The Father Tree
Bolt leads you into the Father Tree, created by bygone treeshapers. Elves are scattered all over it. Bolt smiles at you. "I doubt I could introduce you to all the elves at our Holt. You may have to wander and meet them yourself." You take her advice, and walk into the cavernous inside of the Father Tree. The elves within sight look at you strangely, but as seeing Bolt is doing nothing, they relax. Most of them go back to thier activities, but one of them, a female elf with green hair and deep brown eyes approaches you.
"Hello. My name is Treewind. I'm a treeshaper. Well, sort of. I have the power, but I haven't fully developed it yet." She looks down. "But I've gotten better!" She says with eagerness. "See!" She puts her hand to the tree, and after a little while, pulls her hand away. She is now breathing a little heavier. At first, you see no difference, but then, upon inspection, you see a very light, elven handprint on the tree.
Treewind bites her lip. "It's not very much, is it." She sighs. But then she looks up, brightness again showing in her eyes. "But it makes for a good symbol, if we're out of sending range!" You nod, not wanting to dampen the young elf's spirits.
Treewind shrugs. "I'm probably boring you. Let's go and I'll introduce you to some other elves." She runs lightly off, and you follow, with some difficulty. Eventually, she stops at a little nook and smiles at you. Inside the nook is anouther elf. This one is sleeping.
"Firefly, wake up!" Treewind gently shakes the sleeping elf.
Firefly's eyes flicker open, and she stretches and crawls out of the small crevice. She is very short and you're pretty sure she is a cub. She has golden eyes and brown hair. "What now, 'Wind?"
Treewind smiles. "I want you to meet somebody." You step forward.
Firefly smiles at you. "My name is Firefly. I am the tribe's storyteller. Baisicly, I drink a lot of dreamberry wine and see stuff and then tell the tribe what I see. What is important about that is that not everybody has as clear images as myself. Many and most of the images come as stories about past times and places, even when the high ones lived. The storyteller keeps the tribe's history alive." Firefly pauses to grin at you. "And I am not a cub. Just short." Firefly stiffles a yawn. "Sorry to cut this visit short, but I am really tired right now." She climbs back in amoungst the furs and falls asleep.
Treewind laughs. "She's always tired." Then she smiles wickedly. "Unless dreamberries have something to do about it."
"Dreamberries? Where?" Firefly pokes her head out of the nook.
Treewind laughs again. "Nowhere, silly. Go back to sleep." Firefly scowls at her and then does as advised.
Treewind looks remorsefully at you. "I've gotta go do something, so I won't be able to guide you anymore."
You nod, and head off into nowhere in the middle of somewhere. Eventually, you make it back into somewhere in somewhere, and see 4 elves talking animatedly. At the same instant they all look up at you and you are confronted with 4 pairs of mysterious elven eyes.
One of them nods at you and you walk over. He has black eyes and blond hair that is cut short. "My name is Storm. This is Arrowstream, Sunstone and Darkmoon."
Arrowsteam cocks his head at you, his brown hair flipping into his blue eyes. "We were just disscussing the size of the tribe, and the limited space we have."
Darkmoon nods. "It's pretty sad. We keep recognizing - 2 in 1 year! But for no apparent reason. The tribe doesn't need to be much bigger..."
Storm laughs. "Quit whining. You're just sad 'cause you're finally tied down. But you're right, unless 'Wind develops her talent, and soon, we're not going to have enough room for all of us."
"It's not that bad," Sunstone comments, "we just have to hope no one else recognizes."
Darkmoon looks at you. "Really, it's not something to be extremely worried about, but still..."
"We're being rude, elves. Introduce ourselves."
"Yeah, Arrow' you would know what being rude was!"
"Stuff it. My name's Storm, and I'm just a hunter."
Darkmoon grins. "We all are, but I'm the life-mate of the chieftan's best friend, and Sunstone is the chieftan's lifemate."
"I'm an archer! I'm an archer!" Arrowstream bounces in his eagerness to state his profession.
Sunstone raises an eyebrow. "Mm-hmm. Anyways, I believe we're need else where." He pokes Arrowstream in the ribs. "Especially you, our dear archer friend..."
You smile and wave good bye. Where to now?
The Cub's Den
The Tanner's Den
The Healer's Den
The Wolve's Den
Home!
