[SOLO] A Turn of the Leaf

[DraconicFeline]

Sometimes remembering what you were able to do gives you the strength to grow.

 

[DraconicFeline]

Sephos looked up from his garden-clearing, admiring the canopy. Blue-green leaves shared space with stark white ones. He looked at them, longingly.

His lusus had been dormant for a fairly long time now. Maku had been so injured and thrown off balance by the events of the space tower, that he had had to take the stance of a true tree for a time. He was still animate, as always - Sephos sometimes found rotting, half-digested and partially dismembered daywalker leftovers near Maku's roots, and he noticed changes in the tree beast's position occasionally, but that didn't make any real difference to Sephos' life. Maku, for all intents and purposes, wasn't there. Sephos took care of him, tended to his branches and leaves and garden, made sure that the trees around Maku didn't steal his patch of sky. And Maku... remained asleep.

At first, Sephos had felt resolute. Maku had left him before, for brief forays into parts of his territory deemed too dangerous for the young troll. But never this long, never in this way. After a while, Sephos had become lonely and sad. As far as he could feel those emotions, anyway – it had taken him a while to determine what they were. About when he'd figured it out, however, they had transformed into a bright, searing anger, like an angrily blooming flower. How could his parent abandon him so? What would Sephos do without him? How could he leave him like this? It was as brief as it was intense and, Eventually, it had cooled to a sense of sad unease, a pessimism that Sephos was, forever, on his own.

There were things that needed to be done, Lusus or no. There were things that needed to be done in place of his lusus. Sephos tended to the the forest. He minded Maku's territory. He had tea with Rastin. He did his best to live without his lusus. He fulfilled his role in the ecosystem of the world. He did ok.

With a hand covered in fresh dirt, he reached for one of his potted plants, cradling it in his arms for a moment as he retrieved the sign reminding him what he had planted there. He replaced the pot carefully and, with a strange sense of defiance, lifted the sign out to the light of his lantern. He flipped it over to the other side, and looked at the dark colors playing on it.

It had once been a poster for Bloodfest. The Bloodfest, indeed, where he had stepped off the sidelines and partnered with Nucleo. After the previous Bloodfest's stress and strange paint games, he had thought that it would be a trial of suffering, and that he would want to go home immediately. Dedication to not leaving his partner alone was all that brought him to Bloodfest, and certainly all that kept him there. And, somehow, he had actually enjoyed himself.

Outside of the forest.

Amidst civilization.

Without his father.

Sephos wasn't sure how he felt about that.

He looked up as the sleeping treant behind him creaked and moved. There was no wind - it was Maku, stirring. He'd been doing that more often lately, shifting in his slumber. Sephos watched him hopefully, but he was sure this would be like the other times - a stirring, a resettling, no more than that. Maku would wake eventually, but slowly, and Sephos was sure it was not going to be for a while yet.

He returned to his sandwich, trying not to let himself look at the still-creaking tree. There was the sound of moving earth, and the rustle of leaves. Sephos stared at the sandwich, frozen, listening.

Something white moved in his peripheral vision, His heart pounding as it moved towards him. A gnarled, woody hand settled heavily on his shoulder.

"Hello," Maku rumbled, his voice cracking with disuse and possibly moss that had grown within his vocal channels, "My little sprout."

Sephos, straight faced as ever, began to cry.  

[DraconicFeline]

The reunion was touching, private, and unusual. Most lusii didn't go dormant. Most lusii also didn't rely on their troll for their own reproduction. Sephos was very aware of the latter as he filled Maku in on the events that had occurred during his dormancy – it seemed to be on the forefront of Maku's mind.

"You should not leave the forest, my little sprout. Not now."

"My friends wanted me to go. Valaon... her farm... Punkie, her club... Nucleo needed me to be his partner..." Sephos listed them awkwardly, "Panili, I went to help her build stuff..."

"These are good things, my little sproud. Panili, Valaon, and Punkie are much like good soil." Sephos' omnipresent frown deepened as Maku neglected to mention Nucleo at all, but then, he didn't know the greenblood. "One day, you should see them, and spend time with them, as they will help you grow strong. But I need you to be safe, and they are out of the forest. The forest is safe." Maku thought for a moment, humming, "Safer," he amended, "Than the world outside. Spend more time with your friend Rastin. Maku continued, ”He understands. If you are lonely, he will keep you rooted, my little sprout.

"It's not so bad out there." Sephos protested, shrugging, "Crowds, people wanting things, but not that bad. There's this training thing, it's been good for me. And Punkie..."

"You must stay in the forest." Maku interrupted, with some force, "It will provide for you. It will protect you from the machines outside, and the mindless destruction that they sow. I need you." Maku's leaves rustled, a few shedding off to form bright white patches on the ground, "I need you to be safe and alive. You will bear my seed..." Sephos' gaze followed Maku's hand as it gestured to the top of his head. He shivered slightly as he saw the growth - a plump, new bud - growing from the woody scalp beneath the foliage. It must have been growing, even through the dormancy. "You will plant it and care for it, through the seasons and the elements. It will be your child, as you are mine." Maku's voice grated slightly, "You cannot put yourself in danger. I will not allow it."


Sephos felt a sudden surge of heated emotion, as amorphous and strange as magma and just as volatile. Some part of it, he recognized, was defiance. Maku didn't understand - he wanted to leave. He always came back, the forest was his home, he would never leave it forever. But at the same time, his friends were there, and he liked them. He liked the Lightseekers settlement, and the gardening club, and their promise of making the whole world better and more beautiful. He liked Punkie and her enthusiasm, and he liked Valaon and Nucleo and Amonee and the explorers club because they joined him in his world and by the roots that was nice, wasn't it? He never felt at home in town, or in the city, but it wasn't bad. He wanted to tell this to Maku, to argue that his lusus couldn't keep him here, that he'd been fine on his own, that he'd gone into a city – on his own. That he had smiled, and joked, and done all sorts of fantastic new things. He'd felt feelings. He'd had thoughts. They'd been amazing and he wanted more.



But he didn't have the words. All the feelings, all the thoughts, jumbled together and blazed and dazzled him. He had no way to tell Maku about them. No way to make him understand. "... okay." he said, slumping. But, at the same time, he was very aware of the piece of Bloodfest poster lingering in his pocket.

Not okay.  

[DraconicFeline]

It had been a few days since Maku had reawakened. The local daywalker population dropped precipitously, and the ecosystem's balance was gently maintained. Maku trusted his child to have taken care of things in his absence, but he'd still felt the need to walk out into his territory and do his job balancing the ecosystem. After all, there were things that only he could do. Maku had been busy with that, and only just now was he going back to doting on his child.

The further time away from his Lusus had given Sephos some time to think, and he knew he was definitely not okay with being penned up in the forest forever. Just because he liked his forest solitude and preferred it didn't mean he wanted to be trapped in it for who-knew-how-long. Just as he had little ability to defy he also had little ability to sit there, follow along, and not share his opinions when his lusus finally returned to their home.

It was easy. Sephos simply walked up to him, looked up, and spoke. "Dad?"

"Yes, my little sprout?" Maku said with languid slowness, "What is it?"

"I... want to be able to do things outside of the forest." Again, easy. It would have been, Sephos mused, harder to keep to himself.

"I cannot let you, my little sprout.” Maku replied, ”It is dangerous out there. I cannot lose you." he emphasized, though his face and voice were still serene.

"... Sometimes plants need to be moved." Sephos said, with awkward crypticness, "You gotta move them, because the change is good for their leaves and stems. They grow stronger and better in the different sun, wind, and water. And then you can move them back, and they keep growing."

"Hmm?" Maku thought, "Yes, some plants need to be tended that way."

"I do too. I think I..." Sephos swallowed. Here it was, what he wanted to say. "I need to see other trolls."

"Then they should come here." Maku said wisely, ”I do not mind if they come here, so long as they do not trample my garden.

"I need to go to them, and do things. Things I don't always like, or that aren't comfortable, or are not things I know..." Like the obstacle course at bloodfest, and the crowds that had followed, and guiding a group. "And those things are outside of the forest."

"But, my little sprout..." Maku's protest was cut off. Sephos was on a roll and, like a stone pushed down a cliff, he would not stop rolling.

"Look at me,” he said, pointing to himself, ”I've grown a lot."

"Yes you have." Maku acknowledged, with some pride.

"I'm strong and I can do all sorts of stuff I didn't when you went to sleep."

"Dormant...” Maku corrected, “But yes. This is true."

"I grew like this because I went out and did things. I wish I did more things before, but I can now 'cause the future is always growing."

Maku was quiet for the moment.

"I could grow stronger, and learn more, and be a better... lusus to your seedling. If I left the forest sometimes, to see my friends." he added, feeling that silence - usually his natural state - seem to weigh on him.

"Hmmm." Maku considered this. His gaze felt sharper than usual, aware and piercing and judging. He could, Sephos realized, force him to stay. He was huge - immense - and strong. He knew all of the root tunnels. He knew where Sephos could run or hide. His lusus could stop him, hold him captive, do anything he wanted.
Sephos held his breath.

"That is,” The treebeast said, carefully, “A valid point... Very well. But it will be limited, and I will protect you closely. And if conditions become too dangerous, you will return to the forest with me. I will not allow you to be harmed. I will not allow myself to be made dormant again. My sapling's time is coming, and you will be there to tend it." The hum had turned into a growl, and Sephos could feel his father's power - the power he showed in the day, when the sun brought horrors and also food to his lusus's hungry maws. "Time outside of my presence when not in the woods will be limited. You will..." he emphasized, his roots - usually tightly bound into his feet - writhed. "Be safe."

Sephos felt a twinge of uneasy fear, but he understood. "All right." he said, nodding meaningfully.

And with that, Maku returned to his usual, nighttime serenity. "Good." he hummed, "This is good." A beat of silence, broken only by the forest sounds, filled the air. "... You have grown so much, my little sprout."

Sephos, tentatively at first, but then with purpose, went over to give his lusus a hug. "I know." he said quietly.  

[DraconicFeline]

Sephos held the tattered poster scrap to the stars.

"Bloodfest!" it read, a bright beacon against a picture of stars. It did not match the night sky. Is that 'cause there's junk up there? he wondered, frowning at the gist of the letter that Rastin had helped him read.

What was up there, above the planet? He'd never thought about it, so tied as he was to Alternia and the ground beneath his bare feet. He knew that space existed, but he'd never had a reason to care. He never wanted to have a reason.

He wanted to help the Lightseekers, and Panili (in particular), but space... Maku wouldn't let him go that far, and Sephos wasn't sure he wanted to go that far besides. He'd said as much to Rastin.

He didn't want to go that badly.

He had to stay behind and take care of his gardens.

His lusus needed him to stay.

But at the same time, he wanted to do his part. Maybe if he just went for a little bit, and left after a while or if it was too dangerous? Maybe that could work out?

Now that he knew something was up there, he wanted to see it. Even if he could barely comprehend it.

Maybe just a little he thought, uneasily. Just a little bit, so I can do good for the planet. It was, after all, cleaning up an environment. Maku would be very behind that.

Right?

Sephos, on the tree stump that he lay on, nearly chickened out right then and there, but the crumpled poster fragment reminded him of another time when he'd almost backed out from his fear. He'd almost not gone to Bloodfest at all, Nucleo or no. He'd left it until the last night or so, reluctant to face the noise and crowds and colors and insanity of the event and the race he was supposed to be in. And yet, if he hadn't gone... he would have missed out on the experience he'd had with Nucleo, the moment he and the other greenblood (and the clone) had shared. He would not trade that moment in for anything else.

No, he had to go. He had to convince Maku to let him go.

For only a little bit. he reassured himself, sticking the poster fragment back in his overalls, not even to space, just... whatever he could do. And, just like then...

Everything will be okay.