Grove's Secrets
By Alison Langley
No one was surprised later when they heard that a magpie had landed on Elena’s kitchen windowsill with a missive in its beak.
She was known as a young woman with a heart deeply attuned to the whispers of the woods, and jokingly called herself a witch, even. The native plants in her garden were known to have medicinal and healing properties, and friends often sought her advice on matters of flora and fauna. She would throw in a few titbits about fungi, because she needed to raise awareness.
But that evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting her left-behind city in a golden glow, Elena jumped when the bird, a sleek black and white thing with deep blue wingtips, blinked its onyx eye through the pane. Its beak held a delicate scroll sealed with an imprint of an ancient tree.
Elena unrolled the paper with care, noting that it might possibly have been made from polypore and printed with shaggy inkcap.
Elena's heart pounded. The Ancient Grove was a place of legend, but few believed it actually existed. The wizened women said it was where the veil between the mundane and the mystical was thinnest. Without a second thought, Elena filled her backpack, grabbed her walking stick, setting out at dawn with the magpie leading the way.
The journey up the Alpine mountain was both arduous and awe-inspiring. Elena hiked a forest so dense, the trees darkened the skies. She crossed brooks that sparkled so brightly the sunlight nearly blinded her eyes. Her thighs ached as she climbed rocky outcrops in stifling heat. The magpie led her higher and higher still. Her lips were dry and her breath heavy.
If this was a test, she was sure she was about to fail, but just when she thought she couldn’t take another step, a black squirrel scurried down a scraggly pine and dropped an acorn at her feet. There were no oak trees anywhere in this forest, so Elena took it as a sign of encouragement. She pocketed the acorn and trudged on.
After two full days, she arrived, hungry and tired, at the edge of the Grove, its entrance marked by two towering trees, their branches intertwined to form a natural archway. As Elena passed beneath them, she felt a tingling sensation, as if she were crossing into another world. The air was thick with the scent of moss, cooler than the mountain path. Birdsong filled her ears. In spite of her fatigue, she was rejuvenated.
In the heart of the Grove stood a circle of ancient stones, each one carved with intricate runes. It was here that she met the Guardians. They were not people, as she had imagined, but beings of pure energy, their forms shifting and shimmering like the light through the leaves.
Welcome, Elena.
Their voices resonated in her mind rather than her ears. She spread her arms, tilted back her head and allowed the energy to flow. Though she didn’t know why, she understood that she had been chosen to experience the wisdom of nature in its purest form. She vowed to etch in her memory every moment she stayed at the Grove.
Each morning, she woke to the gentle caress of sunlight filtering through the canopy, and each evening, she drifted to sleep under a blanket of stars. In between, the Guardians taught her to listen to the world in ways she had never imagined.
Once, they led her to a grove within the Grove, where an ancient tree stood like a silent sentinel.
Place your hand upon the bark.
As her fingers touched the rough surface, an aura of sensations overwhelmed her. She tasted the earth, she twirled and spun around; lights flashed, colours splashed, sounds whispered before reaching a blaring crescendo. Elena saw and felt the life of all the trees that had ever existed unfold before her eyes, from tiny saplings pushing through the soil to towering giants swaying in the wind. She experienced joy when birds nested in the branches and sorrow when storms tore through the forest or a logger chopped one down.
She understood: Everything is connected. The tree's energy is a testament to the balance of nature, maintaining the harmony of the world. But that equilibrium is as fleeting as a morning mist if we don’t take care.
The Guardians led her to a crystal-clear pond, so smooth she could see every pebble and each individual grain of sand at its bottom.
Gaze into the water.
The pond shimmered and transformed, showing her visions of distant lands and times. She saw deserts blooming with wildflowers after rain, forests reborn from the ashes of fire, and creatures, from the tiniest ant to the largest whale, going about their lives in peace. It was beautiful. Then she saw it all reverse; wildflowers died in a drought and forests succumbed to ashes.
And she learned: Nature is resilient. Life adapts, changes, and perseveres. This is the true power of the Earth, but it may not be eternal.
As the week progressed, Elena felt a profound shift within herself. The wisdom she had absorbed resonated deeply, yet, as her time in the Grove drew to a close, she felt a pang of melancholy. The world outside seemed too linear, so absurdly serious, a place where people still believed in the importance of their own actions.
On her final day, the Guardians gathered around her in the circle of stones.
Elena, return to your world and share the wisdom you have gained.
The journey home felt heavy, as if she were walking through a world slightly out of focus. A Power Bar wrapper partially buried under leaves crinkled when she stepped on it. Her shirt snagged on a half-rotted fence post, a piece of wire coiled into the earth. Nature did persevere as the Guardians had taught her, but she wondered for how long. Is resilience temporary?
Elena found the city much as she had left it, yet everything seemed tinged with purposelessness. Why, she wondered, do we spent our days the way we do? She saw the beauty in the ordinary, the way the morning sun illuminated the dew on the grass, the intricate dance of bees among the flowers, but knew that others were blind.
She needed to act quickly, before it was too late.
A pragmatic visionary, Elena decided to share her knowledge of the Ancient Grove in a way that would make the best use of her time. In the pedestrian zone of the old town, she opened a small shop, The Grove’s Secrets, where she sold remedies, elixirs, and charms imbued with the profound wisdom of the Guardians.
People flocked to the store to purchase her products, believing that they, too, could have the mystical balance she had experienced. They felt her fervour as she explained the extraordinary benefits of her goods: a salve that could heal wounds with the swiftness of a growing sapling, a potion that promised the resilience of the ancient tree and a crystal charm that brought back the energy surging from the mountain core.
Elena held workshops at the weekends, teaching participants how to connect to the essence of nature. She offered discounted rates so everyone could experience the sound of wind and the scent of burning sage; all were welcome to create their own atmosphere of profound enlightenment.
Her business flourished; she expanded with stores in Zurich, Geneva and Basel. Still, she worried she wasn’t doing enough. One day, while packaging her latest batch of herbal teas, she had an epiphany as to how she could share these secrets with the world. So began her journey as an Instagram sensation. Her feed became a kaleidoscope of nature's beauty, each post meticulously crafted to capture the essence of the Grove. She posted reels of herself making herbal remedies, weaving charms, and meditating under the trees, each clip punctuated with hashtags like #NatureWisdom, #EarthMagic, and #GrovesSecrets.
The most liked post in her first month was a photo she shared of her posing with the people who received special discounts on her workshops. She presented them with acorns to inspire them, just as the squirrel had once encouraged her.
#POCLove #PovertyIsntACrime #MyAcornPeople ❤️❤️❤️
Elena's follower count skyrocketed. Her how-to reels on nature's secrets attracted millions of views. She hosted live sessions, where she demonstrated the preparation of her products and shared stories from the Ancient Grove, all while interacting with her global audience. Brands reached out for collaborations, offering lucrative deals to feature their eco-friendly products in her posts. It all became so overwhelming, she hired a brand manager who could ensure each post and collaboration aligned with current trends and maximized engagement.
She was exhausted, yet felt spurred on by the greater mission, never forgetting the visions of ashes and drought she had seen at the Grove. She knew what was at stake and could not let up.
Eventually she franchised The Grove’s Secrets so she could spend more time giving workshops, spreading the word. But that, too, only brought dissatisfaction.
One day, as she was giving yet another guided tour through the woods, she found herself growing impatient with the participants’ constant questions — they were always the same ones. Didn’t they read the FAQ on her website? Their pace was slow, as if each person really needed to feel the bark of the Ancient Tree for themselves.
When the group had finally departed, Elena texted her brand manager:
Why do I need to trek out here when I can bring the woods to the world?
The following week, workers arrived at the edge of the Ancient Grove, tools in hand. Under Elena’s direction, they felled the majestic Ancient Tree and brought it back to the city.
Elena commissioned a large custom-made auditorium just outside of town, yet close to the train station for easy access. It was an extravagant structure of natural wood and glass that captured rainwater. In the centre, the ancient Swiss stone pine, estimated to be more than five hundred years old, stood erect, thirty metres tall and two metres in girth, its broad branches sparkling under LED lights powered by the sun. Seats surrounded the tree in a semicircle, and speakers hidden among the branches played recordings of birdsong and rushing water.
Opening night was a spectacle. Visitors poured into the auditorium, marvelling at the tree's presence. Elena took the stage, her voice amplified through a microphone pinned to her lapel as she guided the audience through a meditation, encouraging them to place their hands on the tree’s bark so they could feel its ancient wisdom.
Elena’s business thrived. She introduced more products, now labelled with Infused with the Essence of the Great Stone Pine. She even launched a clothing line featuring designs inspired by the patterns of the bark. #FindWhatFeelsGood.
Meanwhile, thanks to her marketing team, which eliminated the apostrophe for easier branding, her social media presence was a meticulously curated blend of nature and quiet luxury, each video and post a perfect tableau of rustic charm and simple beauty. She was featured in magazines (how quaint!), interviewed on podcasts, and led conferences about sustainable living. Her influence reached every corner of the globe. She meditated with the Dalai Lama.
Elena opened flagship stores in major cities, each designed to mimic the serene beauty of the Ancient Grove. She cleared the grove of stone pines, which she transported around the world to adorn the interiors; speakers played a continuous loop of natural sounds. One percent of proceeds went to planting trees. Elena flew back home to live stream her planting of the first sapling where the Queen of the Alps had once stood.
Saving the planet one tree at a time! #GreenLiving #GivingBack #GrovesSecrets
To try something new, she partnered with marginalised communities and opened a gas station that sold only food-oil derived petrol. Like the rest of her products, it sold at premium prices. Her brand, from the Mystical Moss Moisturizer to Ancient Grove Gas, became synonymous with a lifestyle of eco-luxury.
#CircularEconomy #YouGetWhatYouPayFor #SustainableQuality
She toured internationally, taking her Groves Secrets® experience to capitals around the world. In Paris, she held an event under the Eiffel Tower, with holographic trees and virtual reality headsets that simulated the Ancient Grove. In Tokyo, she created a Zen garden in the heart of the city, complete with digital cherry blossoms. In London, she hosted an exclusive rooftop party, where guests sipped naturally fermented herbal cocktails and danced to the sounds of synthesized birdsong. In Beijing, she paired with a celebrity chef for an all-foraged meal that included Giant Puffball Mushroom Steak with a wood sorrel and purslane salad.
When a reporter questioned her air travel footprint, Elena blinked.
I’m child-free.
Her assistant sent him their Sustainability Report which that year outlined the company’s recycling program.
Elena’s brand was unstoppable, a global phenomenon that promised wisdom and tranquillity of nature. As her empire grew, she redefined the word interconnectedness. In Silicon Valley, she funded research into bioengineering, seeking to create living, breathing forests in urban environments. In Dubai, she built a massive indoor rainforest, complete with genetically modified plants that glowed in the dark and trees that grew to full height in a matter of weeks. It was such a success, they replicated it in Sao Paolo, billed as the gateway to the Amazon. The work exhausted her.
After the Brazil trip, she fled to her penthouse, texted her yogi to come by for an emergency session and made herself birch bark tea to calm her nerves. The view of Central Park from her living room usually soothed her, but that night, Elena was restless. She breathed in the aroma-infused air, exhaled corporate toxicity. It wasn’t enough.
The following week, she found herself entangled in a nasty legal battle over patents for genetically modified plants. Governments demanded regulation and taxes, adding to the complexity of her operations, when all she wanted was to connect people to nature. She vented on Insta:
I am sharing wisdom while governments demand paperwork. #Exhausted #CantGoOn
It had been weeks since she had been on a trek, so she cancelled her appointments, telling her staff she needed time to rejuvenate, and announcing to her followers that she was returning to the Ancient Grove.
In the calm of what remained of the woods, the scent of resin from newly fallen trees filled her senses; a light rain fell. A mist, really. Elena lifted her face to the sky and let the clouds cleanse her pores. A rabbit darted across her path, and later, in the early evening, she spotted a family of deer grazing in a glade. Nature was growing back; she felt reassured.
As she drank pure mountain glacier water, it occurred to her that maybe they could bottle it, then she chastised herself. The constant need to stay relevant was weighing on her.
She had made the journey to reconnect with nature by seeking the wisdom of the grove. Instead, her mind reeled with the need to engage and maintain an image. For God’s sake, she hadn’t even managed to get her Enlightenment newsletter out. She hated that she worried about not posting this week and worried what her team was doing.
Was it worth it, the endless flights and intolerable meetings? Elena had come a long way from the quiet gardener and avid mushroom enthusiast of her youth. In the still of the night, under a velvet canopy of bejeweled stars, she breathed in serenity and exhaled profound peace. She waited for the magpie to come.
Under the light of the moon, she could just make out the outline of the mountain range as she pondered the impact of her life’s work, and worried that she hadn’t actually done anything meaningful. The money was nice to have, but seriously, how much did she really need? Genuine connections with people were more important to her. She considered quitting.
Out in the solitude of her glade-within-a-glade, she once again felt the presence of The Guardians. She rose, stretched her arms out and embraced the tranquility of the moment. Eventually, she zipped the flaps of her tent, nestled into the soft bed of pine needles and slept a deep, restorative sleep. The first in many months.
The next morning, when she finally found the energy to turn on her phone, she saw a message from the head of her branding team to check her feed.
You inspire me!
Keep fighting! You are our #EcoWarrior
Thank you for your tireless work to bring back nature! #GrovesStrong!
The corners of Elena’s mouth curled up. She scrolled through photos tagged with #GrovesStrong, each one a testament to her brand's impact: people meditating under holographic trees, sipping Grove’s Secrets® herbal teas, and wearing nature-inspired clothing. Her heart raced as she read each comment, each tag, each like.
She inhaled deeply, and thanked the stars. As she looked up, she saw a magpie circling in the sky. Nature, she was reminded, is always purposeful.
Elena shared a selfie of her sitting on a log next to her tent amid the verdant forest #TankingUp #MyHappyPlace
Rejuvenated once again, Elena began her hike down the mountain with a spring in her step. Her reflection in a pond where she rested a moment smiled back at her. The lesson learned — and now she was relearning — from the Ancient Grove was resilience. She needed to be tree-strong, and as hardy as the wildflowers that got trampled on by careless hikers. In that moment, she decided to add mountain glacier water to the product line, for rejuvenation.
Elena’s influence reached new heights when she was invited to headline at the COP climate conference being held that year in Vienna. She boarded her private jet — this one hydrogen-fuelled, which would be detailed in next year’s Corporate Sustainability Report. To ensure utmost responsibility, she bought carbon off-sets. The aircraft boasted a luxury surpassing a five-star hotel, but in an eco-conscious way. She posted a selfie from the plush myco-leather seats.
Off to save the world! #SustainableLiving #NatureWisdom #GrovesSecrets
As the jet descended towards Vienna, Elena peered out the window, her eyes scanning the sprawling city below. The landscape was a patchwork of green spaces interspersed with concrete and glass. Smoke billowed from the oil refinery at Schwechat. She snapped a photo of the Danube River as it appeared from the sky, murky and foreboding.
Where’s the Blue? #BringBackNature #ReWild #GrovesSecrets
After landing, she was whisked away in an electric limousine, the cool interior a refuge from the sweltering heat outside. As the driver navigated through the congested streets, the air thick with the fumes, Elena’s eyes wandered to the scenes unfolding on the other side of the tinted windows.
The trees along the city ring were wilted and browned, their leaves covered in a layer of grime. A billboard advertising her upcoming speech featured her face superimposed over a background of vibrant, green foliage. Beneath it, a homeless man slumped, his cardboard sign pleading for food.
#FeedtheWorld #FutureFoliage #GrovesSecrets
A throng of reporters and photographers greeted her as the eLimo pulled up to the conference centre, a grandiose Hapsburg-era building adorned with banners celebrating sustainability. As cameras flashed, Elena smiled, placing her right hand over her heart and bowing her head in humble gratitude.
Namasté
The audience cheered as she took the stage. Slowly, one by one, the climate warriors raised arms sparkling with bracelets made of Groves Secrets® Mountain Crystals. Sitting behind the dais, the president of that year’s COP meeting pointedly crossed her legs, revealing Groves Secrets® Energizing Socks woven from sustainable flax and mountain goat wool. Elena recognized the distinct aroma emanating from the chair of the IPCC, as she shook Elena’s hand. It was Groves Secrets® Revitalizing Oil, made from the extract of Alpenrose, Willowherb, and Edelweiss. It was one of Elena’s original recipes, taken directly from the Guardians, and patented.
Elena surveyed the audience. This would be the most important speech she had ever made, given to the most impressive group of environmentalists in the world. She inhaled the encouragement from the crowd.
Our actions must align with our words!
That was how Elena began all her speeches but this one was being broadcast live, and live-blogged by major news sites. She spoke with the urgency of a planet on the verge of extinction, extolling the virtues of living in harmony with nature, and reminding the audience of the wisdom of the Ancient Grove, that resilience goes only so far.
The world must hear the Guardians.
Her voice grew bolder and more urgent.
We cannot go on complacently as we always have. The future is in your hands.
The crowd roared their agreement. As she concluded, the screens behind her flashed an image of her Ancient Grove as she found it all those years ago, pristine, with clear blue skies, and a magpie circling above the great pine.
Former journalist Alison Langley’s first novel, Budapest Noir: Ilona Gets a Phone, was published by Dedalus Books in Spring 2024. Ilona was a finalist of the Irish Writers Centre Novel Prize 2022. Her short story, Fingers, appeared in The Pig’s Back, and her short story The Date was short-listed for the Bournemouth Writing Prize. Her stories will appear in the upcoming anthology, Psychedelic Yodelling, by Insurgent Press later this year. Langley lives in the Swiss Alps with her husband and dog.