Tom Morestead stared through the plexiglass observation window and looked for it. It was out there amid the trees. For the last 20 years of his life on Mars, Tom had tended to those pines. That was a long time to spend with them. Long enough to learn when something was off.

“It’s a leshy.” 

Tom turned and looked at the younger woman seated next to him. She was also looking out through the observation window, but she wasn’t squinting or scanning. She just watched.

“A what?” Tom replied.

“A leshy,” the woman said, “A nature spirit. They were in my baba’s stories when I was a little girl. She grew up in Ukraine and she learned all about them when she was a kid. They protect forests and animals and stuff.” Tom blinked.

“Ivana, you seriously expect me to believe that some creature from your grandma’s bedtime stories is out there?” She shrugged.

“Why not?”

“Well,” Tom said, raising fingers to emphasize his points, “One, nature spirits aren’t real. Two, nature spirits aren’t real. Three, this is not a forest, it’s an ecodome.” Tom shook his head, “A nature spirit, be ser-”

“Yeah” Ivana interrupted, “but you’ve seen it.” That did pull Tom up short. He had seen an it. Something was out there. Silenced for the moment, he turned back to the window. 

The ecodome was like many of its kind that spread across the surface of Mars in the early days of human colonization. A large dome that looked out to the stars housed a sizable ecosystem of plant life, in this case a pine forest, that fed oxygen back into a centralized ventilation network interconnected with the subterranean habitation quarters. Those first colonists had wanted to be as ecologically efficient with their oxygen generation as possible and ecodomes had proved an effective use of the water reservoirs discovered deep below the polar ice caps. 

Of course, the dome had to be manned. From his control station here in the entrance building, Tom managed artificial sunlight, utilized recycled runoff used as rain, and generally monitored the wellbeing of the whole ecosystem. It was good work. He loved being on the planet’s surface where he could indulge in the luxury of seeing the stars.. 

Mostly though he loved the trees. To be surrounded by the pines, to feel the moisture in the air and touch the bark and listen to the ruffle of needles underfoot and branches settling up above. Every day was a mystical experience. And then it showed up.

About two weeks ago, Tom was out on the ecodome’s ATV, riding the circular dirt track that formed the boundary between the forest’s edge and the ecodome’s walls. He had stopped to check a tree for redrot when he heard it – a furtive rustling among branches. At first, he had assumed it was a rat; the forest played home to a sizable population of mankind’s oldest hanger-on. But then came the footsteps. Heavy. Deliberate. Too measured to be any rodent, and clear as a man walking through the woods nearby. Tom had radioed Ivana, checking to make sure some Ecology Department worker wasn’t doing an unexpected inspection. But she had confirmed there was no one in the dome. He put it down to the strange acoustics of the dome and the business of rats and had thought nothing more of it.
A week later, he actually saw it. He had pulled up on the track to examine a wall panel for cracks when the forest behind him stirred. The last time, he had convinced himself it was a trick of the acoustics, but this was different. Something was watching. 

Slowly, he turned.

It wasn’t a rat.

A figure loomed among the pines, towering and still, half-hidden in shadow. A man – as if carved from the forest itself – stood with rough grey-green skin, gnarled antlers, and glowing green eyes that locked onto Tom with an intensity that made his breath hitch. It was wrapped in robes of leaves and moss held tight with ropes of vines. There was a deep sense of majesty to the thing. An overwhelming sense of fear warred with a sudden feeling of awe inside Tom and left him entirely unsure of what to do. So he just blinked. Then he blinked again. And when the monster was still there, Tom had simply stared, jaw slack, eyes wide. 

The figure stared back for a long moment, a small smirk on its face, and then as casually as a neighbour waving from the street, it lifted a hand. That was too much for Tom. His heart slammed against his ribs, and he ran, ran from his ATV, ran from the giant in the woods, ran hard and fast along the dirt track ring all the way back to the control center. When he babbled out the story to his assistant Ivana, she had just shrugged. She told him that too much oxygen intake had probably caused hallucinations. Mars colonists weren’t used to the high volume of oxygen-rich air an ecodome provided, after all. 

Ivana had thought nothing of the matter after that. But a week later, she’d been riding her ATV along her usual inspection route when something shifted in the woods. A presence. The kind that prickled at the back of her neck and made the hair on her arms stand on end. She slowed the vehicle, scanning the trees, already half-smirking at herself – Tom’s imagination was getting to her.

Then she saw the eyes.

Glowing green, fixed on her from the shadows. The hulking shape—tall, gnarled, wreathed in foliage like a spirit stepped out of Baba’s stories. Ivana didn’t scream. Didn’t gasp. Didn’t even flinch. Instead, she tilted her head, lips curling into a lopsided smile.

“Huh,” she muttered.

The figure – Leshy, she decided then and there, just like Baba had described them – watched her, unblinking. It waved, she waved back, and then she revved the ATV, turned around, and headed back to the tower.

“You’re acting like it’s just another Tuesday” Tom shouted.

“It just waved hello. Nothing to freak out about,” Ivana shrugged, peeling back the wrapper on her protein bar from the supply shelf.

“How do we get rid of it?” Tom shook his head and bared down on Ivana.
“Oh, I don’t think it would like that.” Ivana said with a wave of her hand, “My baba said they guarded the forest and would get mean if they were forced to move. They were fickle, you know?”

“Please Ivana, you’re the only source of information I have on this. I cannot have a Slavic nature spirit inhabiting my ecodome. The Ecology Department is sending someone out soon to assess this place! I can’t have them shutting it down.”
“They’re going to do that anyway,” Ivana sighed. “They’ve been hounding the ecodome program ever since the last election. President Ayabe campaigned on oxygen generation efficiency after all.”
“Come on,” Tom continued, ignoring her comments, “I need your help.”
“Relax. My baba told me a story once about a boy who convinced a leshy to leave a forest by just talking to it nicely.” She paused for a second, her face scrunched in remembrance, “Oh and maybe they don’t like priests or something? I dunno, I kind of remember that. And maybe a knight fought one?” It was Tom’s turn to sigh.
“There’s a Reformed Methodist Temple in Mons Center… I guess I could see if they do exorcisms?” He glanced at the woods and started when he saw a pair of glowing green eyes staring back amidst the foliage. His pulse pounded in his ears. A trick of the light? A reflection off the glass? His mind playing games with him? He swallowed hard and looked again. Just the trees settling. Nothing more.

With a shake of his head, Tom sunk down into his control chair. “I’m certainly not going to fight it, it was huge and I’m not a knight.”
“I don’t think that would work,” Ivana agreed. “Maybe go talk to it? It could be a good thing. Maybe it’ll save us from the Ecology Department’s new crusade.”
“We don’t need saving from the Department,” Tom said firmly, though he felt the hollowness of his words. He’d read the reports on oxygen scrubber effectiveness. More oxygen with half the space used. The scrubbers weren’t vulnerable to redrot. They didn’t require expensive surface constructions or a constant gardener to maintain them. It was no wonder the Ecology Department was clamoring to replace the ecodomes. Tom put his head in his hands for a second and took a deep breath.
“This is ridiculous,” he said as he stood up. Ivana shrugged. “We’re literally a space colony. My family came in on a shuttle from Earth, one of the most advanced technological marvels humankind has ever created.” Ivana just stared at him blankly. He paused and took another deep breath. “And I guess I’m going to go talk to some forest demon.”
“Guardian spirit,” Ivana added slyly.
“Whatever,” said Tom as he strode out the door.

####

“Uh, hello there… sir. I hope you speak English.” 

Tom stood at the edge of the dirt track just below the control center and shouted into the woods. He felt like an idiot. 

“I don’t know if you have a name, see, but my friend tells me you’re a leshy.” 

The forest was silent and still. Nothing moved among the pines. No eyes glowed out at him. He laughed nervously. “Look, Mister, uh, Leshy, sir. This isn’t Russia or Ukraine or wherever you come from. This is Mars. It’s a planet, like, in the sky, you don’t know, but yeah. This isn’t a forest either, it’s a, uh, ecodome. You don’t know what that is, but it’s not a forest.” He paused. There was still silence.
“Look, this is the future. There’s no ghosts or spirits or anything any more. We’re past all that. So, uh, I’m afraid I’m just going to have to ask you to leave. Respectfully, that is.”
A heavy wind suddenly blew through the forest, like the titanic gusts that blew the red dust sand storms across the ecodome and left it covered in grit. Trees swayed, branches rattled, the pine needles clicked and clacked and rustled.
The problem was there was no way to generate wind in the ecodome. Tom stared, mouth agape, and backed up slightly towards the door to the control center. Then he stopped himself. This was his place. His  job. He’d be damned if some spook was going to take it from him.
“Alright, alright, enough of that!” He shouted into the wind. It blew another fearsome gust and then came to a sudden halt.
“Look here, Leshy – this is my ecodome! I’ve worked here for nearly twenty years. I’ve raised some of these trees from saplings. It’s under my protection and I don’t need another security guard. So you have to leave.” 

A nearby patch of trees rustled gently, almost petulantly.
“I’m sure you can find some other place to go,” Tom said, looking around at the trunks for a glowing green pair of eyes or the hint of a leafy robe. “A nice ornamental garden. Maybe one of those fancy botanical gardens in Mons Center. I’m sure they’d love-” His words were drowned out by the sound of a heavy tread growing closer. 

Deeper in the forest trees swayed and bowed, as if something vast were approaching. Tom felt a shiver of primal shiver of fear run down his spine but held his ground.
“Now hold on,” shouted Tom defiantly, trying to be heard over the thudding footfalls, “I have people that I report to! I can’t just tell them there’s a spirit in my ecodome, they’ll think I’m crazy.” The giant footsteps approached closer and closer. Despite his thundering heart, Tom refused to  retreat from the noise. He planted his boots in the dirt and squared up to the trees.

“Alright,” he said, his voice barely carrying over the crashing advance of the leshy. “I didn’t want to have to do this but here we are.” With a dramatic flourish, Tom pulled two stakes from his belt. Usually, they served to help anchor ropes to support younger trees, but as he’d tramped down the stairs of the control center, he’d had a better idea for how to use them today. Forcefully, he made the shape of a cross with the stakes and thrust it towards the forest.
“I cast ye out!” He yelled, waving the makeshift cross up and down, “I send you back to the pit! Get thee behind me, uh, Satan! Be-” Tom paused for a second, trying to remember the words from a horror vidflick he saw when he was 17, “Be gone from the sight of the Lord!” The pounding tread stopped suddenly. The forest grew quiet and still. Tom took a deep breath, lowered the cross, and shot a thumbs up back towards the control center window. He couldn’t believe it had worked.
Then the pines began to rustle again. No massive gust of wind. It was a lighthearted, bright rubbing together of needles. To Tom, it almost sounded like laughter. With an exasperated grunt, he put away the stakes in his belt. He felt like a fool.
“Yeah, my heart wasn’t really in that,” he admitted to the woods. A pair of green eyes stared out at him. This time he didn’t flinch. He just shrugged sheepishly. “Honestly, we don’t really do the religion thing that much. At least I don’t.” The green eyes continued to look at him and he deftly avoided their gaze. There was something melancholic and ancient about them. He did not want to be drawn in. 

“Mister Leshy,” he began softly, not meeting its gaze, “Look up. Those are stars. You’re in space. You don’t belong here. I don’t think you really belong anywhere. Your time has passed.” A soft breeze blew through the trees then. It gently caressed his face, carrying the scent of pines that Tom had loved all his life. Sadness welled up within him as he thought of the ecodomes closed down and their trees harvested. In his heart of hearts, he knew it wouldn’t be long until he never smelled the pines again. Never surveyed his little patch of green in the light of the Martian morning. Never gazed up through the branches at the swirling stars above. Maybe With a start, he realized he felt a strange sense of kinship with the leshy. The soft breeze stopped and he sighed deeply.
“I guess I know how that feels, Mister Leshy.” Tom finally met the eyes from where they stared at him. The gaze was not as harsh as he imagined. He held it for a moment, feeling the weight of its ancient knowledge, then looked away. “You can stay. But please don’t cause any trouble. My friend says you can be harsh and I believe it, so please just keep it to yourself if you can. It’s hard enough to keep this place running as it is.” There was a creaking from the trees. Tom took that as an agreement.
“Sun goes down eventually,” he began, “but not for very long, sometimes I have to keep the artificials on. I bet you can tell the difference. Only the systems monitor the place while I’m not on duty, so if you can do that I’d appreciate it. Oh and my coworker is named Ivana, she told me about you. Her family’s from your neck of the woods, no pun intended, so please be nice to her.” He waited for a moment, but the forest made no noise. When he was about to turn around, a figure emerged from the shadows of the trunks. It was the leshy, just as fearful and majestic as last time. It raised a single, gnarled hand in a wave, its fingernails long and bark-like. Somewhat halfheartedly, Tom waved back. Then it was gone. With a shake of his head, he trudged back to the control center.

“Ivana,” he buzzed over the door intercom as it slid open, “I guess we have a leshy now.”

####

About two weeks after what Tom had come to think of as his “negotiation” with the leshy, he was surprised that he had already become accustomed to its presence. Maybe it was the fact that he had worked with the trees all his life. Maybe it was his own sense of melancholy about the future. Maybe he was just crazy. For a man who had graduated with a Masters of Science in Late Earth Forestry from Xanthe University, he was surprisingly accepting of the presence of a Slavic forest spirit in his life.
He hadn’t seen it again, but at times he felt it out there, watching him. Once, when he was tending to a tree that was developing the early signs of redrot, he’d even heard bird song. He’d recorded it on his communicator and played it back later into the net. It was a Western Capercaillie, native to Ukraine on Earth, extinct for over two hundred years. He shivered when he’d read that. The implication of a being with that length of memory was unnerving to say the least. Over time though, he’d actually come to appreciate the occasional sound of birds. The leshy didn’t seem to mean any harm by it and honestly, it made the ecodomet feel more like a genuine forest. Or at least what he imagined a forest was like.
It wasn’t just Tom’s attitude that was changing, however. Both Ivana and him had noticed a difference in the ecodome. The air felt lighter and fresher. The pines seemed greener. Younger trees seemed to flourish when he came to check on them. Even the stars looked brighter through the dome. Then there was the data. He’d come in one day to find Ivana waiting for him, report sheets in hand.
“Our oxygenation output has nearly doubled,” she said eagerly, shoving the reports at him. Tom had looked through them in disbelief, a hearty grin plastered across his face.
“Ivana,” he said, “This is amazing. We’re the most efficient ecodome on Mars. We’re probably the most efficient ecodome in the history of ecodomes.”
“That’s not all Tom, look at this,” Ivana thrust another report his way, “Redrot cases are down almost 75 percent in just two weeks. The pines are thriving.” Tom had laughed then, a genuine laugh of relief and happiness rolled into one.
“They can’t shut us down now, these numbers are right there with the oxygen scrubbers!” Ivana smiled back at him and he laughed again. Joyfully he waved the reams of reports towards the forest through the control center window. He wasn’t surprised to see a pair of bright glowing green eyes looking back
“Thank you Mister Leshy,” he said with gusto. Then he laughed again and Ivana laughed and that night they’d gone out to the nicest restaurant in the bustling underground arcology they both called home and Tom couldn’t have been happier.

But the euphoria didn’t last. Eventually, a notice had come from the Ecology Department. A full inspection and assessment. Despite the sudden surge in his ecodome’s productivity, Tom knew enough from talking to his colleagues that such a notice was as good as a death warrant. Somehow, he figured the leshy had an idea of what was happening. Regardless, the day before the inspector was due, he stepped out onto the dirt track and addressed the trees.
“Mister Leshy,” he said slowly, “Look, there’s someone coming tomorrow.” The forest was silent. “They’re coming to look at the ecodome, the, uh, forest. They’re a…” He paused for a second, trying to figure out a way he could put his message in terms the thing would understand, “They’re a chief. My chief, I guess. If something bad happens to them, I’ll be in trouble. Do you get that?” The forest was still silent. Tom felt a strange sense of dread settling in the pit of his stomach. He’d come to accept, even appreciate, the leshy in the past few weeks, but he had never forgotten what Ivana had first told him: They could be mean.“We’ll figure something out, Mister Leshy, but please, just don’t cause any trouble. Just like we talked about.” In the woods, glowing eyes appeared, blinked once at him, and then faded away. He didn’t know if that meant agreement, but it made him uneasy. Though it sat poorly with him, Tom knew he had to do something drastic when the inspector arrived. If only to give himself peace of mind.

####

“That’s ridiculous,” the inspector said, leaning back in one of the control center chairs and scowling at Tom and Ivana. “You can’t expect me to believe that.”

The inspector, Mr. Rondle, was a squat man that reminded Tom of a bulldog. Dressed in an immaculate Ecology Department jumpsuit, he’d given Tom a firm but brief handshake, plopped himself down in Ivana’s chair, and begun grilling the two ecodome workers with questions. Indeed, the man seemed to settle into a well-practiced routine for ensuring the destruction of an ecodome. At least until Tom had told him about the leshy.
“I know, Mr. Rondle,” said Tom, “I didn’t believe it either. But both my assistant and I have seen the… spirit. I’ve even spoken to it.” Rondle raised an eyebrow and narrowed his piggish eyes.
“Mr. Morestead,” he said, “I do not for one second believe that some strange ghost thing lives in your ecodome. Frankly, I doubt the two of you do either. I’ve heard some crazy, hail mary excuses to save these rickety domes, but this one takes the cake.” 

“Really, Mr. Rondel, you have to believe me. These things can be danger-”
“I don’t want to hear it, Mr. Morestead.” The chair squeaked as Rondel shifted his bulk in it. “Every time I come to one of these places, I get a sob story. Yours is creative, I’ll give you that, but it’s just the same as all the others.” He looked at them both sympathetically. “I get it, I really do. This is your life’s work. But the Ecology Department has firm scientific gorunds to deem these ecodomes obsolete. I’ve shut down 15 of them myself. The future is calling and its name is artificial oxygen scrubbers. Those trees,” he said, jerking his thick thumb towards the pines outside the window, “are better served being turned into lumber and sold to fund more scrubbers.”
“But Mr. Rondel,” Ivana tried to protest, “our numbers-”
“Are unbelievable,” Rondel cut in, rising to his feet, “You’ve been cooking them no doubt. Not the first I’ve seen do that.” Ivana shook her head. Tom made to speak but Rondel stopped him with a raised hand. “I don’t want to hear any more. I won’t report this tomfoolery to the Department as long as we just get down to business. But if you keep laying it on, I’ll have no choice. And that won’t go well for you. This is a personal project for the new administration and they are not happy with those that try to derail it.” With a quick look at Ivana, Tom nodded.
“Alright Mr. Rondel.” He led the inspector down the stairs and out to the dirt track. The forest loomed before them, quiet and calm. Tom felt menace drifting from the pines, but if Rondel noticed, he gave no sign.
“Well, Mr. Morestead, I’ll say this,” Rondel said, looking at the trees as he crossed the track, “I understand why you’d create fairy tales to keep the place going. This is by far the nicest ecodome I’ve seen. Won’t save you though, I’m sorry to say.” Rondel pulled out a tablet and began typing away at it, making notes as he examined the nearest pines. Tom looked around the woods nervously. The forest seemed the way it always had before the leshy had arrived. He looked up at the stars through the branches and felt slightly calmer. Maybe it had understood. Maybe it had just stayed away. Or even left.
Somewhere nearby, a branch cracked, pulling him out of his reverie. Tom thought about the first time he had seen the leshy. An awesome, terrifying giant clad in nature itself. It wasn’t something he’d associate with understanding. He swallowed nervously. Mr. Rondel didn’t seem to notice.
“It’s all pines then?” The inspector asked, eyeing up another nearby trunk and tapping it with his fist.
“That’s right,” replied Tom, “Look, Mr. Rondel I really think we should head back to the-”
“I don’t tell you how to do your job, Mr. Morestead,” Rondel said sharply, as he tapped some more numbers into his tablet, “Don’t tell me how to do mine.”

Suddenly, a bird piped up in a warbling cry. Tom recognized it immediately. It was a Western Capercaillie. He began to sweat but the forest suddenly felt cold. Colder than he had ever known it. Rondel looked up sharply.
“Are you playing a prank, Mr. Morestead?”
“No, sir, but I do think-”
“You’re keeping birds in here then. That’s against all regulations.”
“Sir, there aren’t-” the call of a capercaillie cut him off this time.
“Shit’s sake,” Rondel swore as he began to stalk off deeper into the woods towards the sound, “If I find a damned bird out here Mr. Morestead, I’m going to put your head on a stick, do you understand me?”
“Wait,” Tom said, but the squat man moved surprisingly fast, and within moments Tom lost his form in the trees. Panic began to set in. He pushed forward, not remembering the branches or the trunks being this thick. He realized with some trepidation that he was lost in his own ecodome. That had never happened before. This was not good. They can be mean, Ivana had said.
“Mr. Rondel,” he cried out, “Mr. Rondel, can you hear me?” A cold silence was the only response. Then he heard the screams. Tom had never heard Mr. Rondel scream, but he recognized the timber of the voice. He shoved forward trying to head towards the source, but it was all around him. Finally, he shoved through a thick tangle of branches and half tumbled into a sudden clearing he knew didn’t exist in his ecodome. 

It was snowing. It never snowed on Mars. The cold cut into his chest like a knife and he hugged his arms to his sides for warmth. The pines were bleak around him, but not barren. Corpses decorated them. Corpses, entrails, limbs, blood. Spattered and scattered, pierced on branches like trophies in some barbarian hunter’s hall. Tom retched. Most of them were soldiers. He saw uniforms, deep blues with gold braids, drab greys, winter whites, russet browns. A menagerie of the dead of a hundred armies seasoned with the bodies of woodcutters and industrial workers. 

Visions assailed him with titanic force. A forest vibrant and new. A single tree, boxed in dirt, journeying across the infinitesimal stars. A forest carved away amidst a polluted landscape. Trees growing and dying and growing again. Seasons passing much too fast in a jarring cycle of life. Through it all glowing green eyes leered from around every tree. Animals snarled just outside of sight. Wolves howled in the distance. With a scream of his own, Tom reeled, trying to find a way out of the clearing. All around him was darkness and cold and trees. He fell to the ground in despair as the sound of colossal footsteps began to approach louder and louder. Weeping, Tom covered his head with his hands, hugging tight to the dirt as the very trees around him rattled with the power of their guardian’s approach.
And then it stopped. Tom looked up, blinking away tears. Ivana stood over him, a look of concern on her face.
“Tom,” she said, “what happened? Are you alright?” He glanced around, panicked for a moment, and realized he was back on the dirt track just outside the control center.
“Ivana,” he replied frantically, “I don’t understand. I was in the forest, I got lost I think. I saw some horrible things, I don’t know how I got back here.” She looked at him askance.
“Well,” she said, “Rondel and you went into the woods. I lost sight of you both, so after about five minutes I came down to wait. But when I came out, you were both just laying here. You look like hell, by the way. All nicked up. What did you two do?”
“Rondel’s alive!” Tom exclaimed and rose wildly to his feet. Ivana reached out an arm and steadied him.

“Yeah, he’s passed out over there.” Tom hustled over towards the inspector, falling to his knees next to the man. By the looks of it, he was still breathing, though he too was covered in little nicks and scrapes.
“It was the leshy,” Tom said hurriedly, “It did something to us. Lured Rondel off, I heard him screaming and followed. It tortured us. I saw things. Things I just… well, you said they could be mean.” Ivana nodded, her face grim..
“Mr. Rondel,” Tom said gently, shaking the man slightly, “Mr. Rondel please get up. Mr. Rond-” With a sudden intake of air, the inspector  shot up to his feet as if he’d been shocked, sending Tom tumbling backwards.
“Mr. Morestead,” Rondel said in his same belligerent tone, “what are you doing down there in the dirt? Admittedly, it’s good dirt. You’ve got yourself one hell of an ecodome here. Absolutely enchanting. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated just how much like an actual forest these things are.”
“Thank… thank you,” Tom said hesitantly, “But Mr. Rondel, don’t you remember a few minutes ago? In the trees?”
“What do you mean, Mr. Morestead? They’re good trees! Your numbers are off the charts. Really stirred something inside me, that’s for sure. You forget what nature’s really like when you spend all your time in the arcologies. I swear, it was just like walking through this amazing picture book of Earth I used to have when I was a boy.” Ivana and Tom exchanged a look. Tom was about to speak up again when Ivana cut in.
“Thank you, sir, we’re happy to hear that..”
“Honestly,” Mr. Rondel continued, a dreamlike look in his eyes, “between us, you’re setting an example here the Department might very well follow. Inspirational really. Just seeing it all, breathing the air, smelling the pines. Just like that lovely old book. It made me remember why I got into ecology in the first place. I know I won’t be shutting down any more ecodomes for the time being after today.” He itched at some of the scratches on his arms. “Sharp branches though,” he said, “You ought to watch out for those. Maybe do a little pruning in case you have visitors. Or not. That rugged edge really gives the place some charm.” Tom just nodded along. He didn’t really know what else to say.
“Well, it’s been a pleasure.” Rondel extended a hand to Tom for a quick shake, “But I need to get back to Mons Center to make my report. Suffice to say, you’re doing great work out here and I’ll personally recommend that this ecodome remains as an example for future development and study. It would do well for us to keep at least one of these wonderful facilities around in case the next administration wants to change tact. An oxygen scrubber certainly couldn’t match the majesty of this place.” Rondel shook his head ruefully and surveyed the pines again with a smile on his face. For a moment, Tom thought he caught a strange green gleam in the man’s eyes, but it was gone in an instant. He told himself it was just a trick of the light..”

“Thank you. Mr. Rondel.” he finally aid, shooting another glance at Ivana, who just shrugged, “We’ll be sure to carry on.”
“Too right,” Rondel replied with a nod and turned to disappear back into the control center doorway.
“What did it do to him?” Ivana asked quietly.
“I don’t know,” replied Tom, thinking back to the horrible barrage of sights and sounds and smells. “I think it was angry at me. Showed me something to scare me for bringing the Ecology Department here. But for Rondle? Maybe it just showed him something he had forgotten.””

“Or maybe it scared him so bad, he went all the way around the bend and came back,” Ivana said. She paused for a moment then grinned. “So this means the dome is saved, right?”
“I guess it’s thank you, Mister Leshy,” Tom said with a smile. The horror of his experience was fading rapidly, replaced by a warm feeling of triumph. He got to keep the ecodome. He got to keep the forest. Leshy and all. His heart sang.
“Thank you, Mister Leshy,” Ivana echoed merrily..
There was the cracking of branches behind them. They turned and saw it standing at the edge of the forest, adorned in its raiment. The breath caught in Tom’s throat for a second, but there was no malice in the spirit’s hoary face. Instead, it looked satisfied. Contented even. Warmth suddenly seeped into his soul like the touch of sun filtered through the pines. It felt like forgiveness. It felt like relief. For the first time since he had encountered the creature, Tom knew peace. The leshy raised a single hand and waved. The two ecologists waved back. Then it was gone, disappearing into the trees.

“Could be worse,” Ivana said offhandedly as they both looked out on the forest, “You should hear what my baba said about something called Baba Yaga.”
“I don’t even want to know,” replied Tom with an exaggerated groan. Linking arms, the laughing pair headed back into the control center. 

Behind them, underneath a Martian sky, the pine forest rustled contentedly.