LadyAnnaLee

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

So much for distracting Ridahne. Darin sat and listened to the Elf’s confession, was confession the right word, confession seemed like a good word, with a slight air od confusion. When the warrior was done Darin had to process. Her head slowly turned from staring at Ridahne to staring at the fire. That was a lot to take in. Suddenly, Darin’s greatest crime (Stealing a dog from an abusing master) didn’t seem so bad. Darin knew what a murderer was. She had vague ideas of what a rapist was. (One had tried to hide from Lively justice in the village. Lively had sent a messenger bird with news of the crime. Darin had been part of the crowd of fellow farmers that the village elders had rallied to prevent his entrance. He was not given a trial. His body was burned. In both Lively and the village that was a high dishonor. Darin knew she was lucky she had not been the one to find him. The elders had ordered him dead on sight.) Darin knew both were bad, but they both still happened. She couldn’t fault Ridahne for getting rid of them. Though if Darin was understanding it right, that wasn’t all she did. She also killed people after being lied to about what their crimes were. Ridahne had killed innocents because she believed they had committed crimes they hadn’t.

Darin found herself asking, “Tell me. Were you exiled for the innocents? Or for the death of the liar?”

Ridahne had told Darin that she might not want to know what had happen. Darin had a feeling Ridahne was right. Darin also had a terrible feeling that she knew what the answer to her question was. That was the question she didn’t want to answer. So far, the human could understand why the Elf felt guilty. Darin didn’t understand how killing while being deliberately misinformed was one hundred percent the Elf’s fault, but she could see how Ridahne could see it was her fault. In Darin’s head the solution to the delimia was simple. The person in power should be stripped from power, thrown in jail, and maybe executed. Ridahne should probably not be allowed to kill again, and yes, everyone should know what happened. Darin didn’t think that was what happened. She was willing to bet that Ridhane killed the liar and got exiled for treason; never mind that her reasons were right. Evil was not black and white, cut and dry. The human was willing to bet that Ridahne and her people had mistaking honor and loyalty for goodness. Then when Ridahne figured out that wasn’t always the case she had been punished for it.

The entire time Darin was thinking she had been staring at the fire. She didn’t even turn as she asked her question. Her eyes blinked slowly. Against her thigh The Seed burned. It wasn’t the same type of burning as when Darin had faced Mark. That burning had led to terror and a surety of evil. The closest Darin could compare this burning to was fury. Darin was trying very hard not to get angry until her suspicions were confirmed. For all she knew she Ridahne had never killed the liar. She might not have even tried. She might have been sent on this mission because she killed the innocents. Darin only had a part of the story. She needed the rest of the facts. Something, she thought it might be The Seed, told her Ridahne was telling her the truth. Something else, probably the memory of her mother, was telling her that Ridahne wasn’t telling Darin everything. Darin was trying not to let rage over take her until she had all of the facts. It wasn’t easy at all. She had never been angry before; tick off yes, but true rage, no. This was new. It almost scared the young girl. Her arms wrapped around her bent knees, and she gripped her knees tightly. Ridahne was right. She didn’t want confirmation of the answer she already knew.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

So, now seems like a good time to bring up part of my plottings. I would like to introduce several new characters when the two of them get to The Tree. I would like one of them to be an Elf. However, I don't know enough about the Elf cultures you have created to do so well. I would like them to be an Eluri, but that's only because the only thing I know about them is that that's the tribe that receives visions the most frequently. I have character traits in mind for them, but I'm not sure what they would look like or what naming conventions are for the Eluri. I know he is an outcast, but he is an outcast by choice. Is there anyway you can help me out.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin was snapped out of her song by Ridahne’s comment about their closeness to The Tree. Now that the human thought about it this was the closest, she had been to it as well. She had a feeling that it was different for the Elf. Ridahne had actually left home before all of this after all. Darin turned to look in the direction she hoped was the direction was home. She was more concerned with the fact that this was the furthest she had ever been from home. Yet again a terrible bout of homesickness over came her. Darin looked over at Talbot. He looked like he was done. He pushed at her affectionately. Darin smiled as she headed towards the fire. The smile fell as she sat down. Ridahne didn’t look good. Darin supposed she should try to help. She just wants sure how. Maybe she could try distracting the Elf. How could she do that? Then Darin had an idea.

She swallowed before she began, “Hey Ridahne? Could you look at my shoulder? I didn’t see anything wrong with it when I fell, but it’s better to be safe rather than sorry.”

The only other thing Darin could think of was stories of home, but she was so not in the mindset to do that. Home wasn’t something Darin wanted to think about even though she thought of it every day. It was always in the back of her mind. She was glad that she hadn’t forgotten home, but she knew that it was distracting her from the job at hand. She thought that might be part of Ridahne’s problem as well. The human would admit that remembering the past was important, but it couldn’t be changed. The best anyone could do was pick themselves up, dust of regret, and keep moving forward. The human didn’t know how to say that though. Hopefully this distraction would work well enough.

Darin continued, “I mean it doesn’t hurt or anything, but it hurts to touch it. I suppose that means I shouldn’t touch it. I mean I’m not touching it on purpose. It hurts when I move it too. I’m having a hard time avoiding that one. I guess it’s not that bad.”

Darin knew she was babbling. She couldn’t seem to stop though. She supposed it was better than having Ridahne wallow in whatever miserable thoughts she was thinking about. Maybe they were miserable. Darin wasn’t sure since she wasn’t a mind reader, but she was positive that they weren’t good thoughts. That was okay. Everybody had not nice thoughts from time to time. Darin didn’t want to stop from her companion from having the bad thoughts. She just wanted to distract the Elf long enough that the bad thoughts would leave her alone for the rest of the night. Somehow Darin didn’t think that would be the case. She could still try.

Darin tugged the sleeve of her shirt down, “I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I guess it’s just a little odd that I don’t have someone fawning over me. Mama never let me alone when I would get injured. Though she tried to stop as I got older. I guess she was trying not to smother me. It was nice though. Even though she didn’t really approve of me running the farm she still took care of me.”

Okay, Darin was shutting up now. That was a little too close to stories about home than she really wanted to get to right now. Then again, would stories about home help? Darin wasn’t sure. On one hand her home was about as far as you could get from Ridahne’s life. On the other it might just remind Ridahne of what she no longer had. Darin would reserve judgement on that case. She looked at the injury. It didn’t look that bad. She didn’t think it was infected and infection was the real worry. It might scar, but that would be the first scar she would get. She had a feeling she would wind up with a lot more before this journey was over. That was honestly the least of Darin’s worries.

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

Darin took the waterskin good naturedly, but the slight smile soon dropped as the Elf joked about falling into ravines. After muttering something about being back soon Darin slipped off of Talbot and went in pursuit of the river. The horse followed and the human found that she was okay with that. Maybe with Talbot with her she wouldn’t get lost as easily. It was worth a shot. Even if she did get lost at least she wouldn’t be alone. Being alone was not the best thing to be right now. Darin had to admit, at least to herself, what she had done last night was pretty dumb. It wouldn’t due for her to get in anymore trouble like what had happened at Greyrock.

It was just that Ridahne was … difficult to travel with. Secrets were a new concept for Darin. With all the gossip in her village they just couldn’t exist. Yet the Elf had at least one that the young girl was fairly positive would impact her journey to find the right place to plant The Seed sooner or later. Then there was the joke about the ravine. Were such jokes common among the Azurei? Darin wasn’t sure she had like the joke about her natural clumsiness and lack of a sense of direction. Darin felt worse about it because she knew, logically, Ridahne hadn’t meant any harm by it. At least Darin didn’t think that the warrior meant any harm by it. That didn’t change the fact that it still hurt. The human focused on not tripping as she tried to let those feelings go. They would serve no purpose. There were bigger things at stake than her hurt feelings.

Darin had reached the small stream while she had been thinking. She quickly determined that the water was safe to drink before submerging Ridahne’s waterskin to fill it. While she did that, she used her other hand to pull out hers. It was the same one she had used while working in the field back home. It was only slightly smaller that the Elf’s though it was clear that they were made by two different types of people. Ridahne’s was painted in the colors Darin had come to recognized as Azurei colors. Hers was simply cured. Once the first one was full Darin switched the two. Next to her Talbot was drinking his fill.

Filling the waterskins did not take as long as she would have liked. Darin found herself standing slowly as she took the reins off of Talbot. He pushed at her and with a small laugh she let herself be moved in the direction of Ridahne. There was a small little camp that Darin approved of. Right before they got there Darin noticed the Elf rapidly move from sitting to brushing her horse. That meant the Elf was hiding something. Darin wasn’t a complete idiot. The Elf had been crying or something similar.

Darin spoke softly as she handed the Elf her waterskin, “Whatever it is, is fine.”

It seemed they were both trying new things today. Darin had no idea what curry was and the smell of it was making her eyes water slightly. The human elected not to mention it though. She didn’t want to cause another fight, and she already felt badly for thinking bad of Ridahne. It was made worse with the knowledge that the Elf had been crying. It shouldn’t have been surprising. Darin missed home terrible, but she had left home on mostly good terms. The Elders were not sad to see her go, but if she ever did make it home, they wouldn’t turn her away. Ridahne had been exiled. She couldn’t go home to open arms ever again. Darin couldn’t even imagine that. She supposed she should try to be nicer to Ridahne. It wasn’t like Darin was the only one suffering.

Darin moved to pull her own horse brush out of her pack. Talbot pushed softly at her hand to hurry her along. Darin turned to the task with a determination that anyone who knew her would recognize. Darin was going to do this job so well that no one would be able to critique it. It wasn’t something Darin had too much practice with. She would brush Heath whenever Rolland lent him to Darin. That wasn’t often enough for Darin to call herself an expert at horse brushing. Until she knew what she was doing, she wasn’t going to take any chances. Talbot seem to be enjoying the attention.

As she worked the girl sand a song without really paying attention to the words. It was as song the people of Darin’s home sang as they finished the day’s tasks and moved into the evening. There was a song for each time of day and Darin couldn’t remember learning any of them. The people of both her village and Lively learned them from such a young age it was like learning to walk. They heard the words over and over until one day the just joined in.

“Come now. The sun sets soon. See the sky is orange and burning red.
Come now. Remember, don’t work until work until you’re dead.
Finish what can be done. Pause the ongoing tasks.
Eat your meal and wash your face. Your outside work is past.
The Tree is watching over you to protect you from the wrong. So, slow on down and rest your mind and sing this little song.
The sun is beyond your sight the moon comes into view.
It’s time to rest. It’s time to learn. I’ll tell you what to do.
Patch that patch and sew that sock; all the tiny things. Find that pin and that shirt and those little things.
Then when that is done, and the stars glow bright.
Tell the world and your family: Rest well and now good night.”

The Tree of Astra (LadyAnnaLee and Blackfridayrule)

I have no idea when I I will get you a post. The latest will be Friday or Saturday. I hope that's okay.

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.