LadyAnnaLee

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin woke up miserable. She was cold and wet. At least the rain had stopped. She automatically searched for the sun. It wasn’t too late but it wasn’t early either. Darin stretched out. She was very careful not to fall out of the tree. She had forgotten to strap herself in. So, it was a good thing she hadn’t fallen out already. She carefully moved out of the tree. She hadn’t realized that she had picked an apple tree to climb last night. So, on the way down she picked several of the almost ripe ones to have for breakfast. Eating while working was something she mastered via practice. Even climbing could be done either one handed or while she held the apple between her teeth. She took of her cloak and tied it into a makeshift bag. It would be bad manners to return to the group empty handed. She felt a little better now that she had slept and eaten. She felt stiff from spending the night in the tree; or maybe it was the horseback riding. She wasn’t sure.

Darin dropped to the ground. She was holding the core from the apple she had just finished. She was about to just toss it when she had a thought. She carefully knelt down and using her hands dug a hole about six inches deep. Darin dropped the core down the hole and recovered it. She supposed she could consider it practice. She wasn’t sure it counted or was the same thing, but it was close enough. Darin would take it. Then she started back to the cave.

Only to stop about halfway though her second apple. She had no idea where she was in relationship to the cave. That hadn’t been her primary concern last night. She was more concerned with getting away as quickly as physical possible. That meant she now had no idea how to get back to Talbot and Ridahne. The odds of the Elf finding her completely by chance were slim to none. At least the warrior would know who she was looking for this time. The question was; would she look. Darin wasn’t so sure. They hadn’t been very happy with each other last night. Would Talbot look for her? Darin just didn’t know. She spent a lot of time not knowing. Maybe that was part of where her frustration last night had come from; not knowing things she felt she ought to know. She wasn’t sure how to address those feeling though.

She decided to call out, “Hello! I’m lost! Talbot! Ridahne! I’m sorry! I’ve got breakfast! Please come find me.”

The odds of it working were slim to none. However, back at the cave, Talbot’s ears picked up. He would reach out to grab at Ridahne’s shirt, but he would only tug once. It was supposed to be an invitation. The horse would not force the Elf to come. Then he would start walking at a brisk trot in a seemingly random direction. Still, he moved with a purpose. He knew that he was going somewhere. He would only pause for a minute to make sure he got his new person’s pack and weapon between his teeth. He didn’t want to leave behind anything important after all.

Darin started walking in the direction she hoped the cave was in. Occasionally she would let out another shout of “Hello!” She really was a mess. She could get lost going from her farm to Lively, and she had done that countless times. Why a girl who couldn’t keep a map or a compass in her head had been picked to do this seemingly impossible task was beyond her. Maybe that was one of the reasons Ridahne was sent to her by whoever sent her. Darin knew that she wouldn’t get this job done without the Elf. By The Tree! Darin had been hanging from a cliff the first time they meet. Was that really only three days ago? It might have only been two depending on how you counted. Darin had only slept twice since she meet the warrior. Was counting sleeps a good way to keep time? Next thing she knew would be falling over a gorge and there would be no vines to catch her.

Of course, that would be what promptly happened. Thankfully it wasn’t a deep gorge, but the apples went tumbling and Darin bruised her shin pretty badly. She let out a his of pain as her had cam up to her injured shoulder. She had hit it with the ground as she went head over heals on her way down. She hoped she didn’t tear the stitching. Darin looked up at the clear sky only for it to be blocked by what looked like her pack and sickle. Both fell. The sickle hit the ground, but Darin let out a groan of pain as the pack hit her face.

Then she saw who it was, and leapt up, “Talbot!” She wrapped her hands around his neck, “I’m so glad you found me!”

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin wasn’t sure how far she had walked from the little cave. She wasn’t sure she cared. She wanted to be mad, so she was going to be mad. She knew that it wasn’t fair to be mad, but she wasn’t sure she cared. She knew she hadn’t been fair to yell at the Elf either. Darin tried to be fair. She really did. She tried to see things from other people’s points of view. She just didn’t always succeed. It was harder than it sounded; being fair to others. Darin wasn’t sure it was even worth it.

Right now, she was trying to convince herself that Ridahne had a choice to come on this journey while she didn’t. The only problem with that was it simply wasn’t true. They both had a choice. Ridahne could choose to die or come on this impossible journey. Darin could choose to let Astra fall to ruin or come on this impossible journey. Those weren’t amazing choices. It wasn’t like there was much of a choice, but it was still a choice. So, Darin couldn’t even say that she had been fore to come on this journey while Ridahne had not been. The Elf probably thought she had been forced to go as well. It was a terrible situation all around.

Then there was the fact that Ridahne was right. Darin had led her to believe that she was an outcast back home. How was the Elf supposed to know that anyone had been kind to her? The human had certainly given no indication of it. For all Darin knew Ridahne thought she was coming to Darin’s defense. Then the Elf had a good reason for leaving details out of her stories. Darin hadn’t asked for those details. In fact, the human had tried to avoid those details all together. So, it wasn’t fair of the human to expect those details. Darin cursed and muttered under her breath. She wanted to be mad at the warrior. It was hard to do that when she was trying to find good reasons for what she had done and said or not said.

Darin let out a wordless screech to the sky. The sky responded not at all. Darin cursed her own stupidity for leaving the cave. She was cold and wet, and the rain didn’t appear to be stopping any time soon. Darin returned to muttering. She couldn’t go back now. She could go back when she was ready to apologize for not being fair. Darin scoffed at that thought. Why did she have to be the bigger person? Oh right, she was Ri'atal, hope of many.

Okay, Darin could be mad about that one. If she was being fair to Ridahne she should be fair to herself too. The human had told the Elf not to treat her any different, and yet here she was using names that probably had no real meaning. Alright, that wasn’t fair. Ridahne wasn’t treating her any different. If she did, she wouldn’t have yelled at her. Okay, Darin couldn’t use that against the Elf. The human paused to let her head make contact with the nearest tree. May The Tree save her from her own stupidity. She had messed this up big time.

It was getting darker. The sun must be setting behind the rain clouds. Darin wasn’t sure she was ready to go back. Even though she was fairly positive she had no right to be mad she still wanted to be angry. Darin found a good-looking tree and started to climb. She wasn’t the best at climbing, but she was okay at it. She climbed until the branches could no longer take her weight. Than she sat with her back to the trunk and closed her eyes. It wouldn’t be the first night she spent in the rain. Darin didn’t think it would be her last either. She would head back in the morning. Maybe, she would be ready to apologize then. She would at least have to go get Talbot.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin stood abruptly. She didn’t like this game. She didn’t like it all. For one thing Ridahne wasn’t playing right. Darin was more than willing to answer the questions the Elf posed as best she could. Ridahne seemed less inclined to return the favor. Darin already knew that her exile and the reasons for it were taboo. She had messed up when asking about the Elf’s culture, and now Ridahne didn’t even want to talk about what she had done with her life. Darin was starting to wonder if there were any safe questions to ask the Elf. Darin was starting to wonder if she even liked the Elf warrior at all.

Especially since she had said the one thought Darin had been purposely avoiding. Darin didn’t want to be The Gardener. She was still holding on to the hope that she would get to go back home after this; home to her mother, home to her farm, home to her normal, ordinary, boring life. Darin new it was a foolish hope. She knew it would never happen. She still held on to it with all she had. Astra was too big for Darin to try and understand. She wasn’t doing this for Astra. She had been truthful when she told Ridahne that she was on a mission for her mother. She was looking to plant The Seed for her, and she wanted to go back home to her. Maybe that made Darin a child. Maybe it made her a fool. Darin didn’t care. She didn’t want to think about being The Gardener, and now a woman she barely knew, and couldn’t seem to get to know, was thoughtlessly throwing it in her face while claiming that withholding information from her was disrespectful. The irony, or possibly hypocrisy, left a bad taste in the human’s mouth.

Without thinking, and in a colder tone that Darin hadn’t used since the last time the elders chided her, Darin spoke, “You know, humans have a saying. Trust is a two-way street.” Darin didn’t bother to explain what it meant, “Thomas and Milla told me they couldn’t tell me. I’m trusting there is a reason for that, and they are trusting me to plant The Seed.” She turned to flash an almost dangerous look at the Elf, “I will not have you disrespect the only two people in my life who have ever supported me no matter what I did!” Her volume increased with a shout, “Especially when you do not know them!”

Wasn’t that the truth? Even her own mother questioned why she couldn’t act more like a traditional girl? The elders were fond of chiding her for her actions. The grown men outright scorned her while the woman gossiped behind her back. Children her age and younger mocked her when she succeeded and laughed at her when she failed. Thomas, who was two years her senior, and Milla, three months her junior, had never once tried to make her fail. They never discouraged her. In fact, the first time Milla had seen her badly inflicted hair cut she had sat Darin down to fix it. Darin’s pants had all once been Thomas’s that he had snuck to her. They were the ones to convince Rolland to let Darin borrow Heath to plow her field that second planting season after her father had left. They traded just as much with as they did with others in their village. They had been the ones to promise to take care of her mother. They were the closest things to friends she had. The Seed-Bearer would not let them be slandered by a woman who wouldn’t even tell Darin what she had done for a living!

Darin’s next words were still cold, but were at a reasonable volume, “And I am not The Gardener, at least not yet, perhaps not ever. At most I am the Seed-Bearer.”

With those words Darin dropped her pack and walked straight out into the rain. It was childish and Darin would admit that she was running away. She didn’t care that she was soaked in a matter of moments. She just couldn’t stand to be in that enclosed space with Ridahne for any longer. She was done with the stupid game. She was done with trying to skirt around the things the Elf didn’t want to talk about. Darin had things she didn’t like to talk about, yet she still mentioned her father. The human supposed it wasn’t fair to expect Ridahne to talk about things she didn’t want to talk about, but the Elf was trying to get the human to trust her. She was doing a horrible job of it. There had been no two-way street in that stupid little game. To the human it felt that she was walking down a road until she ran into a brick wall that broken her nose. Well Darin was going to go nurse her metaphorically broken nose somewhere else. She was hoping Ridahne wouldn’t follow her. She was surprised that Talbot didn’t. What she didn’t know was that if the Elf had tried to go after her Talbot would stand in the way. He would not hesitate to kick the warrior or her animals if he needed to.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin looked up at the setting sun. Soon it would be too dark to work. She finished just in time. She was worried that she wouldn’t since she had to pause to go to the feast honoring The Gardener. She wasn’t upset about that. She understood why it had to happen. She just wished it hadn’t needed to take so long. Regardless, it was done, so were her chores, and she would get a good night sleep tonight. There wasn’t much more that the young girl to ask for. She moved to the water spigot to duck her head under it.

The sudden voice caused her to hit her head on the metal, “I like your farm.” Darin rubbed the back of her head as she turned to see The Gardner, “It’s clear you put a lot of work and effort into it, Darin, daughter of Martin, by Talia.” He was looking straight at her, “I am very impress.”

Darin quickly ducked in to the closest thing she could do to a bow, “You honor me Gardener.” She was at a complete lost, “You honor our village.”

The Gardener quickly cut her off, “Enough of that. I’ve had enough of that polite honor nonsense the entirety of my journey.”

Darin rose from her frankly terribly bow to look at The Gardener. Something didn’t look right about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on what looked wrong. He looked almost like an old grandfatherly elder that couldn’t help but love everyone. He had kind eyes and a kinder smile. Darin felt herself wanting to trust him, but shoe couldn’t quite bring herself to do so. After all, she had no idea how he had known her name. It was off putting to say the least.

He walked towards her, “I have a job for you to do Darin.”

She took a step back as she warily asked, “How can I help you?”

He shook his head, “Not me. All of Astra. You know The Tree is dying.”

All of Astra knew that, “Yes I do?”

He continued, “And you must be smart. You know it can’t be fixed.”

Darin was locked in place, “If it was fixable you wouldn’t be traveling around Astra. No.” She stopped herself.

The Gardener continued the thought, “No farmer leaves their fields if they can do something to stop it.” Darin nodded in understanding and the man smiled, “So I have A job for you.” He then commanded, “Hold out your hand.”

Darin followed the command slowly, “What’s the job?”

She felt something drop into her hand, “Plant this. To protect Astra. I can’t tell you where. I can just tell you that The Seed knows where home is. It will know. I know it seems like a big job, but there is good. You will not be alone.”

Darin looked down at her hand. It looked like an ordinary apple seed. She knew it was much more. She felt herself lose her breath when she finally put the pieces together. She had a Seed from The Tree in her hand. She was carrying The Seed in her had. She was carrying the future of all of Astra in her hand. Why had The Gardener given this to her? She looked up at him in confusion.

He was smiling at her. Slowly he nodded. Before Sarin could ask for clarification, he swayed forwards. Darin’s hand automatically clenched The Seed tight as she held out her arms to possibly catch him. Then he pitched backwards. Darin let out a shout as she leapt forward to catch him. They went tumbling to the ground. Darin wound up with her knees on the ground and The Gardener’s head in her lap. She quickly felt for a pulse. There was none.

She screamed out, “HELP! Somebody help! HELP!!!”
--
Darin shook her head, “He just died. I never found out what he said to the elders or to Thomas and Milla. They refused to tell me.”

She didn’t know why they didn’t tell her. It wasn’t surprising. The whole village, not just the elders, thought that Darin was a problem. She didn’t fell in line. She was tolerated because she didn’t cause trouble. She was slightly surprised that they had believed her when she told them what The Gardener told her. She supposed it was because the fate of The Tree and now The Seed wasn’t something you claimed to be able to help unless you actually could. Maybe it was because she didn’t actually lie to anyone. The village’s main problem with her was that she was a girl running a farm on her own. Then again, maybe the Gardener had said something to the elders or Thomas and Milla. Maybe they were just glad to be rid of her. Maybe it was because all you had to do was just look at The Seed to know what it was. It was probably a combination of all those things.

It was Darin’s turn to ask a question, “What did you do? Before you did whatever you did that got you exiled. What was your job? Can you talk about it?”

Darin knew nothing about Ridahne. She knew that she was some wort of Elf warrior exile. She didn’t’ know much more than that. She didn’t know if it was true of not, but Darin felt like the Elf knew more about her than she knew about the warrior. It made her uncomfortable. Darin wasn’t sure she trusted the warrior. She didn’t know how to know if she could trust anybody. For all she knew Ridahne could just be waiting to see The Seed. It probably wouldn’t actually help, but Darin felt if she could get to know a little bit more about the Elf, she would feel better about traveling with her. Darin looked at the rain. It was getting heavier. At this rate they would be stuck until morning. Darin pulled her pack towards her. If they were going to be stuck she might as well see if she had anything to eat.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

I would like to use my next post to finally try my hand at writing a flashback scene. Since this is the first time I'm doing one of those this role-play I would like to give in my full attention. So, I may not get to it until this weekend sometime. I hope that is okay.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin scoffed, “I saw him for maybe two hours total. He came to Lively first. Then he came to see my village. We did our best to put on a feast that was worthy of his status. He has dined with all manner of royalty, human kings, Siren rulers, I’m even willing to bet that he visited your Sols?” She paused to fire off an aside, “That’s what your leaders are called right?” She continued, “We knew there was no way we could rival them, but we still treated him the best we could. I did not speak to him at all. When the feast was over, he asked the prettiest girl and the best hunter to talk to him in private. Some waited for the two to be dismissed. I was among the few that did not. I had chores to do. Then when I was done, I looked up and there he was. I have no idea how long The Gardener had been watching me work. He gave me The Seed. He gave me instructions. Then he died. I’m not even being metaphorical. I’m not exaggerating. He died literally right after given me this job; right in front of me. I screamed. People came running. I explained what happened and the village prepared me as best they could before they sent me off. And you know where that got me.” Then Darin actually answered the question, “He appeared to be human, but he didn’t look human. I can’t really explain it. He didn’t have the pointed ears and slender frame of an Elf. He lacked the gills and webbed hands of a Siren. He was stocky like a human. He looked human. I would never call him human. I would call you human before I called him human and he looked more human than you do.” She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, “He did not look like a Child of the Stone.”

Darin hoped she didn’t offend Ridahne by saying she would call her human. The human wasn’t trying to offend the Elf. She was just trying to explain something she couldn’t explain even to herself. She wanted to know what others saw when they looked at The Gardener. The other humans of her village had agreed with her. He look human, but did not look like a Child of the Stone. That was jarring. The be human was to be a Child of the Stone. Darin wanted to know what a Siren had seen when they looked at the Gardener. Would they have seen a Siren without seeing a Child of the Sea? Would an Elf see an Elf without seeing a Child of the Sky? So, few people called specific induvials by the title of Child. It was mostly used as a species identifier. Humans were the Children of the Stone. Elves were the Children of the Sky. Sirens were the Children of the Sea. If all people looked at The Gardener and saw the race without seeing the Child that meant only one thing; at least only one thing that Darin could think of. It meant that the Gardener was not from Astra. If the Gardener was not from Astra, what did that mean for her? What did it mean for The Seed? Darin didn’t want to think about it.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin looked at Ridahne, “I’ve heard of it. Something that happened when countries were angry with each other. Families would send off their warriors never knowing if they would come back home. People died by the thousands; killed by people whose only difference was the place they called home. Children were stolen and forced to do terrible things. War and death went hand in hand.” She paused for a moment, “There are stories that the elders tell, that say The Tree was planted to stop a war that threatened all of Astra.”

Darin didn’t know how true those stories were. Then again no one knew why The Tree had been planted. No one knew anything about The Tree’s origins. Some said that all the gods of Astra planted it together. So said it was one god trying to keep another god out. Some said it stopped evil. Darin had even heard one man say it limited free will. Both evil and free will were such nebulous concepts that Darin wasn’t sure that they could be completely stopped of stilted. Darin remembered her mother saying murder was evil. If that was the case than The Tree should have stopped it. Everyone knew that murder was still a thing. Even before The Tree became sick warriors were killing other warriors. Did that count as murder or something else? Darin didn’t know. One thing she was pretty sure about was The Tree did stop war and something called slavery. Darin only had a vague idea what that one was. It had something to do with taking away freedoms, but the young farmer wasn’t sure.

Darin spoke again, “The Tree is such a nebulous thing. There are so many stories about it. Most off them are probably exaggerations or tall tales. I would like to see it before we get much further along. That might give me some hints about where The Seed needs to go.”

Darin didn’t say it would also let her know how to best to care for The Seed once it was planted. She didn’t like to admit it, but some would need to take care of The Seed as it started to grow. That was what The Gardener had done after all. That was another entity that had been shrouded in mystery. There were just as many stories it not more about him. Some even said he was a god. That couldn’t be true. Gods did not die. Darin didn’t think so at least. It was known that that he wasn’t a human, Siren, or Elf. He was not one of the Children that anyone in Astra had ever seen before. He looked human, but no one who looked at him would call him a Child of the Stone. Darin had even heard that Sirens saw a Siren without seeing a Child of the Sea while Elves saw an Elf without seeing a Child of the Sky. No one could explain that. Now he was dead, and he had left a woefully unprepared girl as his heir.

Darin asked another question, “What story do your people tell about The Tree’s origin? I’ve heard so many. And I do like hearing more.”

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin glance at Ridahne from the corner of her eyes. IT seemed the human had struck a nerve by asking about the ojih. She wasn’t sure what nerve she had struck, and it didn’t seem to be good idea to ask which one. In fact, Darin decided to let it be for now. There were other questions she could ask when it was her turn again. Then again, she wasn’t sure she would take another turn. She wasn’t sure which questions would cause problems after all.

Darin turn her attention to Ridahne’s question for her. The Elf was wrong. It wasn’t an awkward question. That didn’t mean it was an easy question. The human had to think about it. The warrior’s question was not quiet the same as “Where would you be if he hadn’t left?” It was more like, “Where did you want to go?” Darin had been asked the first question by the elders more times than she cared to count. IT was an attempt to convince her that just because her father had left there was no reason her future had to change. The only problem was that Darin was pretty positive that the future that the elders want for her was not the future she wanted for herself; even when her father had been in the picture.

Darin was silent for an almost uncomfortable amount of time before she shrugged, “I don’t know. I know what I didn’t want. I didn’t want to be some farmer’s partner who was only good for giving birth to his children and keeping his house. I know it makes a lot of girls happy to do that, and that’s fine. I just wouldn’t be happy doing that. I didn’t really have any aspirations to leave home or go any further than Lively. I would probably wind up partnered to some one though. 14, the age I was when he left, is when people start considering who to match their children to. That’s also when children start matching themselves. None of the other kids my age were interesting. There was one boy from Lively who was pretty cute, but everyone knew that one day he would just be gone. I couldn’t imagine leaving my mother before this happened. I don’t know what I wanted. I just know that this wasn’t it.” She laugh, “But here we are, trying to save Astra, not because it’s right, but because we have no choice or the other choice is terrible.”

Wasn’t that the truth? Darin would not have picked this for herself. She couldn’t imagine Ridahne picking it for herself either. This was a journey with not clear destionation. They just have to wander all of Astra until they found the spot where The Seed wanted to go. That could take weeks, months, or even years. There was even a chance that they could start walking tomorrow and find it not more than twenty feet from where they were now. There journey was so nebulous that Darin was surprised that they had even come up with a plan to go see The Tree.

Suddenly Darin asked, “The Tree, have you seen it. I’ve never even seen pictures of it. I’ve just heard stories about it.”

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Well that answered Darin’s question. Odds were Ridahne would never get a tattoo that told the world that she had helped the Seed-Bearer. Now that Darin knew the answer to that question, she was strangely relieved. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about Ridahne personally. She was willing to bet that the Elf truly did want to make sure The Seed got planted where it was supposed to, but that didn’t mean the human truly knew anything about her. All she really knew was that that the warrior had done something that should have had her sentenced to death, but instead got her exiled. Darin stole a glance at the tattoos on her face. The farmer assumed that one of them told the people who knew how to read them exactly what she had done; well maybe not exactly, but at least the severity. Darin wasn’t sure what one it was. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Darin found herself speaking, “Sometimes you can tell similar things by looking at a human’s hair. A woman without children tends to wear her hair down around her shoulders. Then when she has her first child, she starts pinning it up. I think that’s more practical than symbolic though. The child can’t yank on hair it can’t reach.” Darin sighed as she moved to lay down, “That doesn’t work for me though. I cut my hair all off when I was sixteen. My mother just about died of shock when she saw it.”

Darin found she couldn’t lay down because Mitaja was behind her. She let out a sigh as she sat back up. Her shoulder was starting to hurt. She didn’t want to say anything though. It wasn’t a real pain. It was more of a dull throbbing. She had worked out in the fields while being in a lot more pain. Darin still didn’t think her back would ever be the same.

Darin found herself asking, “If I was Azurei what would my, you called it an ojih right? What would my ojih look like? I’ve been a farmer for about five years, I’m not married, and I’m pretty sure I’m the bottom of my village’s list of important people. Well, at least I’m not a drunk lay about like Todd.”

Darin had no idea why she had asked that. Maybe it would help her understand Ridahne’s culture better if she could relate to it. It was worth a shot. The human did want to understand the Elf better. She also didn’t want to pry into something that wasn’t any of her business. Besides, maybe that was a rude question. Suddenly Darin wasn’t sure. There was also the fact that Ridahne might not have enough information to answer that question. It wasn’t like cultures had direct translations from one to another. It wasn’t like Darin could tell where Ridahne would fit in her culture. Absently, she bit her lip. She might want to take that question back before Ridahne grew offended

She spoke carefully, “You don’t have to answer that. If it’s rude you can just tell me to buzz off. I would understand.”

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin looked back at the fire, “My mother is beautiful. I don’t look like her at all.” Without even thinking about it her arms came to wrap around her bent knees, “She has the most beautiful deep brown curls. They practically reach her waist. Her eyes are a stunning green. If you believe the stories every boy in the village wanted to partner with her when she was younger than me.” Her voice was quiet and far away, “Everybody in the village loved her until my father left. Then they pretty much ignored her. They said she must have done something to drive him away. She didn’t though. Him leaving crushed her. That’s what I’ll never forgive him for. I don’t care that he left. I don’t care that his departure left us the village pariahs. He destroyed her. She’s getting better, but you don’t ever really recover from something like that.” Her fingers started to dig into her knees, “If, somehow, I run into him on this trip, I will do my ever living best to break his nose. He probably wouldn’t even know it was me. I might not be able to actually do it. I don’t care. I’m still going to try.”

Darin had no idea why her father left. Neither did her mother. He had left without saying anything. One night he was just gone. He had taken half of the supplies and their one horse. The last words he told Darin were words of love and pride. Then he betrayed those promises. He had left her mother broken. For months Darin could see that it took all of her mother’s energy just to get out of bed. So, Darin stepped up. She taught herself to take care of the farm. By the time her mother had enough energy to realize what her daughter was doing it was too late. Even before that man left Darin and her mother had fought constantly about how Darin wasn’t more feminine. The arguments got worse. Darin grew more stubborn. Yet, despite the fighting her mother ahd supported her every step of the way. Darin hated that she had basically done what her father had done. She hated that she had to leave her mother. The only solace she had was that at least her mother knew why she had left.

Darin forced her fingers to let go of her knees, “Anyways, your tattoos, they all tell a story, right?”

She was still trying to figure out if she would every be part of the tale on Ridahne’s skin. Darin didn’t know if she wanted that or not. Humans didn’t tell stories that way. They wrote them down or passed them down orally. Darin still had a few of those stories in her head form when they were pounded in there by the village elder in charge of making sure all the children could read and do basic sums. They were mostly folk stories and legends. History proper was written down. Darin never cared much about history. She cared more about the future. Would it rain to tomorrow? Would next week’s frost kill her trees. How would the harvest go? She was starting to regret that. Maybe if she had paid more attention she would know more about The Gardener, The Tree, and The Seed.