"Walk," was all she said, her voice cold and hard as stone.
"Okkaaayyy then," Harry said, drawing out the word as he started walking in the general direction the green woman had gestured towards with her bow.
She led him silently through the dense, ancient forest for what he guessed was an hour or two, the only sounds their footsteps and the rustling of leaves, before they finally came to a clearing.
In the middle of the clearing was a structure, or rather, a collection of structures, nestled amongst the trees.
Harry could immediately feel the subtle, almost imperceptible enchantments woven around the place.
If he hadn't been actively studying the structure and the surrounding air so intently, he might have missed them entirely.
It felt like a mild, almost passive compulsion, a subtle magical nudge designed to make unwelcome visitors feel uneasy, to encourage them to stay away from this place.
It wasn't really directed at specific individuals or threats, though, so not quite as sophisticated or powerful as the wards he could produce.
It did, however, tell him one very important thing: there were other magic users, similar to him in some ways, on this new world. He would need to be careful of them, to not underestimate them.
They entered the main structure, which seemed to be a kind of central hub for a small-looking community. Warning bells immediately started going off in Harry's head.
For one, there were quite a few women and female children visible, all with the same green skin and elfin features as his escort, but there were absolutely no males whatsoever.
Not a single one. This meant one of two rather alarming things: either the women of this village, and perhaps even this entire world, did not need men to reproduce, or they simply… got rid of them after the reproduction process was complete.
He immediately dismissed the first idea as highly improbable.
The woman who had brought him here hadn't seemed particularly surprised or shocked by his male appearance, implying she had seen men before.
That didn't exactly fill him with a warm, fuzzy feeling of hope, though.
"Keep walking," the green woman said sharply from behind him, clearly annoyed that he had stopped to observe.
Harry nodded. "Right. Sorry about that," he said, turning back to her. "Just… surprised by your little village here. It's quite… unique. You don't seem to have any men around. You don't happen to be… man killers here, do you?" he asked, trying to make it sound like a lighthearted joke, but he was semi-serious in his inquiries. He needed to know what he was walking into.
"We kill trespassers," the woman stated blankly, her expression unchanging, "unless Mother says differently. She will decide your fate."
"Right," Harry muttered under his breath. "That doesn't exactly inspire me with a whole lot of confidence, but I wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing, I suppose." He then looked at her properly. "So, where am I going now?"
The woman seemed a little confused by his muttered pep talk but simply pointed towards the largest, most central hut in the village.
Harry nodded and started walking towards it, while also noting that his arrival had gained a lot of attention.
It seemed the entire green-skinned female village had stopped whatever they were doing and were now staring at him with open curiosity, and perhaps a hint of suspicion, as soon as he had entered their domain.
Harry was more than used to people staring at him, so he mostly brushed off the intense gazes and continued towards the designated hut.
There was no discernible door, just an open, shadowed entryway. He looked back at his escort, a questioning look on his face.
"Do I just… walk right in, or should I wait out here until she tells me to enter?" Harry asked her.
"Go in," the woman said, her tone still flat. "She already knows you're here."
Harry looked back at the dark entrance of the hut, took a deep, steadying breath, and then stepped inside.
The sudden darkness caused him a moment of temporary blindness before his eyes gradually adjusted to the dim interior. He saw a relatively spartan-looking room, with only one other inhabitant.
A woman was looking at him calmly from across the room. She honestly looked exactly like he might have expected the leader of a secluded, all-female, forest-dwelling community to look like.
Tall, regal, with the same distinctive green skin as the rest of her companions, yet her eyes were a striking, luminous silver, and her long, flowing hair was the color of spun moonlight, clearly setting her apart from the others.
Of course, she was also breathtakingly beautiful, an ethereal, almost otherworldly kind of beauty. Harry would have been more surprised if she wasn't.
He hadn't seen a single woman here on his walk into the village who could be considered even remotely plain, let alone ugly.
He stared at her silver eyes and saw her looking back at him with a calm, curious, almost serene expression. He suddenly felt a subtle sense of peacefulness, of tranquility, wash over him.
He stopped himself from twitching at the almost imperceptible magical compulsion before mentally, almost casually, dispelling it.
The woman either didn't notice his subtle counter-spell, or she simply didn't comment on him dispelling her calming aura.
"I am Eithné," she said, her voice soft, melodious, yet carrying an undeniable undercurrent of authority. "Leader of the dryads in this forest. Who are you, dh'oine?" she asked calmly, using the same strange, vaguely insulting term his escort had used.
Harry tilted his head slightly. With his suspicions about their nature now confirmed Dryads, that made a certain kind of sense he decided to try the respectful, diplomatic route.
"My name is Harry, my lady," he said, offering the regal-looking woman a slight, polite bow, though he made sure to stay tense and alert while he did so.
Despite her serene appearance, she also gave off the distinct, palpable sense of an ancient, powerful warrior. It would be incredibly foolish to offend her and potentially end up as target practice.
He could certainly deal with it if it came to that, but he'd much rather not. Plus, there was something… something nagging at him about her, about this entire little village nestled deep in the forest. It all sounded so vaguely, tantalizingly familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why.