LadyAnnaLee

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin did her best to listen to Ridahne’s instructions. She wasn’t sure she did a good job, but at least she didn’t fall off this time. In fact, she managed to remain upright for the entire day. She and Talbot ate apples when they were hungry. They were always willing to share with Ridahne and her horse. As Darin at the last one she realized that she had lost track of time. The sun was starting to do down, and the whole world was bathed in the orange glow that came with dusk. She twisted to check the position of the sun. She chewed slowly as she considered its setting. As soon as it was below the horizon it would start getting dark quickly.

Darin mentioned this, “We should start looking for a place to make camp. I’m afraid I’m not much use in the dark.”

She didn’t know if Elves could see in the dark or not. She didn’t want to imply that they could. Some stories she heard said they could, but Darin wasn’t sure how many of those stories were true. She never put much stock in them. They were always told by the traders that come to Lively once a year. They never seemed trustworthy. Though Darin never spent much time with them. She very rarely had things to trade with them. Even less rare was when she wanted things from them. Darin had been content with her life for the most part. When her father had still be around, he would always get her at least one sugar sweet. Those had been happy memories that Darin had no desire to relive. She rather look forward.

Darin looked around to see if she could spot a place that would work. In all reality Darin had no idea what she was looking for. When it had just been herself, she had just climbed a tree and hoped she didn’t get wet. Even that wasn’t really a requirement. She missed the big feather bed she and her mother shared. She couldn’t begin to count the number of ties she had woken up sore since this journey had begun. She was starting to think that would just be her default for a long time to come. Darin spotted several good trees but knew they wouldn’t be good for a group camp. What she had done last night had been stupid. She really shouldn’t get far enough from Ridahne to get lost again. She would like to finish this journey alive if possible.

That lead Darin to a dark thought. What if she died before The Seed got planted? Could she pick someone else to carry it. That might be a possibility if she had time. What if she was slain in battle? What if she fell off a bigger edge and there were no vines to catch her? What if there were more giant spiders? Darin shook her head as she mentally chided herself. There was no point in thinking those types of thoughts. She needed to think positive. She grabbed her waterskin to distract herself. She scowled as she realized that she had finished it without paying attention.

She told her companion, “And I need to fill my waterskin.”

This was something Darin did know. She knew how to tell if water was safe to drink. She was also aware of how to make water safe to drink. She still had her small pot. It may take some time, but she could make enough safe water for everyone to drink; including all the animals. She wasn’t going to mention that though. She was positive Ridahne knew those things as well, and Darin didn’t want to seem like she was trying to show off. In a way she was. She didn’t want to think the Elf thought she was completely incompetent. She knew how to do some things. Darin could keep herself feed, watered, and clean. She could even do the same for Talbot. She was just a clumsy person with not sense of direction and no idea whatsoever about how to fight. She was glad Ridahne was with her. She just didn’t want the Elf to question just how useless she was. It was stupid to be worried about what her companion thought about her, but she was still worried about it. At least it was better than worrying and thinking about dying.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Alright. Thank you so much! It won't be tonight though. I have plans this weekend and I need to get to bed. I should get back to you at some point tomorrow or the day after.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Do you mind if I include just a little bit of a time skip in my next post? I would like to jump to when the stop to make camp for that night. If that's alright.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin hurried to explain, “Ducks are waterfowl. They fly towards good weather. So, they head south right about when the snows start. In fact, that when we know when winter is about to start. All the ducks head off. So, we hurry to finish our winter preparation chores.” She licked her lips, “Some stay.” She smiled at the Elf, “The liver is the best part. At least I think so. And we use their feathers to make pillows and mattresses. The bones make good soup.” She was counting on her fingers, “Every part of the animal.” She leaned over Talbot, “Even every part of Talbot will be used when he can’t work anymore.”

Talbot nodded. It seemed he agreed with her. Of course, they were both farmers, so they lived the same type of life before this adventure began. Even people were useful when they died; at least the village Darin grew up in used people when they died. They weren’t eaten, but they would be buried under farm fields. It was a fairly decent fertilizer. The was a ceremony and everything. Darin knew that the village where she grew up was a little odd in that regards. Most human cities had a cemetery. That seemed like a waste to her. She hoped when she died, she got put in a field to help things grow. That way she was useful. The Gardener have been put in her field.

She flopped on to Talbot’s back, “I don’t think anyone knows what evil is unless it’s staring them in the face. Even then they might be blind or not notice. I especially don’t think children should have to know what evil is. The interaction with Mark changed me. I don’t think it made me evil, but I will always remember it. I’m not sure the change or the memories are a good thing.” She sighed, “Evil is not something I would want anyone to know.”

Talbot must have been tired of Darin not riding properly, because he suddenly broke into a gallop. Darin tried to return to a sitting position. She got about halfway there before she just fell off. She let out a shout of pain. She landed right on her injured shoulder. What was worse was she thought she might have landed on something that tore her stiches. She carefully pulled her shirt up to check her shoulder. Her stitches looked fine so that was one good thing. Darin let out a groan as she laid back down. Talbot came over to circle her. Het let out a snort of what sounded like concern.

Darin reach out to run her hand over his nose, “I’m fine. I just took a tumble.” She used his reins to pull herself back up, “Though I’m starting to think that walking might actually be faster.”

She looked to see it she could figure out where she was. Nope! She still had no idea. It was a good thing that Ridahne was here. Otherwise Darin was sure to get lost. She would still be lost if she hadn’t found the Elf yesterday. Okay, the Elf had found her. Darin was going to be honest about that. There was no point in lying about it anyways; even to herself. Besides. The Elf’s plan was as good as any. It was certainly better than her plan which was to just wander until she got lost again.

She nodded at Ridahne, “That sounds like a great plan; unless I learn something specific at The Tree. But for now, it’s better than my plan. So, we’ll go with it.” She turned to Talbot, “I’m sorry for being a bad rider. May I get back on?”

Talbot nodded, so Darin held on to the reins. Talbot didn’t bend his knees, so it took Darin a few tries. She hoped one day swinging herself on to his back would be easy. She supposed that day would come the same day that riding was easy as well. The human didn’t think she would every be a professional rider, but she could and did hope that she would be good enough that one day falling off wouldn’t be a daily occurrence. That would make a very good start. Though right now she would settle on not making her horse upset with her.

Darin shot her arm out, “Let’s go!”

Then she let out another hiss of pain. It appeared that moving so suddenly after landing on it had been bad for her shoulder. She needed to be more careful. She rather not have to redo the stitches anytime soon. She wanted her shoulder to heal as well as it would possibly heal. She had a feeling it would scare, but as long as she could still use it that would be good enough for her. Talbot took her words to heart and started to gallop again. This time Darin remained sitting up. She smiled when he stopped, and she hadn’t fallen off again. She was doing it! She was pleasantly surprised when she discovered that.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Talking about her farm was easy, “I don’t hunt, but most farms have chickens and ducks and things. We had a pig, but then he got fat enough to eat. So, I killed him.” She shrugged, “You learn to use every part of an animal.”

That was true enough. That was one of the reasons why Darin didn’t feel guilty about killing the animals on her farm. Another reason was that she made sure they had a good life before she ended it. Darin knew that her animals didn’t want to die; probably, but she refused to kill for sport. Then again, she didn’t know anyone who killed for sport. She knew that people did. That brought her to Ridahne’s next question.

The truth was she didn’t know anything about what her Tree would be like. She thought it might be an apple tree. Or at least something like an apple tree. It made sense. The Seed resembled an apple seed after all. Darin looked at the core of the apple she had just finished. She pulled out one of the seeds to look at. She had dropped the reins completely, but that didn’t seem to bother Talbot.

She held the seed up to the sky, “Do you know, that if you eat enough apple seeds you go mad?” She dropped her hand to look at the Elf, “I think that it’s the same way with anything. You try to do just one thing over and over it’s bound to drive you crazy.” She furrowed her brow, “I had a point.”

What was her point? Maybe she had started and hoped she would find the finish before she arrived at the finish. She didn’t do that a lot, but it did happen from time to time. She bit her lip as she thought about the question again. She supposed that she couldn’t actually answer it. Ridahne wanted to know if the Tree that grew from The Seed would be different from the current Tree. Darin wasn’t even sure what The Tree did. She had a feeling that what it did was far too vague to be defined properly. That made it difficult to figure out what the differences, if there would be any, would be.

Darin tried again, “The stories say that The Tree prevents evil, and I know it does stop somethings; like war.” She shrugged as she went back to looking at the seeds, she had absently pulled out of the core, “But other than that I don’t know. Evil is such a vague term. We think of evil as something we want to get rid of, but I’m not sure that’s something we actually want to do. At least I don’t want to get rid of something I don’t truly understand. It would be like getting rid of your people just because I don’t fully know everything about them.” She wasn’t entirely comfortable with this conversation, but she wanted to give the best answer she could, “I know Mark meant me harm. I don’t know why, but I do know that I didn’t provoke him. He felt evil, but he was perfectly polite until he started to try and kill us, so I had no fair reason to hate him or be as afraid of him as I was right from the beginning. So, I don’t know why I thought he was evil.” She was trying to be earnest, “I don’t know what evil really is, so I don’t know what The Tree is supposed to stop. So, I don’t know what the new Tree will do; besides protect Astra.” She gave her head a shake, “That doesn’t make any sense at all. Just forgot I said anything.” She tossed the seeds over her shoulder, “I don’t know where I was going with that bit about the apple seeds either.” She let out a laugh, “You can just ignore me when I start talking about philosophy. I never make any sense.”

Except for the fact that Darin thought, that while she didn’t have an answer, she had a point about the apple seeds. Too much of anything was a bad thing. Even good things could consume a person. If you gave away everything you had in an attempt to be charitable soon you were left with nothing. If you did nothing but play you would soon starve. Though if you gave nothing away soon your heart became cold. If you did nothing but work, you became so stressed out you made yourself sick. A small part of Darin wondered if she should even plant The Seed. Maybe it was time to let the so-called evil run free for just a little bit. Darin would, never, ever, ever, ever, ever, her entire life say that out loud. The Seed needed to be planted and war would come. She didn’t truly want that. She just wanted her Mama to be safe.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

I have plans for The Tree as well. I don't think it's going to be what either of them are expecting.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

The Tree prevents evil and it's hard to do real evil. You have to choose to so something bad for purely selfish reasons. Was what Ridahne did selfish.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

How do you think The Tree will react to her?

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

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.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

I am getting really strong vibes that what Ridahne did was illegal and dishonorable, but it still needed to be done. Is that right?I don't want to know what she did. I'm just trying to figure out how The Tree will react to her. If that makes sense.