Completed Remember Bhathairk

[Weylin Kyrel]

While he laid there with eyes closed and hands still just laying on her thighs, story time began.

The orcess told him about what she did with the flower they had gotten together. It had lost its purpose as the thing it was meant for was no more. Her parents. The one lost and the one found. What she learned and what she gained.

It was a story you might hear around a campfire while hunting together. A personal little tale that held meaning because the one telling it.

All the blushing was missed due to him keeping his eyes shut. But all of it had gotten him thinking. The story. The way Zeri was treating him as she did. The giggles. What had Weylin taken from everything? Injuries certainly. He always seemed to end up that way around her. But what had he learned?

The human just remained quiet for a bit after the story. Soon enough he said a bit hushed, "Glad I met you."

A pause.

"Lose so much. Lost so much. But I got a lot when I met you." Then he squeezed her thighs lightly.

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

"That's so sweet, Weylin," Zeri said. And she laid a hand atop his own, the one he squeezed her thigh with. Then a gentle gesture of her head toward Mother Owl. "I think she would have liked to hear you say nice things like that."

Zeri let out a little sigh, one both softly wistful in recognition of what was gone and quietly appreciative of what they still had. She looked then to the blanket and to the cloths she had gathered, now laying on the ground. And eventually she worked up the courage to look back toward Mother Owl. To enter again into the solemn engagement with the task that needed to be done.

"Where should she be buried?"

Certainly not here, Zeri thought. Bhathairk, not to mention the very earth upon which it was founded, was not receptive at all to the peaceful resting of the dead. The Risen didn't even need to be considered. The fractures and sundering of the ground, those precarious lava-filled fissures, were bad enough.

So Zeri thought that Weylin would be keen on moving Mother Owl away from here. She did not know the burial traditions of the Old Folk, but she was sure that he would follow them as best he could.

Weylin Kyrel

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

The hunter was not the most vocal with his affections. His dad hadn't been either. They were more of the do something for you, spend some time with you, and little touches kind of guys. So when Zeri touches his hand back it meant a lot more to him than her kind words. It almost felt like he had gotten a bit more of what he had lost back....

But then it was all so quickly gone. The matter of mourning needed to come to an end. Mother Owl still needed to be laid in her final bed for her eternal rest.

Weylin opened up his eyes and looked up at the orcess. The urge not to move yet came over him, but he brutally pushed it aside. Now wasn't the time. Not the time to relax. Not the time for tears. Not the time for comfort. It was time for him to get his aching body moving again. There would be plenty of time to rest in the future. Mother Owl could testify to that.

"Wild place close to the sky. Mother Owl loved the sky."

With more effort than he thought it would take, the man got himself up off of Zeri's lap. Back to his feet before his gaze began to wonder on around them. He was looking for a safe place to leave Mother Owl until they could finish the orcess' business with the tree. So much had been lost over it. He wondered if the orcess had not been right originally about it being evil. No truly kind tree would lead to such bloodshed.

After spotting a place he picked up Mother Owl and moved her into her temporary place to rest. He covered it with rocks so she was safe from the carrion birds and anything else that might be seeking flesh in this hateful place.

"Need to see the tree?" Weylin looked at Zeri. The last bits of tears still clung to his eyes. Blood had already stopped flowing but the dark stains remained.

How much had he bled for this orcess already? How much had he pushed his body and mind to their limits? How much more of both would he end up doing? Questions not on his mind, but ones he likely should have been asking.

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

Wild place close to the sky. Mother Owl loved the sky.

Zeri gave a reverential nod to that. There would be no place like that close to Bhathairk, with its surrounding lowlands and flatlands. But to the east, in the shadow of the Spine, there would start to be. But who was she kidding? Small foothills would not do--not like the majesty of the mountains she had seen with her own eyes. From there both Weylin and Mother Owl had come, and it was there that Mother Owl ought to return, where she would be closest to the sky. Zeri knew it. Weylin had not explicitly said as much, but she knew it.

Weylin rose to his feet, and Zeri did soon after. She had her bow collected in hand while Weylin found a temporary place for Mother Owl. And it began to dawn on her now...that this would be it. That she would apologize to the Tree, say her parting goodbyes with Pa, and then be off. She thought of leaving Bhathairk as less of an adventure now--one in which her imagination had played with all of the tropes of the tales she'd heard and read and adored--and more of a journey. One of wonder and discovery like she had always wanted, yes, but also one with a somber undercurrent, both with regard to Mother Owl and Paola. Yet it was finally happening. This day had come.

Need to see the tree?

"Yes. I need to do this. I don't want to leave something undone."

And they went. Together.

* * * * *

EARLY MORNING AT THE TREE​

Zeri stood at the edge of the chasm, gazing up at the Black Tree. She stood close to where Urgish had stood, not so long ago. Back when things were both better and worse. Her shortbow she had discarded on approach to the Tree's chasm, and she held nothing in her hands now. The site of the massacre wasn't so far from here. Mounds of dirt were still piled up around the chasm's edge, and shovels and tools were all scattered about, left where they had been dropped once Urgish led the final horde of Risen upon the tribesorcs Zeri had gathered.

Now, it was quiet.

Now, instead of night it was morning. That rolling blanket of clouds had retreated so far to the west that she could no longer see them, and there above was only the soft blue of the early morning.

Zeri looked to the Black Tree, that which she had thought to be a thing possessed of the same evil inhabiting Neha. That which she had once thought made ugly her home of Bhathairk.

And she said, "My name is Zeri Rekani. And I am sorry."

A small wind blew the single braid of her hair and lightly the flaps of her loincloth.

"I allowed the pain in my heart to misguide me. I felt weak and powerless against the dragon Neha, and I let my sorrow and my rage turn me into a..." She swallowed. Tried again. "...into an evil person. I became the Air that storms, the Water that drowns, the Earth that swallows, the Fire that burns. I am ashamed that I made myself deaf to the wisdom of those around me."

She looked to Weylin. A small glance, a faint smile, but then she refocused on the Tree.

"You have a Spirit too. Like every other Tree, and every other thing upon Arethil. You are not the dragon that destroyed my home and killed my Ma. Your Spirit is not hers, and you are a part of the world. A world that I have only brought more sorrow into."

Zeri bowed her head.

"I was wrong. For all that I have done, I was wrong."

Weylin Kyrel Caliane Ruinë

 

[Caliane Ruinë]

A minute passed after the small Orc girl offered her apology to the lonely tree and it showed no signs of having heard her. Perhaps it was just a tree. Perhaps it had been silly to think of it as anything more than a creatures whose only concern was the sunlight that beat down onto its upturned leaves.

But suddenly a warm wind picked up around the blackened oak. It stirred the bright red leaves amongst its branches before twining about the young girls slender frame like a loving touch. It smoothed over her cheek, kissed at her nose and at her forehead, and the tree itself seemed to sigh.

Forgiveness.

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

And so they went. Together.

The scene around the tree was interesting. Half dug holes and abandoned tools everywhere. A common sight for cities where a building was going up, but one that only could be witnessed at night. It was day and the workers lay all too close in their eternal rest. The sounds of the carrion birds echoing out like a chorus from an active temple.

He had heard stories from travelers of people outside the Spine left their dead on the top of stone alters for the carrion birds to feast upon. The bones would be gathered after they were picked clean and sun baked to be buried under homes and monuments. Something unconfirmed but interesting to think about. So different from how most went about the rites of death. Should the orcs of Bhathairk adopt the ritual after all of this devastation?

Weylin was drug out of his idle thoughts when Zeri began to speak to the tree. Her gaze was caught and her smile received a slight one back from him. Then he retreated back into silence to let her finish. This was her moment and her test. It would disrespectful to interrupt or get in her way.

And so the hunter just waited for the orcess with a seeming infinite amount of patience.

Zeri Rekani

 

[Zeri Rekani]

It could have been nothing.

But it could have been just what she was hoping for.

Zeri stood in quiet patience in that minute when nothing seemed to happen. In truth, she didn't know what to expect. Spirits inhabited all things, trees included, but this inhabiting did not necessarily grant animation. A fruit had been lowered when Urgish struck the Black Tree with his magic, but maybe that had been...oh Zeri didn't know, a fluke, a reflex, or something? Still, it was not important to receive some kind of direct response when speaking with the Spirits. How many times had she thanked the Spirits of Trees and the Grass for the warmth they provided as fuel for a campfire on a cold night? She didn't need a whisper of "You're welcome" in her ear or anything like that. It was enough to simply offer gratitude and know that she had been heard.

So it was all those times then, and so it was now.

Zeri was about to go when something gave her pause. Another gust of wind, but this one...not quite like the last which had rustled her braid and her clothes. She imagined there to be a certain warmth to this wind, and it swirled about her in a way that seemed extraordinary.

She looked back to the Tree, a growing amazement in her expression, and then she looked to Weylin. She smiled and said, "Even though you may not always hear the Spirits, they always hear you. And...I think I heard them, Weylin. I think I did."

She could not undo the past. But, she could try to make better the future. She really could.

"Let's go," she said, beaming with a softly radiant energy. "We've got a long journey ahead of us."

Weylin Kyrel

 

[Weylin Kyrel]

The orcess spoke and nothing seemed to happen. It didn't move. It didn't speak. It just sat there rooted into the ground like any other tree. Perhaps it was just another tree with unfortunate things constantly happening around it? Made more sense right now than the plant being more than a plant. Nature was sacred and to be respected, but that didn't mean it had to be special.

Wind picked up for a moment and swirled about Zeri. After it, she seemed to be in a much better mood. The moment spoke to her in a way it hadn't him. That was how it should have been. This was not his moment after all. He was here to support the orcess and nothing more.

Zeri smiled. Weylin smiled back. The songbird was singing again and that warmed his heart. He couldn't stand seeing her so down on herself as she had been. Being happy and cheerful suited her more. She was far too cute to be brooding all the time.

"Glad you heard them Zeri. Let's go."

Weylin walked over to Zeri and offered her his hand. She didn't need his help with getting up over a rock or to get down safely from somewhere. He just simply offered her his hand to take. Their time in this forsaken place was over. It was time to lay Mother Owl down for her eternal rest.

Zeri Rekani