Awakenings

[Bethany Kismet]

She had eventually dozed off, side of her face pressed against the bark. Never fully sleeping, not enough to dream perse, but that point just between where dreams and reality are only separated from each other by a thin veil. Easily pierced. Easily stepped through and beyond. A place where Vessa had dark hair, holding on dimly to something..... someone.....

Vessa blinked owlishly, yawning and stretching and lost the thread of that vision as soon as the stop in Coniferous's otherwise even gait jostled her awake. Like early morning mists, it vanished quickly, forgotten in the rising sun.

Clamoring down, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her fists, yawning again almost wide enough to make her jaw crack.

"This place is..... better."

It still wasn't what it had once been. She wiggled her toes into the moss, looking up at the crown of the tree they stood beneath. She could hear the water yes, but also feel is, as if the trickle could travel up the soles of her feet and into her core. It was a good place to stop and stretch. Vessa hadn't realized how thirsty she was until she flopped down on her stomach and scooped the first tentative palmful of water to her mouth. The barest bite of acid- but it was cold and crisp, the pollution largely filtered out by the roots of the tree and the moss the water moved through and she drank deeply before sitting back up and crossing her legs.

Fingers spread wide, she cast her hands softly above the moss, a small frown flickering across her lips.

"It won't be for much longer."

[member="Coniferous"]

 

[Carach]

[member="Vessa"]

"It won't." It was a realization that the Dalan had made the moment it had been pushed out of its slumber. Coniferous had a deep connection to the wild, yes, but it paled in comparison to the connection he felt to the world of Rayyka. Din, they had called it. But that was a long time ago and the name was almost as obscure as its origins as a world of lush jungles and wilderness.

"But for now it exists and we exist with it." Coniferous finally stated before taking a step towards the ancient tree.

One of him.

An ancient Dalan, asleep, slumber, frozen into the endless night and it would never wake up again. It couldn't and Coniferous would never even attempt to wake it, he wasn't sure its core could survive to see what happened to their homeworld. His hand, grooved and old and ridged, pressed tight against the ancient bark. He touched, he felt and as Coniferous closed his eyes he saw.

The dreams it dreamed.

"I will take from it a branch and it will give us the wild to take with." Coniferous murmured softly as his hand brushed the branches and the bark. Feeling out one that was willing to depart.

 

[Bethany Kismet]

Vessa pushed herself back up, moving closer. She looked up at Coniferous, then back at the tree itself. With a skip and a plop, she scooted right up against the base of it, between a pair of jutting roots. Leaning the full length of her back against the trunk, she tilted her head back. One hand went to each side, palms resting on those roots lightly. While he explored the branches, Vessa said hello.

Moss coloured eyes closed and she sighed contentedly, seeking out the dreamer within. It wasn't hard- the dreams were pure. Lush jungles, rich and fecund, clean air, water muddy but untainted by the burn of acid. She could feel reality weighing, chewing at the edges, but this tree held fast, churning out new remembrances, a millennia of them before the time of planet's new masters, and carefully patching the damage.

The girl didn't reach out to the Force. For this exercise it was simply there. She didn't know what she did, or what to call it- it was a second sense, something as familiar and easy as breathing.

As if she'd been made to do it.

While Coniferous worked to take- seeking a gift, yes, but still to take- Vessa gave.

[member="Coniferous"]

 

[Carach]

[member="Vessa"]

It was within his nature to take.

The hunger of the Raykkans was great, but the desire of the awakened Dalan made it pale in its existence. "Hmm, you think like one of us, child." Coniferous murmured while leaning his brow against the old bark of the tree. It made him even more curious who this Vessa was. This little child that had come from nowhere, awakened him through simple instincts and had picked the rights words to make him accept her on this road.

As subtle strength wrapped away from her and into the sleeping Dalan, Coniferous' hand wrapped around a branch.

The moment his touch rested there feelings flooded back into him. Acceptance being the main one. Even pride, because his resting brother felt him- the first awakened Dalan in a millenia.

It knew.

They still had a chance, no matter how remote it was.

Coniferous pulled and took the long, strong branch and it gave it back to him. In its place Vessa's energy flowed in, spreading growth and leaving it more than it had been before they got here.

 

[Bethany Kismet]

Vessa beamed. Oh she knew she wasn't one of them. She knew that she was made of bone and flesh and blood. So that was praise that meant something to her, and warmed her in a way that caused a secondary flush of green growth, pushing dormant buds to life by the very warmth of her pleasure.

As he separated the branch from the tree, the bark flowed, growing over the wound and sealing it in heartbeats rather than years. Several new branches sprouted from the point of the wound, as taller branches high in the tree reached for the yellow, clouded skies and she sent the roots deeper than ever before until they hit a thin layer of clean aquifer. Vessa's smile shifted into one of a job well done- while the aquifer was weak and slowly drying up, it would offer further protection (for a time) to this small grove against the depredations of the planet's pollution.

Reaching up, she shifted out of the connection, wiping the back of her hand across her forehead. She brushed off beads of sweat- while it was natural it was not without effort, and the girl felt tired but satisfied. Leaning back, the tree above her continuing to grow (at a slower pace now, until it hit its new balance) and she watched Coniferous with curiosity as he held the branch in his hands.

[member="Coniferous"]

 

[Carach]

[member="Vessa"]

Coniferous rumbled in satisfaction as he watched what she was doing.

Oh, the Dalan would have simply left his brother, if it had been him alone- nature was without mercy and granting a few extra years, while costing himself valuable energy necessary for the fights in the future? That was against his nature. But that did not stop him from approving of what Vessa did. It was, after all, one of his family that she was sheltering from the immediate future.

In truth Coniferous had not been planning on granting her an additional boon.

These actions changed that plan. He settled himself down between the creek and the sleeping Dalan, letting his toes curl into the dirt. Brushing against the sleeping branch and taking away the splinters, the side-branches that still remained, the leaves. One particularly large side-branch (small for him, but just the right size for Vessa if he grew it firm) was put to the side.

His eyes closed and the branch of the Dalan settled itself on his knees.

A moment later the singing started. Heavy, old and weary, a voice still learning the tune his ancestors had spun for millennia. It was wrought and it was tired, there were ridges within the song.

There was beauty to it, yes, but it was the beauty of a dark forest, the one that swallowed whole. The branch... it began to be shaped.

 

[Bethany Kismet]

Crossing her legs, Vessa leaned forward, settling her elbows on her knees to watch. And, as it turned out, listen.

She didn't understand the words. But then, she didn't really need to. Only shortly after he started she began to hum softly. Her voice, even muffled with lips closed and sound coming from the back of her throat, was higher pitched than his by almost a full two octaves. She didn't really think about it, just did it, improvising a harmony above his melody.

Sunlight on the tops of leaves over the shadows beneath.

[member="Coniferous"]

 

[Carach]

[member="Vessa"]

It might have been hours or might have been seconds, but eventually Coniferous stopped and pulled the branch- no, it was a staff now, to his eyes.

Watched it.

Listened to it.

Feeling its brush against the tips of his claws and against the line of his cheek, until he nodded with satisfaction. "The memory of Din will always be with us for as long as this staff is in our hands." Then he looked to her and wondered. Her song had been sweet, full with vigor and energy, a high tone above his shadows. It had hit exactly the right tones that one would have wanted.

"I was going to make yours next, but instead..." His hand rose up and the small (for him) branch slowly found its way until they reached her, settling itself snugly on her knees next. "Brush it, feel it, cultivate the branch until it fits in your hand like an extension of self. Then... sing."

He'd sing with her, adding strength and experience of recently-gained memory to her passion and energy.

 

[Bethany Kismet]

Vessa's hands reached out hesitantly. She paused, fingers hovering over the staff he'd placed across her knees, looking doubtfully up at him then down at it, then back up at him. She pursed her lips, frowning and brow furrowing. Slowly, tentatively, she reached down, hands wrapping around the branch.

"If you'll help me," she said dubiously.

Clearing her throat, she started to sing again.

Even with his attention, it was just as unselfconscious as it had been before. Bright and clear now, lips parting and letting herself sing fully, rather than simply hum. She didn't know the words, but she understood the meaning without needing to think about it.

Hue and bounty
Fern and flower
Give us here,
Eon and hour.
There is growth
and there is dying
their only sin
is lack of trying.
Bark and budding
Leaf and bower
There's something more
than depth of power.
There is dying
and there is growth
our only strength
is in our oath.

The knowledge of that meaning was gone again as the words faded into the air, and she looked down, then smiled up at him, cheeks dimpled with clear and present joy.

"I did it," she whispered.

[member="Coniferous"]

 

[Carach]

[member="Vessa"]

They sang and sang and sang.

Under her touch and their guiding song the branch grew, was shaped, turned and became perfect for her fingers.

But it wasn't the same staff as his, her song brought other things to it, other details than what his life-song brought to his. The staff of Coniferous was old, worn, its bark and surface brushed clean from endless holding. There were leaves at the top of the staff, thorny sharp, they could cut with a single brush. It was larger too. By far. Perfectly fit for his large hands.

"You did, little one." Coniferous hummed, settling himself down next to her. The ground rumbled softly in response to his renewed presence. "You do not remember where you came from?"

She was an odd human.

But she made a good tree, if he was honest.

Coniferous wondered if he could shape her like he had shaped the branch. Turn her, bring her closer to what it meant to be Dalan. Not in the way of synthesis, of using her flesh as soil, but to turn that same organic flesh into something her spirit would fit better. It would be... no, not yet. Maybe she would earn that honor, but certainly not right now.

"Now we will rest, before we continue our journey. Embrace the groove, Vessa, we will never return here."

 

[Bethany Kismet]

Vessa was exhausted in truth. So she nodded, already a little sleepy, reaching up and rubbing her eyes with the back of her fist. Slowly she curled up on the moss- she didn't let go of the staff, instead drawing it in against her chest, fingers and arms curled around it like someone else might cuddle a stuffed toy. Slowly her head dropped down against the velvet verdance, eyes closing slowly, millimeter by millimeter.

As Vessa slipped off into sleep, to dream about the dark haired, green eyed woman, the tree above them both kept growing. Slower now, without her attention, but dormant buds unfurled, leaf and flower. A year's growth encompassed in the next hours. From bud to flower to fruit to seed, all occurring and maturing above their heads.

It wasn't until the dried and shriveled fruits, stuffed near to bursting with seeds, started to fall, raining down on the pair that Vessa awoke again.

Not the first, which dropped soundlessly beside her face on the moss. Not the second. But the third startled her when it plinked her nose. And then they came raining down in a shower that had Vessa sitting up and laughing.

"Coniferous look!" she exclaimed, eyes cast up at the swaying branches.

Plink plink plink.

"It wants to come with us."

[member="Coniferous"]

 

[Carach]

[member="Vessa"]

Coniferous did not sleep nor slumber.

Not after years of being hazed in his own mind.

Sleep would not come as easily now, no, neither did he want it to come. But his eyes closed regardless and he hummed - hummed to rock her to sleep and to communicate with the rooted Dalan. Oh, it wasn't a conversation and neither did the other Tree wake from its slumber. Coniferous was not cruel after all. The communication was one of rhythm and images. Sharing what had come before in exchange for what would come to pass in the future.

It was... sobering.

To know that even with Vessa's assistance, he still missed so much.

The first dried fruit plinked against his knee, the second against his foot, the third plinked on top of his head and remained there. It was Vessa's excitement that made him open his eyes slowly. Letting himself look around and then smile sadly. "It wants to help, its core sad, this is all it can do." All that I would allow it to do. "Look beneath its roots, little one, it left us more than one gift of thanks."

During that hour the sleeping Dalan had slowly, but surely shifted its roots around... inch by inch and assisted by the regrowth ushered forward by Vessa.

If she looked now there would be a hole. Just snug and fit enough for her smol hand to push through.

 

[Bethany Kismet]

Eyeing the tiny cavern, Vessa shifted so she was lying on her stomach. Reaching inside, a look of concentration on her face. The hole was deep and narrow, more than she needed for her fist, but not by much. Face pressed against the dirt, her tongue stuck out between her lips as she reached a slightly larger 'den' just at the limit of her reach. Fingers scrabbled for a moment before closing around something smooth and roundish. Drawing it out carefully, she sat up, cradling whatever it was in both hands and drawing it into her lap.

Slowly she opened her hands.

It resembled a large walnut. Dark, earth brown, and wrinkled surface. A faint lip. Carefully, she wedged a thumbnail into the crack, leveraging it open.

While the seeds that had rained down on them a moment ago were all uniform, the seeds inside were all different. A pair of each, at least two dozen different sorts. Some small and round, others rough and oblong, one pair little pyramids and another pair samaras- graced with wings meant to be picked up by the wind.

She offered it to show to [member="Coniferous"], her face very solemn.

She knew a charge of responsibility when she saw it.

 

[Carach]

[member="Vessa"]

Coniferous felt their presence, before he even laid his eyes upon them.

Little seedlings, minuscule and yet its weight was enough to pin them to the ground, if they let them. Slowly he reached out and pulled the box out of her offering hands, letting the box settle against his chest as Coniferous settled himself back down amidst the grass. He cradled the box, like a babe just born, even though each of these seeds were many times more ancient than he was.

"This is..." Eyes closed and he breathed their scent in. They were still alive or had the capacity to be awakened. This was potential and both of them knew what this walnut-shaped box meant. "...our charge, little Vessa." It didn't change things, but it made them more complicated. Silently he closed the lid and passed it back over to her. "Our eldest Brother offered it to you, little one, so you will keep it safe. As I keep you safe."

The fact that Vessa felt a sense of protection over him was not lost to him.

In fact, it amused him to one degree or the other.

But at the very least she had earned to carry these seeds of life. These... beginnings that would herald the return to at least some of the life lost and forgotten on Din, now that everything was Raykka.

 

[Bethany Kismet]

There was the slightest resistance when he went to take the box, but she let go after less than a single heartbeat. She had held it out to show, not to give, and she was oddly reluctant to let it go. It was, she felt in her heart of hearts, for her.

She did not like the our on this one- she couldn't help it. Not really. But she accepted it. She knew he was right, but all she wanted was to cradle the small box in her own arms. She accepted the box back without grabbing it, fingers stroking the grain affectionately. Carefully, she stowed it in her satchel, nestling it carefully in the stockings and slippers she'd removed previously.

"I'll take good care of them," she promised solemnly. "We'll make them grow again." We, and she meant it. "I promise."

Clamoring back to her feet, she wiggled her toes in the moss with clear pleasure.

It was time to go again.

[member="Coniferous"]

 

[Carach]

[member="Vessa"]

The reservation was missed by Coniferous.

Mostly because that was thing of humans and something that he had little experience with.

The seeds belonged to nature, they were all nature (even the little human, perhaps even more) and that meant they belonged to all of them. "I believe you, little one, we will spread them and allow the history of Din be reborn elsewhere." These declarations, both from her as well as him, made the Living Force murmur with pleasure. It approved the course of action they were setting themselves on.

This was enough for the Dalan.

"Do you want to walk for a little while, before resting on my shoulder?"

Walking was life after all.

And they were all living now, no longer slumbering, Coniferous would not deprive her of her own walk if she wished it.