Darin walked towards The Tree briskly. She didn’t really have time to waste, but she needed to say goodbye to The Tree. If all went well Darin planned on never being this close to The Tree again. This would be the last time Darin had a chance to speak directly to The Tree. That didn’t mean that she was being abandoned. She knew more about how The Tree worked. She knew how to listen and knew that The Tree would come to visit her in her dreams. That was already more than she could ask for Darin. Still Darin wanted to touch The Tree one last time. The Seed-Bearer did not think that was too much to ask for. At least she hoped it wasn’t.

The moment she crossed The Barrier The Tree called out “’Darin! You brought Taja to meet me!”

Darin continued heading towards The Tree, “Yes. And to say goodbye.” She moved to sit with her back against The Tree’s Trunk, “We will never be together like this again.”

“But I will always be with you.”

“That’s not true. You’ll only be with me as long as I am in Astra.”

“You’ll be here for a little while longer yet. I wouldn’t say a final goodbye right now.”

Darin sighed, “I will never see you again. Probably, if I don’t have to come and drag Workers with me.”

Darin got the impression that The Tree was laughing, “Some will come. Some will stay.” And it seemed like The Tree was heartbroken, “And some we will lose.”

There was a moment of silence before Darin spoke again, “In the end we can’t make anyone’s choices for them. We can only ask them to choose what’s right.”

The Tree agreed, “That has always been true. For everyone, everywhere.”

Darin just sat for a few minutes under The Branches of The Tree in order to watch them sway in the wind. In was funny how even The Tree followed the natural order of things. It could sway contrary to the wind if it wanted to, but it chose not to for the most part. There was no reason to break rules put in place by nature itself. Darin knew that she could do a lot of things contrary to nature; things she couldn’t do before that first conversation with The Tree. She didn’t see a reason to do them just because she could. She would have to need a good reason. Thankfully protecting The Seed was a good reason.

Finally, The Tree spoke again, “It’s time for you to go. Ridahne looks for you, and Ravi would speak to the two of you.”

Darin stood and brushed off the back of her pants, “I best be going then.”

The Tree commanded, “Hold out your hand.” Darin did so and an Apple fell into it, “A parting gift my glorious Darin. It is all the tongues the Children of Astra speak. This should help you make friends. It will take practice to use them, but you will know them.”

Darin nodded solemnly, “Thank you.” Then she turned to hug The Tree as best she could, “I will do my best. I promise.”

The Tree laughed again, “That is all I can ask any of my Children to do. Now off you go and go with my blessing.”

Darin nodded and then walked off. As she walked, she studied the fruit in her hand. It looked like a normal apple but knew it was much more. Most of the Apples were essentially normal. Only when The Tree chose to make them more did they become more. Still each Apple was of great importance. It was almost a metaphor for people. Most people were normal and average even though not one was unimportant. Then occasionally, like her or Ridahne, a person became vastly important to all the people of Astra. Eventually Darin rubbed the fruit off on her shirt and took a bite out of it. It tasted like an apple; sweet and just a little tart. She ate it all, including the seeds. It wouldn’t kill her, but she knew she had to take even the bad parts of the words of Astra. She was finishing up as she, Talbot, and Taja joined Ridahne,

She nodded, “Yes we should go.” Talbot bent his knees and Taja was smart enough to hold still as she climbed up on the horse, “First we need to find Ravi or maybe let him find us. For while we don’t agree on many things, he is still more experienced than the both of us combined. We can at least listen to any parting wisdom he may have. It won’t hurt. That much is for sure.”