The Great Tree

[dcos]

I got bored. I wrote. Meh.


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It was quiet in the relatively small and enclosed garden of Eder Delin. That is to say, it was as quiet as this Eder ever was. The abundance of local wildlife almost always filled the air with all manner of squawking, chirping and even, from time to time, howling. However even this noise lulled slightly as nearby animals watched a door recessed into a crack in the rock face as it began to slide open. It did so with considerable complaint and annoyance but with an eventual thud of completion and compliance.

Light poured from inside the tunnel, changing the colour of the normally orange and red mist and lighting up a patch of grass surrounding the door. It was onto this grass a figure steps. He is tall although the years spent in an Age with marginally higher gravity than that of his birth have given him a slight hunch. His elegant robes make him seem larger than he really is; his improbably large shoulder pads giving him an air of authority which doesn't play well with his otherwise librarianesque and slightly buttlerish demeanour.

He moves quietly across the grass to the stone path, only stopping a moment to pick up some waste paper lying among the roots of a tree and vanish it in some fold of his robes. It is not his job to do such things but those whose job it is have evidently not been doing it. He purses his lips agitatedly, he dislikes these visits enough as it is without having to worry if the aftermath will be cleared up properly. With resignation he makes his way to the arrival point. He stands facing a large hovering sculpture, it is after this ancient piece of D'ni art that his robes are modelled. Secretly he wishes the sculptor had gone for a sleeker, less heavy design, but like much in life such things were decided millennia before his birth.

With the standard and expected linking noise a woman appears. She is wearing the garb of a teacher from a Nexus Age every aspect of her clothing, from colour to form, designed to stimulate learning and maintain attention, she smiles, in a way also probably designed to stimulate and most certainly crafted to garner attention.

The sound of her arrival began to fade, the cry of a Universe forced to accept the existence of someone who until mere moments ago was not existent within its infinite reach, slowly dying away. There are only a few things which most decent Universes hate and one of them is a vacuum, which is exactly what is left when someone links out of an Age. The only thing that comes close to being hated as much is having to find room for a large collection of alien biomass by moving perfectly happy, purposeful and homely air molecules out of the way. It is little wonder the very world protests so much at every link, and it is even less surprising the amount of noise created in indignation as a few moments later an entire class of children are squeezed into reality more or less simultaneously.

The robed man closes his eyes in a futile attempt to ignore the clamour from both the link itself and the babbling children who emerged and instantly began to talk excitedly. He can almost hear the link mock him, placing the problem of thirty prattling children in his domain, happy to be rid of them. He does not raise his hands to his ears, it would be undignified, not to mention the weight of his robes is such that vertical movement of his arms can be rather tricky.

When he opened his eyes again the teacher had moved and was standing in front of him, he would have jumped but the folds of material cocooning him acted as buffer against such sudden jerks of movement. They greeted each other and he welcomed her and her class to the Age, with a single look she silences her rabble and introduced him to the children: Guardian Ashleaf. The youngsters regard him with an unusual amount of awe, especially for ten year olds. He raised a questioning eyebrow to the teacher who explained in an undertone,

“This class comes from Port Ortago on Cerulean, fisherfolk mostly. Unless their family are traders they will barely leave the Age their whole lives, you are near alien to them.”

He blusters slightly at the thought and frowns at the class who stare back in vague awe of his abundance of clothing. “Do you wish me to lead the tour of the Age?” he asks staving off a frown.

“Oh no. That shan't be necessary. I think we can let them explore of their own accord hmm?” With a gleaming smile she turned to the children cutting off any objections he may have had. With a word of warning that: “Anyone who breaks any of the guidelines we talked about this morning will not be coming on any more field trips” she gave permission for them to go off and explore.

The two adults stood watching the children go too and fro, examining a flower here, playing and generally marvelling at being outside but not seeing horizon.. “You are not from Cerulean I take it?” It was an attempt to make small talk, forced as it may have been, it was still a measure of kindness from the stern looking man, the young teacher shook her head.

“No, no I was brought up and trained on Ǽsir. Have you ever been?” The look he gave her seemed to imply not and more than that carried a certain amount of disdain. The teacher understood. “No of course not, why would anyone ever dream of wanting to visit one of the new ages hmm?”she asked flashing angry for only a second.

“Now, now I didn't say that” he had turned a faint reddish colour while she simply smiled back evenly.

“No of course not such things are not voiced, merely implied. Regardless the only place I've found which is more beautiful than home is Cerulean. Endless lagoons and island chains, soft beaches and pleasant folk.” a slight pause for effect while he thought of something to say “But of course no match to the old masters hmm?” She had managed to steal his question right out from his mouth and delivered it as she leant over to look at a leaf one of her children had brought for her to see.

For the remainder of the children's exploration of the Age the two adults did not speak. She had encountered his type before. A Guardian, but judging by his age he had been a Restorer, probably trained by the Guild back when it had control of The Cavern. To him the Ages of D'ni were things to be revered and protected; masterpieces in short. The new Ages on the other hand were inferior in every way and those who chose to live on them just as deficient. She guessed he'd never met one of The Called.

After the children had, had a break and eaten the snacks they had brought they all gathered by the door recessed into the rock face and sat in a fanned out semi-circle around their teacher as they shared what they had found and she quizzed them on what they had learned in class.

“Can anyone tell me the importance of Delin?”she scanned the class with a look of eager anticipation.

“Its where the ... the first off Earth colony was built?”

“Correct Jenny. But why Delin?”

“The red air?” This reply received some condescending looks from those sitting nearby.

“Good guess but actually the mist only exists in this valley due to some unusual meteorological activity, beyond Mount Henderson it had one of the most diverse and stable ecologies of any of the Ancient D'ni Ages uncovered at the time. That is why it was chosen as the location of Delin colony, now known as Delin City and the first non-Earth colony of the Human-strain.” The Guardian, standing slightly behind the group of sitting children, nodded. She stopped herself rolling her eyes at the idea that he expected her to care about his approval. “Now can anyone tell me the importance of Eder Delin?”

This distinction seemed to confuse some of the class but others quickly raised their hands, “It was the first Age opened by the Restoration Guild... sorry the D'ni Restoration Council during the second restoration.”

“That's right. It was also the location for many years of the spiral part of The Journey of The Called. This journey was vital, despite what many at the time felt, along with another Eder age it taught The Gathering of The Called to work together in groups a lesson which would prove vital soon after when The Great Destruction came upon the Ages of D'ni.”

Stories of The Called always elicited excitement and awe directed at these now mythic figures and the teacher let the excitement of that long ago era hang in the air for a moment before announcing that it was time that they got back to Port Ortago.

[Eleri]

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[Gadren]

I like it! I noticed a few issues with verb tenses, and the dialogue seemed off, but I like the premise (I've often wondered what an Uru society would be far in the future), and I love your description and explanation of the Linking sound.

[Moiety Jean]

Same comments here. I much enjoyed reading it, your take on linking is wonderful, and the subject is fascinating!
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~Moiety Jean

KI#44727
"There is a certain beautiful danger when a group of geeks get together to entertain themselves." ~Orin Drake

[Malakh]

ZOMG Text!!!

On a serious note, I like the story. Little slow in the first half but second half flowed very well for me. I like the idea of future people looking back on the time of the restoration. Neat stuff, hope to see more.
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KI# 00635697

[dcos]

Yay feedback, Ta much!


Yeah for some reason my tenses kept meshing. I like to write in past and the book I'm reading just now is written in pressent t'was throwing me off me thinks

Thanks again.

[keverh]

That was good, It was nice to see something like it. I hope that this will start something more.

[Arotahn]

I especially enjoyed the way you wrote about the purpose of the spiral journeys. Delin is more significant than it seems.
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Arotahn

[dcos]

Thanks Arotahn and Keverh

Due to the great feedback I've received I've been busy letting some ideas brew for a larger story arc. I've not put very much to paper (or word processor yet) but y'all will be the first to find out when I have something worth posting.

Thanks Again