Imshiel Manytrees

### Relatives

Amaley Manytrees (wife, deceased); Im Manytrees (son, deceased); Shiel Manytrees (son, deceased); Chert Manytrees (son, deceased); Ela Manytrees (daughter, deceased); Leaf Manytrees (son, deceased); Himshi Manytrees (son, deceased); Mallem Manytrees (son, deceased); Chaley Manytrees (daughter, deceased); Mosk Manytrees (son)

## Introduction

Imshiel was the seventh son of his family, the partner of Amaley Manytrees, and patriarch of the Aur forest.

## Personality

Mosk thinks that Imshiel 'regretted that [Mosk] had to live in [the Manytrees] house before [he] was taken. He complained the least when [Mosk] stopped living there as much.' Mosk believes he was worried about the rest of their family more, and that Mosk simply 'didn't count.'

## Life

Together with Amaley, they bore two children: Im Manytrees and Shiel Manytrees, who were named for Imshiel. Aur dryad births, and fae births in general, are difficult, so Imshiel and Amaley thought they'd have no more children after that.

Olphix and Davix wanted to know if they could create a seventh son of a seventh son themselves, rather than accidentally stumbling upon one, in order to 'augment it, tune the world towards a species and there, grant a son [they] could sunder and use.' So Olphix poisoned the Aur forest. The Aur dryads tried everything to heal the forest: they 'burned off sections of the forest, thinking it might be some strange fungus. [They] tried isolating the worst trees. [They] tried [their] own magic, and [they] tried the magic of healers. [They] sought potions to pour into the soil by the gallon. [They] worked tirelessly for years, but nothing helped.' They finally sought aid from the School of the Staff (not knowing Olphix had poisoned the forest to start with), and the School sent Olphix to help. He offered to strike a bargain with them for healing the forest: the Aur dryads would give him their seventh son of a seventh son. Amaley and Imshiel only had two children at the time, and assumed they would have no more, so they agreed, thinking the promise would never be fulfilled. When they continued having children, they used magic to try to only have girls, which wasn't that successful. Of their seven children born after Shiel, only two were girls. They tried to stop after Chaley Manytrees, their second daughter, but went to a party, and conceived Mosk Manytrees.

Initially, the family supported Mosk attempting to escape his fate. Since Mosk had not made the debt, this would not break it. Amaley gave him a bow and arrows to train with, so that he could fight Olphix when the time came. He was still forbidden from leaving the Aur Forest or having any friends or connections.

Olphix murdered Imshiel along with the other Manytrees family members, save Mosk, when Olphix came to collect Mosk. Mosk heard all of his family screaming as they burned to death.

## Special Abilities

All Aur dryads possess an ability to communicate with all trees, even without touching them, and they have a unique ability to process the voices of thousands of trees in a forest at the same time. This allows them to automatically know where water is, as well as pathways, other fae, other homes, animals and sources of danger.

Aur dryads can tell the health of a tree directly from its sap, including its age, whether it's sick, whether it's large or small, and the species.

Aur dryads have an ability to grow plants, as well as grow them faster than is normal. They also have an ability to heal plants.

Aur dryads can turn into their Aur tree when they change into true-form, however, they cannot change back into a human or hybrid-form after this, due to the fact that they lose all knowledge of themselves. As a result, turning into a tree is considered an end-of-life form of death, with a few trees in the Aur forest being Aur dryads that have 'died' and live out the rest of their life as a tree.

## Relationships

#### Amaley Manytrees

It seems that Amaley and Imshiel loved each other, and enjoyed going on outings together.

#### Chert and Im Manytrees

Mosk noted that Chert and Im got along best with Imshiel.

#### Leaf Manytrees

It's possible Leaf was granted some leeway, given his status as Storyweaver. In any event, Imshiel did not reprimand Leaf for excluding Mosk from a story as a member of the family, and even seemed unwilling to intervene on Mosk's behalf.

#### Mallem Manytrees

Although Imshiel did not stop Mallem from being cruel to Mosk after Leaf's story, Imshiel did say something as Mosk left, possibly in reprimand. It's unclear what he actually said, though.

#### Mosk Manytrees

Mosk loves his papatree, but Imshiel also eventually despaired over what they would have to do when the debt was called in, and attempted to harden his heart against the loss while Mosk was yet with them, which hurt Mosk greatly. Mosk learned to lie around him, particularly to hide the fact that Mosk was still training with the bow after Amaley told him to stop. When Leaf excluded Mosk from the family while telling a story, Imshiel 'turned away', without coming to Mosk's defense, and Mosk did not expect him to. After Mallem was cruel to Mosk and Mosk fled, Imshiel said something to Mallem, but it's unclear whether it was taking Mallem to task for his treatment of Mosk or something else. Eran Iliakambar noted that only Chaley, Amaley, and sometimes Mosk's brothers ever touched him before Olphix and Davix, implying that Ela Manytrees and Imshiel in particular never touched him. Mosk noted he and his papatree 'were never close.'

## Trivia

* Imshiel and Amaley liked to string up wood chimes around their home.

## Folklore/Mythology

'A dryad (Greek: Δρυάδες, *sing*.: Δρυάς) is a tree nymph or tree spirit in Greek mythology. *Drys* signifies "oak" in Greek, and dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, but the term has come to be used for tree nymphs in general, or human-tree hybrids in fantasy. They were normally considered to be very shy creatures except around the goddess Artemis, who was known to be a friend to most nymphs.'

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 not\_poignant. “The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague.” *The Fae Tales Verse. Archive of Our Own,* 23 December 2021. https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/89500210. Chapter 22: Just For Us.
2. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 10: The World Tree. Accessed 13 March 2021.
3. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas*, Chapter 28: Farewell. Accessed 01 May 2021.
4. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas*, Chapter 31: Whatever It Takes. Accessed 30 April 2021.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 23: The Arrow's Path. Accessed 26 March 2021.
6. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 12: Empty Whispers. Accessed 26 May 2021.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 *The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas*, Chapter 12: A Liar and the Truth. Accessed 26 March 2021.
8. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 15: Isn't This Better? Accessed 26 May 2021.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 *The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas*, Chapter 13: The Glory of the House of Atros. Accessed 26 March 2021.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 *The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas*, Chapter 5: Unexpected Guests. Accessed 26 March 2021.
11. ↑ "Dryad". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryad. Accessed 07 May 2021.