Laurel Grove, the struggle between human and nature

A major part of the backstory of the novel, and the story begins where Eadunel is found by Anaire, see the last paragraph of this post.
I dreamed up 'Laurel Grove' in December 2022.

"The elven matriarch found him. The leader of the tiny forest being took up the fur-covered body. She could smell it from far away. It was familiar. A cub, but what kind? Bigger than an elf child and heavier. She couldn't even hold it. She sat down next to baby and called her tribe. The elves flocked at his word, and to study the strange creature with excitement.
The unexpected and careless noise of the elves attracted the attention of a young dragon owl, which, due to its young predator's inexperience, was hungry for easier prey. Aware of success it burst through the foliage and landed on the forest floor. The elves fled wherever they could see, leaving only the matriarch with the cub, and instead of fear, she felt anger. She screamed in a much louder voice than anyone would have thought. The young dragon owl was surprised too, and then crumpled to the ground as the forest shifted and vines, branches and patches of moss moved to weave together into a humanoid shape that towered far above the predator and beside it, as if the elven matriarcha were a mouse. At one small sign of her will, the dragon owl took flight, returning to the foliage.
On the day of the matriarch's initiation, she saw the forest mother only once.
The driad queen's avatar knelt down beside the old elf, stroked her head, and took the baby with her other hand. By the time the elves arrived back, the queen had already left.
Wherever she went, life moved, renewed. She healed and tended her forest. At any other time she would have delighted in her work, but now she turned her attention to the baby, and with her root fingers she opened it. In the blink of an eye, she had tucked the little thing into a spring. She pulled off its fur and threw it to the ground, to be digested in moments by the inhabitants of the forest floor. The little boy sputtered and cried. The shrill sound surprised the queen, as if it were the death cry of some animal. She wanted to soothe the boy. She acted instinctively and, as if the little one were a dryad sapling, laid him on her body. The queen can feed any living creature, and her body immediately assembled what the human cub needed. It was the work of a moment, as she saw the chance in the little one, and the motherly love rose in her heart. She went with him to his true throne, the laurel grove that was her crown. She took him deep into the forest to raise him as her mother and entrust her dream to him.
'Eadunel' she said the word, meaning treasure."

Eadunel was an abandoned child, certain death awaited her in the forest, but the maternal instinct, first in an elven matriarcha and then in the mother of the forest herself, saved her life, and there was something else, the driad queen wanted to make peace with the humans and give them a gift that could faithfully interpret the good will of the driad. Eadunel received all good things from the queen, being cared for on a par with her own seedlings. He was allowed to play with the driads, the caretakers of the forest, who remain children for ever, and he was also allowed to enter the circle of the much rarer princes, who were taller him and were about to embark on a long journey to find themselves a queen. Eadunel wanted to grow as tall as the driad princes, but the queen kindly and patiently explained to him that they were two separate species, and that men did not grow as tall as trees. Eadunel took comfort in the elves, who, as a small humanoid being of the forest, were the closest to human nature, living in tribes, with a 'chattering' language and a lively social life, and even gossip, knowing everything that happened in the forest and beyond its borders. They loved to spy on people passing through the forest and steal things from them. The mother of the forest was a rare exception of the driadic race, patient and merciful with humans. She learned their language, and when Eadunel emerged from human childhood and began to grow into adolescence, she introduced him to the humans and asked the king's envoys to teach her foster son human ways. It was the first time that Eadunel felt that he existed on the border between two worlds and belonged to both. Yes, his heart immediately leapt as he stepped for the first time into the midst of human men who could not conceal their astonishment at seeing him. In their eyes, he was a giant of the forest, more nimble of foot than a deer and, despite his stature, as gentle as a deer calf. Eadunel imitated the driads rather than the elves, whom he found amusing but too noisy. Eadunel had complete trust in the mother of the forest, and when his foster mother sent him on a mission to the world of human, he said goodbye to the forest and set out on his journey. The king's envoys taught him their own language and sought to invite him to the royal court, but Eadunel spoke with his own gentleness of the importance of his own journey, for his heart burned with the desire to fulfil his mother's dream that the driad and human might make peace and that men might no longer threaten the driad forests with fire and axe. His mother did not want to kill humans, even though she had all the power, three powerful guardian spirits and incredible strength herself.

The day of farewell came and Eadunel stepped boldly out of the forest as a young man. The forest mother had given him all his belongings and equipment thanks to peaceful negotiations with the humans. And she gave him something else, but long before, on the first day, when she took him into the laurel grove where his head was, and opened his real eyes to see the treasure she had found. It was at that moment when the child and the giant heart beat at the same time, when the man-child recognized his mother and the driad queen recognized her son. The mother of the forest worked magic, sharing the source of life with the boy. Eadunel was the only man who knew what it meant to give life. The queen gave him much wise advice, that it was a power to use in secret, because people must learn first. On the queen's advice, Eadunel started small and went to the people along the river, who eventually accepted him. Eadunel loved the driad queen, but once again the Mother of the Forest was right that it was among humans that he would truly know love. Zaara his wife and their daughter Daphne gave him a different, stronger feeling.
For ten years, Eadunel lived in peace with the people of the river and the little tribe called him their king.

Eadunel finished recalling his happy memories and listened for minutes to the desert wind, which was getting stronger, another sandstorm about to hit the deserted oasis where he had taken shelter after decades of running away. The wind picked up and seemed to murmur words.
Eadunel shuddered, because the voice was familiar. Many months of stillness were broken as he realised that the wind was really speaking to him, and the sound of its howl was embodied before him. He stared at one of the queen's guardians. Anaire, the celestial salamander, the spirit of starlight, the commander of the winds, flied to him. The moment of wonder was instantly shattered, for Anaire roared in the voice of the wind: 'The mother of the forest calls you, she is dying, she has been poisoned."

P.S.: The soundtrack includes a specific scene from the novel, when Eadunel rises from what seems to be total despair and takes on the task of protecting the survivors. I will say no more, because that scene, and the whole novel for that matter, is epic, the conclusion of the war between man and driad. Eadunel's foster mother was very wise and before she died she made a very clever plan, and although she really loved Eadunel, she cleverly manipulated and used him and set a trap for the humans in the person of her son, that expresses well the logic of life that wants to live at any cost. I will not betray this ingenious trick.