Mallem Manytrees

*'A proper member of the family would know not to interrupt Leaf while he was telling a story . . . It’s like deep down you know what you’re supposed to be already. Go away. Don’t you have some tree you’re meant to be climbing? Go do that. Bother the squirrels.'*

## General details

### Relatives

Amaley Manytrees (mamatree, deceased); Imshiel Manytrees (papatree, deceased); Im Manytrees (brothertree, deceased); Shiel Manytrees (brothertree, deceased); Chert Manytrees (brothertree, deceased); Ela Manytrees (sistertree, deceased); Leaf Manytrees (brothertree, deceased); Himshi Manytrees (brothertree, deceased); Chaley Manytrees (sistertree, deceased); Mosk Manytrees (brothertree)

### Roles or Vocation

Responsible for policing the internal law and justice of the Manytrees family

## Personality

Mosk thought that a fae 'with the kind of sly, friendly grin that indicated they verbally sparred quite often' remind him of Mallem. Mosk also described Mallem as 'bitter and hostile'. Mosk also described Mallem as 'treacherous' and spiteful. Some of Mosk's siblings lived separate from the main home when they found their Aur tree, but would come home sometimes. It's unclear where Mallem fell on that spectrum.

Mallem was verbally abusive and mocking towards Mosk, amongst family, and in private with Mosk, which was, if not directly encouraged by their family, then also largely not discouraged, either. Mosk's family made some efforts to temper Mallem's cruelty, although Mosk's other brothers were also cruel towards Mosk.

## Life

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 failed to heal it themselves, and 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 heal the forest in exchange for the Aur dryads' then-non-existent seventh son of a seventh son. Amaley Manytrees and Imshiel Manytrees only had two children at the time - Im Manytrees and Shiel Manytrees - 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 having children entirely after Chaley Manytrees, but went to a party, and conceived Mosk.

Mallem was the seventh child and sixth son of Amaley and Imshiel. As seventh child, Mallem was responsible for policing 'the internal law and justice of the family'. Mallem bonded with a cherry tree. Mallem was also one of the Manytrees siblings who didn't support Mosk trying to subvert his fate of being turned over to Olphix, and told Mosk to seek Olphix out.

After Amaley and Imshiel told Mosk to stop training with the recurve bow and accept his fate, Mosk continued in secret. Mallem learned that Mosk was still practicing, and told Olphix about it. Mosk thinks that Mallem believed 'he could save the whole family by doing that'.

Olphix murdered Mallem 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

Although Mosk's parents didn't do much to curb Mallem's cruelty, Amaley did once interrupt one of Mallem's diatribes, cowing Mallem into brief silence.

#### Imshiel Manytrees

Although Mosk's parents didn't do much to curb Mallem's cruelty, Imshiel spoke to Mallem after Mosk left due to Mallem's diatribe and his family's refusal to largely say anything about it. It's unclear if Imshiel reprimanded Mallem, or spoke in Mosk's defense, or did something else.

#### Mosk Manytrees

Although Mosk and Mallem had a caustic relationship and often argued, and Mosk hated how Mallem betrayed him to Olphix, Mosk still misses him, like the rest of Mosk's family. Mosk also thinks that Mallem loved him, at least a little bit, but less than the other Manytrees familymembers did. Mosk also believes Mallem hated him, and, although Mosk was hurt by it, Mosk thinks Mallem had the right of it. 'Mallem's angry stares' were part of what made Mosk incredibly uncomfortable around his family. Mallem was also the first to tell Mosk he didn't matter. Mosk also states that part of the reason for their difficult relationship was that it conflicted with Mallem's duties, because Mosk 'upset the peace' and 'Mallem didn't know how to fix it', so he turned it into hatred.

## Quotations

* 'Mallem used to tell him that someone might fall for his winning personality one day, but then added that Mosk would have to go win one first.'
* 'Go away, baby,’ Mallem said, when no one else spoke. ‘Go grow up.'

## 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 *The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas*, Chapter 13: The Glory of the House of Atros. Accessed 25 March 2021.
2. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas*, Chapter 22: Service. Accessed 25 March 2021.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 12: Empty Whispers. Accessed 25 March 2021.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 15: Isn't That Better? Accessed 25 March 2021.
5. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 18, Sparks of Revelation. Accessed 25 March 2021.
6. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 13: Captured. Accessed 01 May 2021.
7. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 3 - The Ice Plague*, Chapter 1: The Ice and the Dryad. Accessed 25 March 2021.
8. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas*, Chapter 31: Whatever It Takes. Accessed 30 April 2021.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 23: The Arrow's Path. Accessed 26 March 2021.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 *The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas*, Chapter 28: Farewell. Accessed 25 March 2021.
11. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 10: The World Forest. Accessed 13 March 2021.
12. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas*, Chapter 12: A Liar and the Truth. Accessed 26 May 2021.
13. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 31: The Sky is Falling. Accessed 25 March 2021
14. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 1 - The Forest of Fire*, Chapter 32: Somewhere Safe. Accessed 25 March 2021
15. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas*, Chapter 8: Stay Right Here. Accessed 25 March 2021
16. ↑ *The Ice Plague: Book 2 - The Seething Seas*, Chapter 23: The Sea of Sculptures. Accessed 25 March 2021
17. ↑ "Dryad". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryad. Accessed 07 May 2021.