Doo-Wop Druid

Everybody in this town looks at the hill
Everybody talks about the dark below the stone
The blacksmith makes the swords, the old man tells the tales
But I keep looking past the gates — I keep looking at the green beyond the road

(Green beyond the road)
(Green, green, green beyond the road)
(La-da-da-da-leaf, la-da-da-da-leaf)
(Lush and green, green and growing beyond the road)
(So many leaves, so many leaves)
(La-da-da-da-leaf, la-da-da-da-leaf)

They keep saying "go down, go down, the fight is underground"
They keep saying "pick a blade, pick a class, be brave"
But every time I look at the cathedral on the hill
I look past it — to the forest and the way the branches wave

Back to the wild
I want the dirt beneath my feet and the sky above my head
Everybody else is going down
I'm the only one who's going out instead

There's a woman in the forest — past the farms, past the fence
Past the last place anybody in this town would go
She doesn't deal in steel or torchlight
She says "the oldest power is the kind that grows"

The trees were here before the town was built
The roots go deeper than the deepest mine
Everyone keeps digging down for answers
But everything you need is underneath the sky and vine

Back to the wild
Back to the wild
I walked past the last fence post where the farmland ends
And the green wrapped around me like it knew
Like the forest had been waiting
Like the leaves had all been listening
Like the wild had been waiting all along for someone new

I put my hand against a tree and felt it breathing
Slow and deep and older than the town
There's so much more to learn here than the dark
So much more to find than what's beneath the ground

The sunlight's warm and the wind is in the branches
The ground is soft and everything is still
And for the first time since I heard the knocking from below
I've found a different kind of call — a different kind of will

Back to the wild, back to the wild
The roots go deeper than the dungeon ever went
La-da-da-da-leaf, la-da-da-da-leaf
The branches reach higher than any tower or wall
La-da-da-da-leaf, la-da-da-da-leaf
Back to the wild, back to the wild
I walked into the forest and the forest said
"I've been waiting for you all along"

La-da-da-da-leaf, la-da-da-da-leaf
(Back to the wild)
La-da-da-da-leaf, la-da-da-da-leaf
(Back to the wild)

The woman in the forest put her hand on mine
And said "close your eyes and listen to your bones" (listen close)
I thought she was crazy but I closed my eyes
And something underneath my skin began to moan

Not pain — not quite — more like a stretching
Like my body was a word I'd only half pronounced
Like there were other syllables inside me
Waiting to be spoken — waiting to be announced

(Ooooh, oooh, aaaaaaah)
The ability to transform
(Oooooh aaaaah oooooh)
The ability to transform
I am not the only thing that I can be
(Not the only thing, not the only thing)
I am not the shape I thought was me

She said "don't be afraid of what you're feeling" (don't be afraid)
She said "everyone is more than what they seem"
She said "your bones are asking you a question (will you answer?)
And the question is — how many shapes are in your dream?"

Oh, woah, oh in your dreams, your drea-ea-eams
Your drea-ea-eams (Your dreams, your dreams)

I felt my spine curve in a way it shouldn't
I felt my fingers itch like they were growing claws
I felt my shoulders widen and my center drop
And something ancient tighten in my jaw

(Oooooh aaaaah oooooh)
The ability to transform
(Ooooh, oooh, aaaaaaah)
The ability to transform
There are other versions of me underneath my skin
(Underneath my skin, underneath my skin)
And they've been waiting — patient — waiting to begin

I didn't change — not yet — not all the way
She pulled her hand back and the feeling stopped
But I stood there shaking in the clearing
Knowing that the lock on what I was had just been popped

I looked down at my hands — the same old hands
The same ten fingers that I've always known
But now I knew they could be claws or hooves or roots
And nothing about my body felt like stone

The ability to transform
(Transform, transform)
The ability to transform
(So many shapes, so many shapes)
I thought I was one thing my entire life
I thought my shape was where the story ends
But underneath my skin there's something waiting
Something stretching, something breathing
And it's ready to begin

I walked deeper in the forest with the woman
She said "tomorrow we'll try your first shape"
I couldn't sleep that night — I lay beneath the stars
And felt every form inside me wide awake

Wide awake beneath my skin
(So many shapes inside)
Wide awake and waiting
(Waiting to begin)
Wide awake

I used to carry weapons — sword and axe and bow
I used to strap them on and hope they'd hold
But these claws grew out of my own two hands
(Claws of my own, these are mine, claws of my own)
And they never drop and they never rust and they never get dented and old

The rogue in my group sits and sharpens knives for an hour
The warrior straps on armor till he can barely turn
But I close my eyes and feel my fingers change
And I'm ready while they're fussing over every edge in turn

It's better to be a cat
(Shadow and claw, shadow and claw)
It's better to be a cat
(Shadow and claw, shadow and claw)
No armor weighing down my shoulders, no blade to lose mid-fight
Just muscle and claw and shadow
It's better to be a cat

The warrior charges in like a wall of clanking steel
And everything for a mile can hear him coming
The rogue sneaks up but his leather creaks
And his daggers need two hands to keep them running

But I sink low and I'm gone
(Sink into the shadow, sink on down)
Four legs and silence and the dark is on my side
I'm past the front line before they see me
And my claws are open wide

It's better to be a cat
(Sink into the shadow, sink on down)
It's better to be a cat
(Sink into the shadow, sink on down)
The rogue is good but I'm the thing the rogue is trying to be
A shadow with teeth — no tools required
It's better to be a cat

I used to squint into the dark and pray the torchlight held
I used to jump at every sound I couldn't place
But a cat can see the dark the way a fish can see the water
It's not darkness anymore — it's just the space

And when the fight goes wrong and everybody's scrambling
The warrior's shield is dented and the rogue is on the ground
I dodge what they can't dodge — I'm low and fast
(Shadow and claw, shadow and claw)
And my claws find the opening that nobody else found

It's better to be a cat
(Claws of my own, these are mine, claws of my own)
It's better to be a cat
Every muscle is a spring, every sense is wide awake
I don't need the steel, don't need the leather
Don't need anything I didn't make

The group sets up camp and they lay out all their gear
Swords to oil and armor to repair
I shift back and sit down by the fire with empty hands
(Nothing to carry, nothing to wear)
And they look at me like how is that fair?

It's better to be a cat
(Shadow and claw, shadow and claw)
It's better to be a cat
(Claws of my own, these are mine)
(Sink into the shadow, sink on down)
The rogue's got skill, the warrior's got strength
But I've got something they can never buy or find
I close my eyes and I become the weapon
It's better — so much better
It's better to be a cat

Everybody else went out and bought a horse
Everybody else is sitting in a saddle sore
Feeding oats and finding stables every night
Brushing manes and shoeing hooves — what a chore

I just closed my eyes and felt the change begin
Hands to hooves and spine to something long and lean
And then I ran — I RAN — like nothing I had felt before
The fastest thing the forest road has ever seen

Run, run, run with me
(Hooves on the road, hooves on the road)
Run, run, run with me
I don't need a saddle and I don't need reins
I don't need a stable and I don't need grain
I just need the road and the wind and the rain
Run, run, run with me

They see me coming up beside them on the road
A horse with no rider and no bit between my teeth
They pull their reins and say "where'd that one come from?"
And I'm already gone — just hoofbeats underneath

The best part isn't even being fast
The best part is I feel it — every stride
When you're sitting on a horse you're just along for the ride
But I'm the muscle and the bone — there's nowhere left to hide

Run, run, run with me
(Hooves on the road, hooves on the road)
Run, run, run with me
The road goes by like water and the hills go by like waves
And every mile I cover is a mile that I BECAME
Not a mile I rode — a mile I ran — a mile with my own name

(Hooves on the road, hooves on the road)
(Run, run, run, run)

I slow down at the river and I drink with my own mouth
Water's cold and sweet and I can taste it with a horse's tongue
Everything is different in this body — bigger, wilder
The grass smells like a symphony — the wind smells like a song

And then the others catch up on their tired bought-and-paid-for mounts
And I shift back to myself and wave hello
They ask me "where's your horse?" and I just smile
If they only knew — if they could only know

Run, run, run with me
(Hooves on the road, hooves on the road)
Run, run, run with me
I was the horse, I was the speed, I was the road
(Hooves on the road, run, run, run)
I was the mane and I was the muscle and the bone
Every gallop was my heartbeat
Every stride was all my own
Run, run, run with me
(Hooves on the road, hooves on the road)
Run, run, run with me

I fell off the rampart and the ground was coming fast
Everybody on the wall screamed my name
I closed my eyes and felt the feathers come
And the falling turned to flying — just like that — no pain

The warrior would have died
The rogue would have died
The mage would have cast something and maybe survived the fall
But I just grew wings between one heartbeat and the next
And I never hit the ground at all

Sky and sea, sky and sea
(Anywhere, anywhere)
Sky and sea, sky and sea
There's nowhere in this world I can't go
Throw me off a cliff, throw me in the deep
I've got a shape for the sky and a shape for below

(Anywhere, anywhere, I can go anywhere)

They brought potions for the water — big glass bottles on their belts
The mage had a spell that made a bubble round his head
The warrior held his breath and sank like all his armor wanted
Eyes bulging, lungs burning, halfway to dead

I slipped beneath the surface and I felt my legs go silver
Felt my lungs seal shut and gills open at my neck
And the water wasn't drowning me — the water was my home
And I swam past all of them like they were standing on the deck

Sky and sea, sky and sea
(Anywhere, anywhere)
Sky and sea, sky and sea
They need gear and spells and potions just to visit where I live
I just close my eyes and change
And every sky and every sea has something new to give

(Anywhere, anywhere, I can go anywhere)

The ruins at the bottom were older than the land
Covered in coral and the quiet of the deep
I swam through hallways that no human was meant to see
Past doorways that the ocean chose to keep

And later when they asked me what was down there
I said "more than you'd believe"
They looked at their empty potion bottles and their leaking gear
And I think a couple of them wished that they were me

Sky and sea, sky and sea
(Anywhere, anywhere)
There are ruins in the deep and there are mountains in the clouds
And I've seen them both before lunch
While everybody else is checking their equipment
I'm already gone — I've got a hunch

The group was crossing a bridge when the bridge gave way
Everybody grabbed for rope and everybody yelled
I was in the water before I hit the water
Fins and scales — and honestly? The river felt like heaven and it held

Sky and sea, sky and sea
(Anywhere, anywhere)
Sky and sea, sky and sea
(Anywhere, anywhere, I can go anywhere)
Throw me off a mountain, drop me in the lake
I've got feathers for the falling and fins for the deep
Sky and sea — the whole world opens up
When every element is just another shape to keep

(Anywhere, anywhere)
(Sky and sea, sky and sea)
(Anywhere, anywhere)
(Sky and sea)

I didn't know there were others until someone found me sleeping
Curled in cat form underneath a willow tree
She shifted from a hawk and landed laughing
And said "you look like you've been waiting — come with me"

We walked deeper than I'd been — past the trails I thought I knew
Past the rivers and the ridges and the thorns
And the forest opened into something I wasn't prepared for
A glade full of druids in a hundred different forms

Welcome to the enclave
(Welcome, welcome, come on in)
Welcome to the enclave
(Welcome, welcome, you're with your kind)
A bear was sleeping next to a cat who used to be a woman
A tree was laughing — I didn't know a tree could laugh
Welcome to the enclave
I didn't know how lonely I'd been until I wasn't anymore

They taught me things the woman in the forest never got to
They said "the shapes are just the start — there's more beneath"
They said "the world has a dream and we're the ones who tend it
The moon, the roots, the water, and the leaf"

We sat in a circle when the moon came up
(The moon, the moon, the moon came up)
And someone started humming and the humming became howling
And the howling became something that I felt inside my gut

Welcome to the enclave
(Howl at the moon, howl at the moon)
Welcome to the enclave
(Howl at the moon, all together now)
A dozen voices — human, animal, and something in between
All singing at the sky like it could hear us
And I opened up my throat and joined the sound
And for the first time in my life nothing about me felt like fear — just

Here

A cat walked up and shifted into someone old
Who'd been a druid longer than my mother's been alive
She said "we guard the dream — the dream of growing things
The cycle doesn't stop and neither do we — that's how we survive"

She said "the moon pulls the tides and the tides pull the roots
And the roots hold the world in its sleep
And we are the ones who walk between the waking and the dreaming
We are the guardians of the deep"

Welcome to the enclave
(The dream, the roots, the moon, the leaf)
Welcome to the enclave
(The dream, the roots, the moon, the leaf)
I came here thinking I was learning how to fight in different shapes
But that's not what this is — that's not what we are
We're the ones who keep the cycle turning
We're the ones who tend the dream beneath the star

(The dream, the roots, the moon, the leaf)
(Howl at the moon, all together now)

That night I slept in the glade surrounded by my kind
Some in fur, some in feathers, some in bark
And the moon was overhead and the dream was underneath
And for the first time in years' worth of dark

I wasn't fighting anything
I wasn't running anywhere
I was just — home

Welcome to the enclave
(Welcome, welcome, come on in)
Welcome to the enclave
(The dream, the roots, the moon, the leaf)
(Howl at the moon, howl at the moon)
Welcome
Welcome
Welcome home

They told me there was one more form to learn
But this one doesn't come from just the wanting
This one has to find you worthy first
And the test is not a fight — the test is something more than daunting

I walked to the oldest tree in the deepest part of the forest
The one the druids in the enclave spoke about in whispers
They said "put your hand against the bark and ask"
And I did — and the roots reached up like fingers

The tree looked into me — I know how that sounds
But I felt it searching, felt it reading every ring
Of who I'd been and who I'd tried to be
And whether I was worth this final offering

And then the knowledge opened like a flower
And I felt my feet go deep and my arms go wide
And I was growing — not moving — GROWING
Bark and leaf and something glowing warm inside

I've become the tree
And I've unlocked the secret stillness deep inside of me
(The secret stillness, the secret stillness)
I've become the tree
The oldest form, the hidden one, the form I had to earn
And the stillness isn't empty — the stillness is where the power learns to burn

The warrior ran in swinging and I saw him take a hit
Saw the blood and saw him stagger, saw him start to fall
And I reached — not with hands but with something older
And the healing wrapped around him like a shawl

Let me be your shade
(Let me be your shade)
Let me be the thing that stands between you and the end
Let me be your shade
You keep fighting, I'll keep pouring green and gold
Into every wound until you mend

He didn't even know where it was coming from
He just stood back up and kept on fighting
And I kept growing light from every leaf
Like shade on sunburn, like the rain when it's lightning

I've become the tree
And I've unlocked the secret stillness deep inside of me
(The secret stillness, the secret stillness)
I've become the tree
I didn't fight a single thing today
I didn't swing or cast a single flame
But everybody lived — everybody walked away
And nobody even knows my name

The rogue went down and I caught her before she hit the floor
Not with arms — with something made of light and leaves
The mage was burning through his mana and I filled him back like rain
Nobody sees the tree — but everybody breathes

Let me be your shade
(Everybody breathes, everybody breathes)
Let me be your shade
(Because the tree is there, the tree is there)
That's the secret no one tells you about power
It's not the loudest thing that wins the fight
Sometimes it's the quietest, the stillest, the most rooted
The one who stands behind and holds the light

I've become the tree
And I've unlocked the secret stillness deep inside of me
(The secret stillness, the secret stillness)
I've become the tree
(Let me be your shade, let me be your shade)
I used to think that strength meant claws and speed
I used to think that power meant the kill
But standing here with roots deep in the dream
Keeping everyone alive with nothing but my will

This is the form that cost the most to learn
This is the form I'm proudest of
I've become the tree
I've unlocked the secret stillness
(The secret stillness, the secret stillness)
And every leaf is love

The group was short a healer so I grew my roots and stayed
Poured green and gold all night into their wounds
I'd been looking forward to running cat form in the caves
But they needed shade — so I gave them shade beneath my leaves and moons

The next week we were short a tank
And the warrior said "can you — ?"
And I was the bear before he finished asking
Because what else was I going to do?

What do you need me to be?
(What do you need, what do you need?)
What do you need me to be?
(What do you need, what do you need?)
I've got a shape for every gap
I've got a form for every lack
Just tell me what you're missing
And I'll become it — I won't hold back

They never have to cancel, they never have to wait
They never have to turn somebody home
As long as I'm there — I can be the missing piece
As long as I'm there — nobody fights alone

What do you need me to be?
(What do you need, what do you need?)
What do you need me to be?
Just point me at the empty space
And I'll fill it with a shape I know

The cat was what I wanted last Tuesday but they needed bark
So I was bark
The bear was what I wanted on the mountain but they needed claws
So I was claws
I haven't chosen my own form in weeks
(In weeks, in weeks)
I haven't chosen my own form in weeks
And nobody's noticed — because they got what they needed
And the mission worked — and nobody had to pause

What do you need me to be?
(What do you need, what do you need?)
What do you need me to be?
(What do you need, what do you need?)
I'm so good at saying yes
I'm so good at fitting in
That I forgot what I would choose
If anybody asked me what I've been wanting to have been

They say a druid's gift is being anything
They say we're blessed — the most flexible, the most free
But freedom isn't being anything that's needed
Freedom is choosing — and nobody's asking me

What do you need me to be?
(What do you need, what do you need?)
What do you need me to be?
I've become the bear for strangers and the tree for friends
The cat when no one's looking and someone else's answer
Again and again and again

(What do you need, what do you need?)
(What do you need, what do you need?)

Last night I sat alone outside the enclave
And I shifted back to just myself — no form, no fur, no bark
And I sat there in my own skin for the first time in a month
Just me — just the person — sitting quiet in the dark

And I didn't know if I was resting
Or if I'd forgotten what my own shape means
What do you need me to be?
I've been asking everyone but me
And the answer from the silence was the saddest thing
I don't know anymore
I don't know what I want to be

(What do you need?)
(What do I need?)
(What do you need?)
(What do I need?)

I woke up in the morning and nobody was waiting
No group forming up, no gap to fill, no role to play
And instead of feeling empty I felt something lift
And I knew exactly what I wanted to be today

I chose the bear
(Choose the bear! Choose the bear!)
I chose the bear
(Choose the bear! Choose the bear!)
Not because they asked me, not because they needed it
Not to fill a slot or hold a line for someone else's fight
I chose the bear because the bear is MINE
And I don't need anybody else tonight

I walked into the dungeon by myself
No warrior up front, no rogue beside
No healer standing quiet in the back
Just me — enormous, heavy, full of hide

The first thing that attacked me hit me hard
And I barely felt it — barely moved at all
I looked down at this creature trying to kill me
And I thought — you're going to need a bigger hall

I chose the bear
(Choose the bear! Choose the bear!)
I chose the bear
(Choose the bear! Choose the bear!)
I'm the tank AND I'm the claws
I'm the wall AND I'm the jaws
I don't need a team to tell me what to be
I chose the bear — and the bear chose me

(Choose the bear! Choose the bear!)

The cat is quick, the cat is grace
The tree is quiet power and love
The wings will save you from the fall
But the bear — the bear is all of the above

The bear takes every hit and answers back
The bear has health for days and days and days
The bear makes mistakes and lives through every one of them
And comes out stronger on the other side of the haze

I chose the bear
(Choose the bear! Choose the bear!)
I chose the bear
I spent weeks being everything for everyone
I spent weeks asking what they need
But the bear doesn't ask — the bear just IS
And the bear is the first form that felt like being freed

(Choose the bear! Choose the bear!)
(Choose the bear! Choose the bear!)

Three demons came at me in a hallway underground
I didn't dodge, I didn't vanish, I didn't run
I lowered my head and I took them all at once
And when the dust cleared I was the only one

I'm not graceful like the cat
I'm not invisible, I'm not fast
But nothing in this dungeon is going to put me down
And nothing in this dungeon is going to be the last

I chose the bear
(Choose the bear! Choose the bear!)
I chose the bear
(Choose the bear! Choose the bear!)
After all the forms and all the shifting
After every shape I wore for someone else's sake
I finally asked myself what I wanted
And the answer shook the ground with every step I'd take

I chose the bear
Not for them — for me
(Choose the bear! Choose the bear!)
I chose the bear
And I walked into the dark alone and unafraid
(Choose the bear! Choose the bear!)
A whole team in one body, a whole army in one heart
I chose the bear
(Choose the bear!)
And it's the first choice that was truly mine to make

The reflection in the river never shows the same face twice
The cat who looks back isn't always who I sent
I've been a dozen things between the morning and the dark
And only I remember everywhere I went

The warrior knows the bear — the wall of fur who held the line
The rogue knows only shadow and the claw
But the bear has never met the hawk
And the hawk has never felt the roots
And nobody has ever seen them all

Kaleidoscopic me
(So many shapes, so many colors)
Kaleidoscopic me
(All the same, and all a different song)
Every form is real, but no one sees them all at once
And the one who holds the whole is me — just me — all along

(So many shapes inside one name)

I walked into the enclave and I looked around the glade
Watched a hawk shift into someone's grandmother
Watched a bear become a boy who laughed a laugh I recognized
And I thought — oh — we're all a kaleidoscope to each other

You put your hand against a tree and think you know the tree
But you've never felt it running — you've never seen it fly
And the tree has never heard the bear — and the bear has never seen the ruins
And the hawk has never waded where the river goes to die

Kaleidoscopic me
(So many shapes, so many colors)
Kaleidoscopic me
(All the same, and all a different song)
I've been sky and I've been root and I've been shadow and I've been stone
And each one was the whole of me — and each one was alone

(So many shapes inside one life)

They ask me "what are you?" and I don't know where to start
A cat? A hawk? A tree? Which one is really real?
And the answer is it's all of me — the spinning and the still
And the sum of all the colors is the thing that I can feel

The shapes are how I speak now — each one has its own language
The bear says "I am here and I will hold"
The cat says "I can go where you can't follow"
The tree says "I will keep you from the cold"
The hawk says "look — look how far the world goes"

And I say all of it
(All of it, all of it)
And I say all of it
(Everything, all at once)
I am every voice in the chorus
I am every color in the glass
And nobody sees the whole of me
But I'm learning — slowly learning — how to hold it
How to let it be vast

Kaleidoscopic me
(So many shapes, so many colors)
Kaleidoscopic me
(All the same, and all a different song)
When the light comes through the glass it splits into a hundred things
But every color started as the same white light
Kaleidoscopic me
(So many shapes)
Kaleidoscopic me
(All mine)
I close my eyes and feel them all inside me at once
The hawk, the bear, the shadow, and the vine
And I am every one of them

(So many shapes inside one name)
And every one of them is mine