Day 3 | Night | Uneasy Homecoming

[Kannon]

She maybe understood, just like she had maybe understood her gaze. She rose to walk up to him and press her forehead against his chest, then climbed on her toes to lick his ear once and leave a double nightingale tweet at it. She then stepped away and faced her family. The Thra nodded with understanding and approval. Yar Zell's was slightly less enthusiastic.

[Efren Lanville]

Efren welcomed the woman’s embrace and then his eyes widened in slight surprise at the lick on his ear.

As she looked over to the people waiting, followed her gaze and simply stood there… not fully understanding what was or wasn’t happening.

[Kannon]

No-one seemed too bothered by his lack of understanding, nor did anyone rush to provide explanation. Thra U seemed convinced that she had made her intention clear and returned to attending to her brother.

Then, the women's procession carrying the wrapped body of the former Old Mother emerged from the cave to the moonlit night, led by Dy Wan. They didn't chant in a way that would be recognised as such elsewhere, instead re-enacting the avian cacophonies of the rainforest. Their coming triggered Yar Zell and other men, who took some wooden tools and began to dig under the large tree the formed Old Mother had lived on.

[Efren Lanville]

Efren wasn’t sure if it was acceptable for him to dig along with the others, but he stepped forward and would participate if allowed.

[Kannon]

He wasn't denied the participation. The social roles among the Muadh were often gendered, as he had already learnt, but distributed in non-obvious ways. Men were the gravediggers anyway.

The digging revealed the roots of the tree, densely woven, leaving little space for making the grave any deeper. It swarmed with millipedes, annelids and other decomposer organisms. The former Old Mother's body was small, however, and there was little problem finding a niche for it in this jungle's underbelly. When the women deposited it, the onomatopoeic chant continued. It was only Dy Wan who spoke in words.

"[These are ashes. These are roots.]"

There was no other funeral oration, no eulogy, only quieting cacophony until the bundle had disappeared under the wet, living ground.

[Efren Lanville]

Never was there a more vivid depiction of how Efren had long felt about his heritage.

Efren quietly had always inhabited two worlds... Two streams of roots had nourished the ground from which he sprang. He was raised in the one with technology, warfare, philosophy, religion... And had sprung from the one where none of those concepts mattered. Where the feelings within him didn't need intellectual rationalizing... didn't need needless distinction making.

They were all ashes... They were all roots.

He would one day be ashes... and he would nourish future roots...

They were one... and would continue to be one. Whether together or apart.

The roots were indeed his strength... and he would leave them stronger for whoever would build from him.

[Kannon]

Ima trava okolo. I korenja okolo.

Perhaps one day Efren would discover that in another culture on another planet the words were the same.

His contemplation would remove him from the passage of time for a while. Most of the Muadh would return to the caves as the jungle around them was still a theatre of violence, with Hawat's hunt of the cartel forces ongoing, and keener senses could trace gunfire and the hum of thopters.

The Old Mother, his mother, wouldn't talk to him immediately afterwards. She instead asked the Thra family to take Yoll into the house on the tree that used to be her predecessor's. U, however, would hook his arm into following if he showed no immediate instinct to do so on his own, being still too much into his introspection.

[Efren Lanville]

Efren did not resist the pull from U and would follow to where she led... allowing her to guide him while interlocking arms.

[Kannon]

The herbal pungency of the room reminded of itself. Efren saw some unease in his mother when she was supposed to take charge of this place. Succession was only easy for the mindless and the ruthless. Still, she knew what to do. If there was expertise how to deal with the adverse affects of ailar, it was here.

The new Old Mother sent the rest of the Thra away, though U remained, pulling Efren down into sitting and observing.

[Efren Lanville]

Efren complied and sat next to the woman who helped him through this process. As he sat and observed he began to realize the beauty and strength the young woman possessed. He paused only for a moment to finally ask her name, "[Your name. What?]"

[Kannon]

U leaned over and whispered it to his ear so as not to disturb the healing. The Old Mother maintained silence for now, choosing herbs for the paste she was preparing in a small wooden mortar.

It certainly took Efren a moment. U had been among those who they had met in the barra fields before... everything that had happened next.

[Efren Lanville]

Having heard the name he remembered her face as one of the two women who had spotted them...

Thra U

He put the name to memory as he watched his mother work...

[Kannon]

Dy Wan would finish crushing the herbs, adding some granular fat for texture. She then opened Yoll's mouth, but not to feed him the paste. Instead, the thinnest of layers was applied on mucous membranes and a wooden block was put between teeth to prevent the mouth from closing or chewing. The same paste was then applied around nostrils and on the cervical lymph glands. Thra U was observing very intently, and it didn't feel like it was only out of concern for her brother. Was she learning?

[Efren Lanville]

Efren also watched alongside U. He began to see the depth of knowledge that these people possessed about ailar.

The more one lived with something… the more they adapted to it.

[Kannon]

Finally, the Old Mother lit some slightly irritating incense and looked between the two.

'[He will recover.]" A trill of finality. "What will you do next, my son?"

[Efren Lanville]

“I must return and report… but I plan to return as soon as I am able.” He replied.

“My time here has taught me about our people and myself… And I would learn more if able.”

[Kannon]

"You've struck like a lightning and you leave putting out the fire to me." She sighed, and kindly looked at Thra U, who was still holding onto Efren's arm. "And what about her?"

[Efren Lanville]

“Lightning never sticks around too long.” He said with a playful smile.

“But I’d be happy to help you cultivate the garden in a way I can.”

He then turned to look at U, “She seems to have taken me under her wing. Maybe the next Young Mother from what I can observe.”

[Kannon]

The Old Mother couldn't help but smile back at her son, despite her best intentions to keep the more distant demeanour. She had her own conflict of callings to bear, thrust upon her so suddenly. He had angered her so much in the cave, but that had mostly been eroded by motherly instincts, leaving only much worry in its wake. for the consequences of his words were and would be real. She exchanged looks with Thra U, and some onomatopoeic avian signals.

"She has the will and isn't shy about it. I wasn't so resolute and clear-sighted when I was her age. I could accept her. If Thra U is the soil you are keen to plant your seed in, Eph Ren, perhaps learn to cultivate her before you will aspire to cultivate the garden. What you can is one thing, and we both know you can a lot. But you still know little about what you should. There are only so many conflagrations we can survive."

[Efren Lanville]

“Then I will be sure to return. For her. For you. For me. And for us.” He replied with a resolute voice.