• Closed • How to recognize different types of trees from quite a long way away (Darius, Faith)

[Oram Mednix]

No. 1: The larch

23 Ashan, Arc 720.

The air was warm, but the water of Ol’ Tuck’s Run still bore traces of Cold Cycle chill. Oram gasped as he splashed it on his face; after the initial shock, however, he rocked back onto his haunches and grinned. This balmy weather was a welcome relief from the bitter Cylus season they had just left behind. There wasn’t a lot of good trapping yet, he thought as he scanned the trees on the opposite side of the ‘Run. Plenty of fish and fowl this time of arc, though.

Still squatting, the hunter looked up at his companion. ”Water’s still Cylus-cold,” he told Darius. ”So brace yourself. But it feels good.” Beard dripping, he resumed his happy survey of the surrounding woods. ”We’re almost there. Perhaps another mile or so.”

Darius Baer had accompanied him out here because the sailor had wanted to find some yellow dragon trees, and Oram happened to know where a good-sized stand of them was. They had set out a couple breaks before, under the most pleasant weather the traveler had seen in more than a hundred trials. It was the sort of trial that made people want to sing -people, at least, who could carry a tune better than Oram Mednix. His brother Osric would probably have brought his flute along on such an outing, and played it whenever he got the chance.

Oram sat back on the ground, and stretched one of his legs out while he untied one of his boots. ”The Run meanders quite a bit up here. We’ll be crossing it twice. It’ll be quicker than following it all the way round.” He removed one boot and sock, then switched legs and began to work on the other. He nodded towards the woods opposite. ”We should be able to see the ‘dragons once we’re within sight of that second crossing.” He stuffed his socks into his boots, then tied the laces together and draped the boots around his shoulders. He rolled his trouser legs about up to mid-shins.

The hunter got to his feet and re-shouldered his pack. ”Water’s only ankle deep if you watch where you step,” he said, as he walked bare-foot towards the stream. His voice caught a bit as his toes went into the cold water. He gave Darius a strained smile. ”Like I said, brace yourself. The ‘Run still thinks it’s Cylus-”

Oram broke off and shot a sharp look towards the woods on the other side of the ‘Run. He had seen something, some movement, a flash of black and white. A badger, perhaps? But it had seemed much larger than that, much heavier. He looked questioningly back at Darius. ”Did you see that?” he asked, instinctively hushing his voice. ”Something moving in the woods over there.” He peered back into the woods, intent. Forgetting for the moment that he was ankle deep in Cylus-cold water.

[Darius Baer]

Arc 720, 23rd of Ashan

Despite spending most of his arcs in Scalvoris Town, Darius was not as familiar with the land that surrounded it as he was with the Hollow Sea. He had spent many trials on the water, planting his feet firmly on the solid wooden deck of many a ship as it crashed through the waves, but his expertise in the wilderness of Scalvoris Island was somewhat lacking. That was unfortunate, because, as a budding woodworker, he needed materials to work with, and trees had a rather problematic habit of not growing in the middle of the ocean.

That was why he had enlisted the help of Oram Mednix. The pair had worked together before, and Darius knew the hunter to be knowledgeable when it came to sourcing Yellow Dragon Wood. Most Scalvorians knew of the timber and its extraordinary ability to keep burning for trials at a time once set alight, but it was also known to be particularly difficult to work with from a handcrafting perspective. Darius was eager to get his hands on some, even if it meant he couldn't make use of it until he was more accomplished in his woodworking abilities. If nothing else, it would certainly give him something to aspire to.

The splash of cold water on his face shocked him out of his contemplation. Oram had been talking to him and saying something about the water being col--

"Oh."

Darius realised he hadn't been paying proper attention, but he focused when the hunter laid out his planned route. The seafarer nodded, following the other man's lead with removing his footwear. The ground felt cold against his feet, but that would surely be better than having his boots and socks soaked through. He was rushing to catch up with Oram when the hunter spied some movement. Darius knew he should stop, so that the pair could study their quarry in silence, but he realised it a moment too late - an instant after one foot loudly splashed into the freezing water and caused him to let out a yell of surprise.

[Faith Augustin]

"So, love," said PB, "we're lost again, aren't we?"

Faith didn't answer, although she sighed, and even she would have to admit that, really, it was more of a huff than a sigh. Because, like the last time she'd come out looking for medicinal supplies in Sweetwine Woods with Hookor, and the time that she and Padraig had chased what they believed was a star which had fallen to the earth, and got lost in the Scaltoth Jungle; in fairness, like the last time she'd tried to find another professor's office in her place of work or every time that she attempted to explore the acres of land on which their property sat - Faith was completely lost.

She could just use her portal boots of course. But the problem was that they would take her home. Scalvoris was no longer home, Rharne was and, since she was here getting supplies for Rharne - all of which were back in her office in the Order of the Adunih - that meant that the Portal Boots were a last resort. And so, Faith Augustin - Champion of Famula, World-Renowned medic and philanthropist, war general and mother of three was stomping through... wherever it was she was. She glanced at the chalk-drawn outline of a bunny which was hopping alongside her and talking and Faith sighed. "I'm sure Beacon is around here somewhere," she said.

"You know that Paddyrags is gonna give you that look an' tell you not to go out on yer own, an' you're goin' look all meek an' then he's gonna get all contrite, an' then the pair of you are gonna leap on each other like a pair of crazed voles in matin' season an' by Moseke's hairy lady-parts, you'll be at it like... well, bunnies."

Faith looked at him, levelling a gaze to her companion and she did her very best to glare. "I do not spend my time looking meek!" It was the closest to annoyed that she ever really sounded and that caused PB to hoot with delight.

"Couldn't argue about th'voles couldya? Or the at it like bunnies? He loves it when you're all meek. Oh yes he... wot?"

He stopped in his gleeful tirade as he saw that Faith had spotted something and was, frankly, off. "Oi! Where're you goin'?" PB bounded after her.

"This is a Yellow Dragon Tree!" Faith said. "We need to collect the blossoms, it only blooms in Ashan, and I want some of the wood, too. And the leaves, oh PB this is great!" PB knew better than to argue, so he simply grumbled "I 'ate it when you're chipper," and hopped along beside her.

"Wot in the name of Famula's bouncy knockers are you doin!?" It was hard for a chalk-drawn outline of a bunny to look shocked and horrified, but he managed it admirably, Faith thought, as she started to ... "I'm climbing the tree. I need those leaves."

"Bloody hell, love, you're gonna kill yerself!"

Faith stopped and looked at him and then she considered that, in fairness, she had no skill at climbing at all, and she was alone other than PB, who couldn't easily just disappear. So. That meant that she had to get the resources another way. "Alright," she said, climbing down the less-than-a-foot that she'd climbed and then she started rummaging in her Domain Bag. Eventually, she found what she was looking for and she brought it out. Waving it victoriously, Faith said, "An Axe! The spelunking kit comes through again!" She was pointing to the tree and was just about to explain to PB what was happening and what they needed to do when she heard a loud splash and a yelp.

"Who's there?" Faith called out, her hand dropping to her sword at her waist. She stepped forward, to see a little better and, into Darius and Oram's sight came the rather short, pale, black-haired healer with pale silver eyes. Next to her was a small, animated, moving, chalk-drawn outline of a bunny.

"Whoever you are, I got a loaded Zuuda an' I'm not afraid to hide behind her!" PB yelled, and Faith spied a familiar face - and an unfamiliar one.

"Darius?"

[Oram Mednix]

No. 2: The crime-scene rabbit

Oram smirked when Darius gasped at the cold. It wasn’t often he got to feel tougher than his taller friend. ”Takes getting used to, eh?” he remarked, shooting the sailor a quick grin over his shoulder. ”Come, let’s get across quickly, before our toes freeze off.” And he moved to do so.

But that was before he saw the others across the way. The hunter stopped, still standing barefoot in the icy stream, and tried to make out the figures. One looked to be human, the other was smaller, probably some sort of companion or guard animal, he guessed. Just beyond them, he noticed a flash of bright color among the branches. Could they have already found themselves a ‘dragon? he wondered. He hadn’t noticed any inside this bend of the run the last time he was here, but then the trees hadn’t been in bloom yet.

Not long after, the stranger noticed them as well, put a hand on its sword and called “Who’s there?”. The stranger turned and took a step towards them. A woman, Oram saw. Small and young. The creature at her side was odd; Oram couldn’t make out what it was yet. He wasn’t sure that he liked it. And he didn’t know yet whether it would prove aggressive, or overly-protective of the woman it was following, so he kept a wary eye on it.

He looked up from it back at the woman’s face and slowly passed his spear to his left hand, while raising his right in greeting. ”Peace, stranger,” he called out. ”We mean no harm; we-” he broke off when the woman called out Darius’ name. He shot a questioning look back at his companion. ”You know her?” Then he turned back to re-examine the woman, and her weird critter.

[Darius Baer]

There were many things Darius was proud of. Stumbling aimlessly into an icy stream was not one of them. The water was so cold that it felt like it was gripping his foot, icy talons stinging his skin and sending a sharp stab of temperature through him.

His foot left the stream just as quickly - and just as noisily - as he'd entered it. He cursed silently as he blundered about, eventually returning to dry land with one foot that threatened to go numb on him.

All the while, he attempted to catch another glimpse of their unexpected company, stumbling and almost falling over as he reached for the hilt of his longsword as Oram was similarly cautious with his spear.

And then, quite unexpectedly, Darius heard his name. The voice was familiar, but difficult to place, for he had not heard it in a forest before. He froze - though not quite as literally as his foot would have him believe - and peered through gaps between the surrounding trees until he saw a familiar petite brunette.

Darius' hand left his pommel almost immediately as he let out a sigh of relief, and then guffawed as he considered the absurdity of the situation.

"Oram Mednix," he grinned, forcing himself to temporarily ignore the cold so he could make his proud announcement, "this is the one and only Faith Augustin, and her..."

Blond brows furrowed as the human caught sight of the woman's companion.

...chalk outline bunny?

He had many questions, but that wasn't the most pressing one. So he asked another, turning to Faith and only realising partway through that he was offering an unintentional pun.

"What brings you to this neck of the...woods?"

[Faith Augustin]

When Faith had considered, in the arcs before she and her then-owner Jamal had travelled from Athart to Rynmere, what her future would hold - it had not featured her being lost while trying to climb a tree with a chalk-bunny diri. The sight of Darius and his friend caused her to smile and she glanced at PB, then turned her gaze back to the solid, non-outline people.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said to Oram, then she motioned to PB. "This is PB," she said softly. The small creature waved. "PB! Short for Plunder Bunny!" Faith did not roll her eyes, which frankly demonstrated her incredible discipline. "He's a diri - a spirit - granted to me by Vri." PB - somehow - puffed out his chest and looked incredibly proud. "I am a Diri of Death! I can sense death, find death, read death. I also 'ave excellent dress sense an' exude machismo, but you two already worked out the last ones." Faith smiled.

Opening her mouth to speak, she closed it again as the chalk bunny continued. He seemed to be rather chatty today, Faith thought. "An' I have been tasked, by Vri 'imself - the Immortal of death, of sorrow an' remembrance, to look after her. But do you know why? Of course not! It's 'cos he's also the Immortal of luuuuurve," and yes, PB managed to make that word sound incredibly sordid. "An' I am, in fact, the love bunny!" A few thrusts of his hips and some strange dance which would embarrass anyone, and Faith raised her hand. "This is PB. He's my friend."

The bunny blushed. The space where his cheeks would be (were he a fully-coloured-in bunny, not an outline) tinged pink and he lapsed into silence. "I ... well, honestly, I'm lost." Faith said with the slightest grin. "I was walking towards Beacon, I thought, but I... yes. I'm lost. However, something good came of it!" Faith gestured, with a tinge of excitement, to the tree she'd been about to climb. "It's a Yellow Dragon Tree. One of the singularly most useful trees in the world. I thought I'd try and harvest some useful things from it." She smiled at Oram and Darius. Then, she looked at them both and frowned slightly.

"You're wet. Do you need some fresh and very warm socks?"

Behind her, PB's small chalk hand met his small chalk forehead and he let out a groan of despair.

[Oram Mednix]

The rabbit is correct, and clearly the smartest among you.

Oram raised an eyebrow when Darius introduced the “one and only Faith Augustin”. Oram did not involve himself with town affairs, and, in fact, he literally lived under a rock for at least part of the arc; however, he could sense from his friend’s introduction that hers was a name he was supposed to know, and on thinking about it reckoned that he might, although he couldn’t quite place where. ”Honored to meet you,” he said to her, with a nod. The hunter was guessing that this was one of those famous and important people it was an ‘honor’ to meet.

The traveler hadn’t heard anything of “Plunder Bunny”, although the thing seemed determined to fix that. Apparently, it “exuded machismo”, whatever that meant. Probably that it talked too much, which it clearly did. Oram was grateful when Faith started talking again and the rabbit thing stopped. And even more grateful when her talk turned to the tree. He looked at it as she spoke and nodded.

”Aye, that’s a yellow dragon.” He gave a quick nod towards Darius. ”We were looking for just such a one ourselves. As to Beacon: no, you’re not on the way to Beacon. Well off it, in fact. But we can show you back once we’re done here.”

He grinned when Faith noticed that their feet were wet. ”We waded across the ‘Run as it was quicker to get here than following the meander around.” He held up the dry boots and socks he still carried. ”These are fine. I’ll put ‘em back on once my feet have dried a bit.”

Oram looked once more at the tree. ”I know about the wood. What sorts of other things were you looking to harvest from it?” he asked Faith.

[Darius Baer]

Darius watched, an expression of open perplexity across his face, as the bunny - if he could call it that - introduced itself. It had a lot to say, too, which the blond found equally bemusing. For all that it lacked in...tangible substance, the creature certainly thought a lot of itself, and it wasn't afraid to say so.

That said, no matter how discomfiting the diri's presence - and personality - seemed to be, it was important to maintain a sense of politeness. And so Darius afforded the creature a warm nod of greeting that it likely would not have received had it not been responsible for Faith's safety.

The seafarer wondered, then, where Plunder Bunny had been when he and the brunette had found themselves fighting for their lives against spiders made of ice, but it wasn't a thought that lingered too long. The pair of them were far from Ishallr now, which in itself brought a sense of relief. It only took the briefest recollection of their time there to send a shiver through Darius' body, as though they were again surrounded by walls of ice.

Mercifully, the conversation was of much more mundane - and less life-threatening - things. He shook his head at the offer of warm socks, and Faith's desire for the Yellow Dragon Wood soon piqued his interest.

"Oh," he verbalised his surprise as he looked back at Faith. "Are you a woodworker, too? It's been a quiet hobby of mine for arcs, but I'm just beginning to take it more seriously."

Apparently the woman having completely lost her way and being stuck in an unknown forest had been quickly forgotten by Darius, as had the numbness that he had felt in his feet.

"Have you worked with Yellow Dragon Wood before?" he continued. "I hear it's very difficult to use, and probably beyond my abilities, but I'm eager to give it a try..."

[Faith Augustin]

Faith immediately liked Oram. He either didn't recognise her, or did and didn't care. That was wonderful to the young woman and she smiled a very slight, but most genuine, smile at him. "All of it," she replied, in response to his question about the Yellow Dragon tree. "The blossoms only come out this season, and they are used to prevent pregnancy. The sap promotes healing, while the leaves soothe burns. If you grind up the bark," she added, with a slight grin, "You can infuse it in hot water, make a tea from it, and that breaks fevers. It's an incredibly versatile plant." Nodding her head at the enormous tree, Faith seemed utterly determined. "I think we can get a lot of use from it."

Darius spoke of the yellow dragon wood, and Faith nodded. "Padraig and I went to Faldrass and the market there. Oh, a few arcs and children ago now," that was true enough, she thought. In some ways, it seemed like a hundred lifetimes or more ago. "We bought some logs of yellow dragon. It burns, but it doesn't burn away. It's fantastic for camp fires, and those of us who dislike cleaning out fire places." She smiled at Darius and shrugged slightly. "I've made a few things. It's odd wood to work with. I'd love to maybe work together, learn from each other about it?" For Faith, woodcrafting had been a very utility-skill to learn. She made things that were needed, but it wasn't art to her. She wished it was, in a way.

But there was the tree, neither of them wanted socks, and PB had slid off into the Beneath or wherever it was he went when he wasn't being obnoxious. Faith frowned. "So. We need to get up the tree, then we need to collect blossoms, leaves, and branches." That was easy enough, surely? Looking at the pair of them, her gaze focused more on Darius. He knew her, he seemed like a very nice person and she liked just how good a person he was. But, equally, she was aware that he maybe saw the stories which were told about her.

She couldn't argue that she was a decent medic, that she had been a reasonable General in the war. The roles she had were many and varied and the Dean of the Institute of Innovation in Rharne gave a grin which was highly amused and deeply rueful. "I hate the outdoors, and I'm really not very good at this kind of thing." There was a glint in her eyes which told of a determination, and maybe just a touch of stubborn. "So. I suggest one of us climbs up and cuts down. One of us is half way up to gather the more fragile things which are collected, and one of us is on the ground. I vote," she said, just in case anyone was in doubt. "That I'm on the ground. But I'm game for anything, really."

[Oram Mednix]

So I see, said the blind carpenter…

Faith was friendly and gracious when she met Oram, and he liked her for that. She didn’t put on airs like he might have feared a ‘one and only’ someone might have.

The strange rabbit thing accompanying her seemed to have disappeared, so they could hopefully go back to having a normal conversation. More than that, an informative conversation. There was much more to the Yellow Dragon than the wood, apparently. Flower, bark, leaves, all had uses. Oram peered up at the tree with a renewed interest. Usually the only thing he cared about a wild plant was whether one could eat it. He wondered now, peering up into the tree’s mushrooming branches, how many cures for fever or ways to prevent pregnancy he walked past every day during his hunts.

The traveler continued regarding the tree when Faith suggested their working together. He pursed his lips thoughtfully. ”Won’t the more delicate things be farther out on the branches, or higher up in the tree?” he asked after a moment. ”I’d think that whoever is gathering flowers and such would be the one doing the most climbing.” Oram was an indifferent climber. His work required he do it from time to time, of course, but he was hardly a dab hand at it. Once upon a time, he had been a boy, and would have clambered up that tree without a thought, but now…

He looked over at Darius. ”You’re a sailor, right? I reckon climbing up masts and out on yard arms is more your bag than mine. I don’t mind going part way up, though.” He looked up at the tree, at the branches, then back at Darius. ”Did you bring a saw, by any chance? Because that might be the best way to get the stuff we need. I’ve got a hatchet and a knife, but I suspect we’re going to need a bit more than that if you want some wood.”