Darin nodded, “Yeah. Apples.” She pointed out a few of the trees, “You can see the trees.” She pointed at a couple of other trees, “And that’s an oak. And that’s a pine.” Her brow furrowed, “This is actually a pretty good forest.” She pointed at a few more plants, “Witch hazel, chives, lavender.” She smiled slightly, “There’s a forest like this near my home.” She held out the makeshift bag, “You can have more if you want.”

This was sort of nostalgic. Darin spent many of her childhood in the forest neat her home gathering herbs and wild fruit. That had been a long time ago; before her father decided he had better places to be. She had lost the ability to just wander the forest without a care when she had to take over the farm. She had to do a lot of growing up in a short period of time. Remembering those times always brought a smile to her face. She tried to not let her father’s departure color those memories. That was a difficult thing to do. She wondered if that was the same way for everyone; having a bunch of good memories of a person be tainted by one unforgivable thing. That was sort of a depressing thing to think about.

Darin was jerked form that train of thought as she considered Ridahne’s next question. She had never really given The Tree much thought. There had never been a reason to. It simply was. The elders said The Tree prevented evil from entering Astra, but evil was such a vague concept that Darin didn’t think it counted for things. She was pretty positive that abusing animals counted as evil. Animals were never mean unless they had been taught that so hurting them just seemed wrong. Then again, killing an animal that had lived a full life for food and supplies never seemed wrong to her. She had done it countless times herself. However, war and slavery were not a thing except for in stories so The Tree must have done something. She just wasn’t sure what it was.

Darin spoke carefully, “I’m not sure. I don’t think it’s alive the way people or animals are. It’s certainly more alive than most plants. I don’t know what sort of powers it might have or what it actually does. I don’t think anybody knows. The Gardener probably did, but he died. So, now no one knows.”

Darin found herself feeling apprehensive. She wondered what The Tree would expect of her. A small part of her was concerned that The Tree would judge her and find her lacking. What would happen if The Tree did not approve of The Gardener’s choice? Though that seemed unlikely. Darin knew for a fact that she had a connection to The Seed. It made sense for The Gardener and The Tree to have a similar connection. Darin bit her lip. She was willing to bet that The Tree was dying faster then it had been dying thanks to The Gardener’s passing. 

Darin continued her thoughts outloud, “I am hoping to find out why The Tree is dying. It would also be nice to discover where it came from. If I can find out, who planted The Tree, why it was planted, and how it was done, I might be able to figure out where to plant The Seed.” She smiled a shaky smile, “As bad as it seems I don’t really care about The Tree. I have to believe that The Gardener did everything he could to save The Tree. Since it is still dying it can’t be saved. So, I don’t really care to see it except to find out whatever I can that will help me do my job.”

Talbot snorted and shook his head in a fashion vaguely resembling a nod. Darin laughed slightly. It seemed that he agreed with her. She must be getting better at riding because she managed to feel relaxed enough to lean down to feed him another apple. He munched it happily. As far as Darin was concerned apples were a good breakfast anywhere.