of the forest in style? Alright!" she passionately declared, walking towards a random tree and touching it, graciously asking the right route for the river Limlight.

"You know you could've just used a spell, right?" Death tactfully informed her.

"Shuush…" she let out as she listened to the chants of the tree, giving it a few grateful pats before turning to her right, the flowing river closer to her than she expected, "Why should I when it's more convenient to ask them for directions? And come on, Death… Talking and singing trees? Where else could we find something like them?"

"Quite a couple of worlds actually. You just don't know where to look when you travel."

Ione shrugged her shoulders, "You're ancient. Of course, you'll know hundreds of other worlds out there. Still, sentient trees are awesome so there's no harm in asking a few things."

Death let out a grunt and sidled effortlessly next to her―still with the blasted hovering, mind you―and inquired about her plans.

She turned to look at him, almost stumbling upon a big root protruding on her path like a newborn fawn trying to discover the use of their legs, and said, "Walking is tiring so I'll be going by river. I'll pass by the Field of Celebrant until the little river converges with the Anduin, from which I'll be stopping by. I'll go on by foot from there and pay the lonely mountain a visit. Or I could conjure a horse. Or an elk. Or ohh… I could travel across the plains by reindeer!"

He heaved out a sigh and said in exasperation, waving his hands up in the air, "Why go through all that trouble when you can just fly?"

Ione gave her companion a dubious glance before training her eyes back on the path, "And let all kinds of creatures shoot me down because I was an unidentified flying object? Salazar, no. I'll go flying when I have the certain demographical information I need for the entirety of this trip."

Death suddenly crouched down, making her pause on her tracks, and held his hands on his chest, letting out a dramatic wail, "Oh, you wound me, Mistress! Is my comprehensive and mystical map not enough to your liking?"

The trees rustled some more, once again intrigued by their presence, and Ione tried to take a swipe at him for making such a commotion, missing when he glided out of her reach, his merry laugh ringing throughout the woods.

Really… And people wanted to become this… this being's Master?

Fools… The lot of them.

…

She instantly retracted that thought, seeing as she was one and still currently is.

She sent him scathing glare, her hands on her hips as she firmly chastised him, "Stop making such a racket or the trees will think we're savages!"

"Magical savages!" he crowed.

Ione waved an impatient hand before she resumed walking, the sounds of streaming water already within hearing range, all the while retorting, "That's not the point! The trees are resting and if you continue to make such loud noises, they're going to make their displeasure know by crushing us both!"

"It's not like they could," he replied with such nonchalance Ione was so close to tearing her hair.

"That's… You know… Ugh, nevermind," she sighed heavily and just gave up, running a frustrated hand through her hair, "You're truly terrible at empathizing."

She brushed a few shrubs out of her path, leaving behind her stuttering companion, before sighting the river, calm and undisturbed. Ione rubbed her hands in eagerness and waved her hand, working on her makeshift boat.

Fallen yet sturdy logs of varying sizes drifted towards her and her magic did its work―Ione didn't forget to thank the trees for their generous donation, equally feeling generous herself and sending out tendrils of magic to appease the woods and make them a tad happy―Death a perpetual presence as he continued to observe her and her work in no little amount of fascination. But there was one of the downsides for being too powerful, and all too quickly, her boat was suddenly finished much to her discontent.

And Death had the need to verbalize such thoughts, to which she glowered, sarcasm soaking through her voice as she replied, "And yet you still wonder why I have to constantly amuse myself."

A cup of steaming hot tea appeared on his hand, offering it to her with a beatific smile, "Tea, my Ione?"

She squinted her eyes at the teacup before staring at him, eventually asking, "What's the newest blend this time?"

He replied as he rocked on his feet like an eager child, "Chamomile with some citrus notes. You might like it."

"Hmm… We'll see," she let out before accepting the tea and carefully taking a sip, instantly liking the flavor.

Death seemingly nodded in resolution, noting her apparent liking of the tea, "I'll make sure to send you a steady supply of that one then."

Ione only hummed.

She looked around the forest as she continued to savor her tea, the two of them silent and content as they listened to the sounds of the woods, the gentle rush of the water and the creaking trees heard predominantly over anything else. There was no twittering of birds nor the scuttling and tittering sounds of small animals and Ione had to ponder if there were any other forms of life living in the forest aside from the floras. And the Ents.

Merlin forbid Ione forget the Shepherds of the Forest.

Death made a comment on their absence the moment she finished her tea, spelling her empty cup to disappear.

"They probably think we're nice beings. Which we are, of course," she casually said.

Death shrugged his shoulders, "That's true." He looked at her boat and back to her, asking with an elevated eyebrow, "Are you going to get in or are you not?"

"Of course I am," she shot back with a sniff and climbed on her boat, her magic stabilizing the craft from swaying too much.

Death went back to floating and with a nudge of her magic, the boat began flowing with the current of the river.

The primordial being voiced out over her shoulders, "Perhaps you should also take on another name while you're here, Ione."

She considered the suggestion with knitted eyebrows and relented, "Alright. What are my choices?"

"Hmm…" Death ruminated, placing a few of his fingers underneath his chin, "Do you still want to be named after plants?"

"I am named after a flower, thank you very much."

He brandished a flippant hand as he quipped, "Still a plant." He gave her a calculating look, "Well? I have a few names currently in mind if you still want to adhere to your mother's tradition."

As tempting as that was, she mulled over her head, she wanted to try something new, preferably not connected to any forms of plant life. It was a new world, after all. Even Arda sounded pleasant in her ears.

She shook her head and said, "Let's try something else."

Death wondered aloud, "I could name you for your black hair or your green eyes. What about Calen?"

"Hmm… No. That literally just means green one."

"Laicaril wouldn't do then. Let's try another approach. Do you want to be named after the moon like how your dogfather was similarly named after the brightest star? How about Ithilliel?"

Ione hummed before saying "No. And I don't want to be named after the stars and the sun either. Sirius would be thrilled but I don't think that's for me this time." She paused and added, a perceptive look on her gaze, "And nothing about black or dark either. That just feels like I'm inviting trouble."

Death chuckled as he caressed the outline of her face, teasing, "You're quite hard to please, Ione."

She rolled her eyes and emphasized firmly, "That's my name we're deliberating so it has to be brilliant."

"Brilliant, hmm?" he mused for a while, splaying himself against her back and over her shoulders, making her fidget on her seat.

Ione was immensely glad for stabilizing charms or this boat would've already toppled over, what with her troublesome companion having no regards for personal space whatsoever.

Ione continued shuffling, whining, "Get off, Death. Don't you know you're heavy?"

Death pulled back with a gasp, the expression on his face so obviously affronted she was happy she lied, "Excuse me!?"

She feigned indifference as she shrugged her shoulders, "Probably because of the pies you keep on devouring. How long is it now? Four months and you're still not over them?"

Death stubbornly crossed his arms across his chest as he heatedly shot back, "Don't you know how numerous the varieties of pies are out there? In every single world no matter how they differ in name? And you're implying me to stop?"

"Hmm," she let out as she indifferently reached an arm out and dipped her hand into the cold waters, "I was only commenting your avid consumption of pies, dear. I didn't say anything about stopping. Who am I to stop you by depriving you of your favorites?" She sighed and angled her head towards the dense canopy of trees, a few trickles of sunlight passing through them, drawling, "So, anymore names to consider?"

Death perked up, instantly forgetting about their petty argument, and suggested, eager and optimistic, "You could be Idril, Ione. You wanted brilliance and it sounded perfect. You will now be Idril."

"You didn't have to take it exactly as I said it, though the 'sparkle' does add a bit of a nice touch on the name," she mumbled, her eyes attached to the slithering and wondrous patterns of the foliage, mouthing the name a few times and eventually saying, a pleased smile fixed upon her lips, "Idril… I like it."

Death grinned widely, wicked and mischievous, "Excellent."