While her grandmother hadn't explicitly said anything on the matter, Keevah knew, just knew, that her guardian was growing ever increasingly impatient with her. She didn't need words to let her granddaughter know this. She said so in the firm set of her jaw when conversing with her. Keevah saw it in the reproach in her gaze when she thought her granddaughter wasn't watching her. She knew her grandmother had great expectations for her and the fact that she passively seemed to be snubbing some undisclosed timeline rankled her guardian. Keevah had been content to let her continue stewing. She wasn't about to rush into anything before it was time for her to do so.
Dusk was creeping its dark, quieting fingers throughout Homewood. However, on this evening, Keevah found herself standing on the outskirts of the verdant oasis of the forest, staring out at the barrens. She felt it now. The subtle urging to set out for that grand white oak niggled at the back of her mind. She was prepared for this moment, but now, looking out at the yawning wastelands before her, she was stricken with introspection. Not so deeply, however, as to miss the sound of approaching soft hoof falls behind her. Her grandmother, an ascended elder doe, gray through genetics as much as age with the red glittering splash of her adept marking at her throat and trailing down the front of her chest, fell into line with her a fully extended wing's distance apart. "Grandmother," Keevah said simply by way of greeting, angling her head by a few slim degrees to better watch her out of the corner of her eye.
"You can no longer deny your calling, Keevah. There are great works to be accomplished. Works that will be within our reach all the sooner for you receiving your gift." There was little use arguing the point with her. It wasn't like Keevah had been maliciously digging in her heels. She swore it felt like her grandmother had been plotting out her future since the moment she had fallen into her care. Did she have contingency plans depending on what gift she'd return with? What of this new gift that she had heard tell of? Did she have plans for that too? Keevah turned her head more fully to look at the elder doe. She had always been very thin, willowy for as long as Keevah could remember. Advanced age brought on a touch of boniness, but to mistake her grandmother as frail would be a sore underestimation of her. Her eyes were sharp, bright, and always seemingly searching. She was a planner. Plans within plans. It honestly wouldn't surprise Keevah if she had ideas of candidates for potential mates for her to partner with. Must protect the lineage, after all. Her grandmother wanted a dynasty. No pressure, you know.
"I'm leaving tonight, or now I suppose. I have no need of anything else. I was just thinking of the road ahead." She cast her gaze back out to the barrens. "I'll be certain to find you when I return."
"See that you do, Keevah. I will want to hear all about it." And with that, her grandmother turned and once more slipped into the growing dark leaving Keevah on her own. She shook herself and began her pilgrimage to the grandfather tree. The beat of her hooves against the packed clay as she walked and occasionally ran, the steady rhythm of her own breathing drove the thoughts of her grandmother out of her mind. She'd worry about her later. Letting all thought flow from her mind, Keevah focused entirely on making it to that verdant plateau where the Grandfather Tree grew.
Be it by some magic of the great tree itself or her single minded focus allowed the time to slip from her awareness, there loomed her intended destination before her, the moon only just reaching its zenith in the night sky. The doe approached the Grandfather Tree, its bark nigh luminous in the clear, bright moonlight.
"I'm here," She said quietly as she bowed her head. "I'm here to answer your call."
[WC: 691]
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:03 am
Though no breeze passes through, Grandfather Tree's leaves rustle as Keevah approaches.
Choose one of the following prompts for Keevah's dream vision.
Quote:
You are in the ruins of Erli. Suddenly a beam of metal comes crashing down not far from you and you hear a shout of pain. The beam has collapsed on top of a predator that was hunting you! The predator is alive, but trapped and injured. What do you do?
Quote:
One of your neighbor's gardens has been having a harder and harder time growing as the seasons pass. Their flowers are wilting early and the vegetables refusing the bloom. They ask you for help. What do you do?
Quote:
You are in blackbriar bog. Through the murk you spot a large, dark shape - completely still, but impossible to identify from this distance. It might be a tree or the bones of some massive beast that once walked the land. You can't be certain if it's helpful or harmful. What do you do?
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Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 1:48 pm
Quote:
One of your neighbor's gardens has been having a harder and harder time growing as the seasons pass. Their flowers are wilting early and the vegetables refusing the bloom. They ask you for help. What do you do?
One moment she was standing there at the base of the Grandfather Tree, then in a dizzying whirl she found herself standing once more in Homewood. No only that, but she was very near to where her den was. Keevah steadied herself as her mind raced. Had-had she been rejected and sent home with nothing to show for herself? Surely no. The roan doe moved to a nearby stream to check her reflection just to be certain. No, her horn wasn't black as pitch. She looked to be just as she was when she left. Casting her gaze around, Keevah pondered what was going on. It didn't smell any different, didn't sound any different.
Then she heard someone calling her name. It was the familiar voice of one of her neighbors. She turned to face them as they closed the distance between them. "Keevah, I am utterly at my wits end! I fear I'm going to lose my precious gardens! Could you come have a look at it? Maybe you'll see something I've missed." As her neighbor lead the way to where their flower beds and vegetable plots were they went on describing the sort of trouble they had been having.
By the time they had reached the gardens, Keevah had a pretty decent idea of what was going on."Have you been rotating things around or planting the same things in the same places?" Her answer was the latter. She nodded as she moved around and between the plantings, mindful of her step. "You might not like what I have to say..." She lifted her head from closely inspecting a fragile looking plant to meet her neighbor's gaze."Do you still want to hear it?"They answered in the affirmative, so Keevah nodded.
"I believe you have a few options to work with. One, you let these plants die back, let them feed their beds to nurture the soil they have been taking their nutrients from. Let the earth they've been planted in recover. Revisit them next planting season. You may have better luck." She paused to try to read her neighbor's expression. They didn't immediately answer so she continued."Two, if you want to try to salvage what you have now where they are now, to try to restore them to their former glory, you'll still need to refresh the soil. I can get you some things that would help out I think. I have some ideas." The neighbor seemed to look more contemplative, but didn't answer so she continued. "Three, you may have to move all of your gardens to a new place to give this location a chance to recover from many seasons of planting in the same place. You would have a fresh start, fully nutrient rich soil that your plants could feed from...Of course, there is always some risk when moving established plants from one spot to another. They might not survive if they haven't been getting what they need for long enough."Their neighbor frowned and shook their head before asking her to help them the second option.
"Sure. Do you have a pouch, basket, or bucket I may borrow? It's fine if not. I can make it work. Even a square of cloth would work. I'm going to be collecting some things." It took their neighbor a few moments to return with a nice woven satchel. She thanked them, finagled the bag about her neck and set off for her scavenger hunt. The plants were hungry. Being planted in the same place season after season, just requiring the same things, they depleted themselves of what they needed.
Her first destination was a large cluster of a few different types of fruit trees. The branches were heavy with fruits, but the ones on the tree didn't interest her. It was the ones that had fallen down among their roots. The ripe and, better yet, the overripe fruit would break down quickly and do good things for her neighbor's struggling plants. She nosed around a few minutes, collecting a couple perfectly ripe specimens as well as some overly soft, overly ripe ones. Some to break down more quickly, and then a few to break down a little later. So, into the satchel they went.
Her next stop was a grove that she knew a flock of birds had taken to nesting. This time of year, the first broods should be starting to hatch. It was a bit of a gamble, but she wanted to collect whatever eggshells she could find. Keevah moved quietly as she slowly picked her way through the moss and grasses that grew below the nursery trees. The shells she did find were pretty scattered, mostly halves or partial shell pieces. They'd still work. In her searching, Keevah came across an unexpected find. A small skeleton was nestled in amongst some especially gnarled roots. A fledgling from another season perhaps. Poor thing. It was fairly broken up as well. More or less the same sort of stuff as the shells, right? Keevah carefully collected a few of the larger remaining bird bones and dropped them in the bag as well. Her other collected pieces were less notable, leaf litter, collected grass, those sorts of things.
She made her way back to her neighbor and wiggled the satchel off of her neck to reveal her findings. She tipped the contents out next to the garden, quite pleased with what all she was able to collect. "These will help perk your gardens back up. I will say the shells and bones should probably be crushed so your plants can use them all the sooner." Keevah then taking a moment to glance into the satchel to make sure nothing was left inside. "Oh...One of the fruits got squished." She sniffed. Oh, yep. One of the really far gone ones. "Sorry...I'll clean this..."
With another whirlwind of sensation, Keevah once more stood underneath the sheltering branches of Grandfather Tree. It had all been a vision!
[WC: 1000]
Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 4:39 pm
Grandfather tree's leaves settle and a deep purple light swirls around Keevah, warm and smelling of deep earth and sweet decay.
Keevah has been bestowed with the Fungal gift.
Her initial ability is Ferment.
the user causes fruit or fruit juices to immediately ferment +1 fungal healing to an area
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ll Grandfather Tree ll generated a random number between
1 and 100 ...
19!
While her grandmother hadn't explicitly said anything on the matter, Keevah knew, just knew, that her guardian was growing ever increasingly impatient with her. She didn't need words to let her granddaughter know this. She said so in the firm set of her jaw when conversing with her. Keevah saw it in the reproach in her gaze when she thought her granddaughter wasn't watching her. She knew her grandmother had great expectations for her and the fact that she passively seemed to be snubbing some undisclosed timeline rankled her guardian. Keevah had been content to let her continue stewing. She wasn't about to rush into anything before it was time for her to do so. 
