37.1 See Elven Things

General Summary

Day 545

After the Weaver’s Village my party heads in the direction of the trees planted by one of my ancestors. Village members point us in the right direction and tell us that they were found long ago by a mystic who described them as ‘sacred to someone else’ and so they have simply avoided the area out of respect. For a normal group it is perhaps a two day journey to reach the hilltop copse of trees but it takes us just half a day to find it. A crumbled stone path leads us past small stone guardian statues of local animals - a stag, a mountain lion, both watchful and protective. And then we are amidst the trees themselves - enormous trees laden with unripe fruit of all kinds: Plums, peaches, apples, pears, many varieties of cherry. There is a single citrus tree, smaller and younger than all the others. They are all the size of grove trees but I’ve never seen any grove tree bearing fruit and certainly not these recognizable varieties.   Even the trees of day and night do not feel like home these ones do…I have no call to sleep beneath them but they feel like home regardless. And unlike the trees of leaf and vine they don’t feel empty and roiling so much as…lonely. As I run my hands over the enormous trunks they wake a little, and as Trillium joins me they surround her in soft golden light that dissipates into the air.  

It…soothes something painful that I didn’t realize was hurting.

  Liliales and Jaeril are quiet as they watch the two of us examine the trees, respectful and happy to be witnessing it. And then Trillium chooses to sing - telling the trees about the river and the places she has been. They wake more, responding and listening to her song after so long in silence.  

Come see this elven thing,

  I whisper to Kaide to draw her out. There is no doubt in my mind that she is an elf and that these trees are hers too. There is anxiety and timidness rolling off her as she steps out and joins us but of course they welcome her as well.  

It feels like home, as welcoming as sand and salty air. Utterly different from my home and yet…

  As she wanders the grove she finds a particular tree that resonates more with her and encourages Trillium to do the same, finding a plum and a deep purplish cherry tree respectively. She, too, sings to her tree and I’m a little surprised to hear a polished song about the sea emerge from her. It is clearly something she has worked on, and not something she has told me about yet. And the trees listen, absorb, and in some ways reflect the sadness of her song the same way they do with Trillium.   It is Liliales who nudges me forwards to sing. I have my song, of course, the same one I sang for the trees of leaf and vine as I structured my life into a cycle and sang at the confusion of stepping out of the cycle and into something new. For this song, I choose the small sapling that is trying to hard to stretch upwards with the encouragement of its peers. I summon my ancestor heart song accompanist and he stands with me as I sing to the trees that he tended, telling them how far we have come. The trees brim with happiness and this tiny, youthful tree pushes channels energy from its elder siblings and pushes out a perfectly ripe tiny citrus fruit that falls gently into my hand. I hold it close but don’t eat it yet; I would like to experience it privately once we have settled down.   As we set up camp within the trees Qing Chen bows before entering the copse and then settles down to sketch the trees themselves while I take a memory painting. We sit in silence for a time before a stag joins us and circles us, watching him closely. Eventually it settles down as well to keep watch and I can sense its considerable magical presence bonded to the area.   Jaeril and Liliales prepare a picnic while I send a letter to Bran asking him to bring elves here and he responds in minutes that they will leave immediately. The rest of the afternoon passes easily as we eat and tell the trees everything we know about elves and our history - the story of our journey across the Barrier, the people who have returned, interesting elves we have met in our various travels. They remind me somewhat of family elders, quietly listening and pleased to hear the news.   It is dusk before Bran, Vaneilli, and Yneir arrive, remarking that Vaneilli was the one to guide them here as both Bran and Yneir simply could not see this place. Once again, we get to hear a fragment of an elvish song as Kaid and Trillium introduce Vaneilli to the trees and she selects a peach tree to sing to. Her song is about love and partnership and it is a delight to see Bran blushing.   Later in the evening I sneak off privately to sit with my tree and tell it stories of the trees in my orchard and as my attention wanders I feel as though I am home again sitting amongst my own trees. In this moment I examine the tiny citrus fruit I collected - it feels like the song stones in Avan'Nal, Mec Ales, and the Final Rest of Songs and I'm drawn to peel the thin rind and taste it...the most perfect fruit I can imagine.   At the taste the world falls away and leaves me alone with the tree and with a young girl dressed in the same style of clothing as my ancestor in the bloodline echo. She's certainly not older than 200 and she is singing happily about her friends and family, wanting to find a valley of her own and settle down. Unlike the songs I've received from the tree of day and night it is not a memory that I adopt so much as a song I hear as a member of the audience.   That night Bran and Vaneilli join me in the Dreaming as I go looking for Nal and Thalien. Bran has told me about how Nucifera is teaching him to read the past from threads of fate but he still finds her lack of empathy disturbing even though she is helpful. I still hope Thalien is still nowhere near her.   In the Dreaming we step into a Grove that is even more remarkably lively than the waking world. Older animal guardians abound - stags, mountain lions, foxes, birds, and faint music can be heard as we wander. It doesn't take long for Nal and Thalien to find us and I'm glad to see Thalien looking healthier and more solid than he was before...though his eyes have gone a bit darker and starry like the night sky. He looks more mysterious, which is not something Thalien ever needed more of.   Nal and I instantly dive into theories about these trees and what they are like, whether the song I heard from the fruit is a fragment that the tree heard from a young girl or if it is a recreation of something sung by an elder. Do the trees exchange fruits for songs and is this how elves 'cycle' given that we no longer sleep? I tell her about my bloodline echo and the elves who found the Final Rest of Songs and grew these trees with Grove sap, fallen branches, and grafted fruit trees because the trees could hear but not reciprocate until that point.   At my and Vaneilli's instance Thalien walks amidst the trees and finds one that resonates with him - a multi hued apple that reaches out for him, trying to offer a fruit. Cautiously he sings a piece of his own song, one about old and new family, including his newfound home with the Celestial fae. When he bites into the apple he is given he drifts away for a moment before returning to tell us what he heard: Each bite was a new point in the life of a single singer who sang about keeping people safe.  

How do trees decide what to show you?

  This, I think, is a question of all trees. But before I can say so Thalien's eyes twinkle with starlight and he says confidently that there is no fate in the decision, it just needs to listen before it can give. But at some point, I know from my echo, the trees stopped being able to hear elves and I don't know why. As Nal and I discuss this Thalien gets some time with his newlywed students but after a while we trade off so that I can check on him too.   Apparently he slept for days once he settled into the Celestial grove and has been feeling stronger and healthier ever since. There is a kinship with the fae but he is not quite one of them yet...though maybe one day he will be? We marvel at the thought of him with night sky wings and laugh at the idea that he might cycle through being the Sun just like I might become daylight one day.   It feels so comfortable and familiar to get to lean against him and tell him about recent events - my new oaths, seeing the Empress' face, becoming the Imperator. There is no awe or shock in his face, just curiosity and confidence about the golden path I am continuing to walk. This is my own manual fatespinning as I question my lifespan and what it will look like for me to live until something kills me and...whether he thinks he will live alongside me. Whether his fae transformation might let him live here forever.  

My grandmother always told me not to weave my own fate...but I can feel something big on the horizon. Maybe I will become fae like you.   Would you rather be fae here or come back to us?   I would pick whatever keeps me closest to you. Wherever you need me.

  I know he doesn't regret choosing to spend his life instead of Bran's on the day he died; here he can keep tugging and helping and the Dreaming feels like reality for him now. But privately it helps to hear this, that my longspanning journey to bring him back to the waking world is as important as I make it and not just a futile hope that he'll come back to life when he is happy and safe staying in the Dreaming.