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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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 Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2022 10:54 pm
Helping the Harvest
Solo or RP Format
Counts as 5 RP growth Points
Solo word minimum is 750, RP post minimum is 7
A crisp breeze has rolled into Tendaji, bringing the temperatures down both on land and sea. Along with the shortening of days, this is a sign that it is time to harvest food and resources to prepare for the winter months.
Typically, harvesting is a community effort. Be it the family all coming together to ensure the produce is picked before it sours, or the community coming in to help till the fields, it is quite the event. Most don't mind stepping up, considering the hard work always pays off with a festival, but some do find it quite a burden.
Either way, if the community wishes to come together and survive another long winter, it's time for you to step in and play your part.
[ The fall harvest is back again. This time, you have been asked to play your part. Be it helping gather materials like wood and furs or plucking the fruits and vegetables from the fields, your task has been laid out for you.
When replying to this event, we are looking for your character to be actively helping with the fall harvest. Maybe it's a team effort with a friend, or a thoughtful reflection of what fall means. Take the time to explore how your character feels doing such work during this time of year. ]
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Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2022 5:06 pm
(759 words)
Having never left Chibale Isle, it wasn't unusual for Elsheba to help with the fall harvest. It was true that for much of her life she'd lived as something of a recluse. The months of the year she remained in Chibale she rarely left her hovel of a home; and for the majority of the year she traveled as a guide between Chibale and Oba or Matori, acting as a bodyguard for merchants.
But, every year, she made certain to return home to help with the harvest. It was the one time of the year she saw her mothers and remaining younger sisters. The one time of year where she could remain among her people, and yet was busy enough not to ruminate in her self pity.
This year though... this time of year felt uniquely bittersweet in a way it hadn't for a long, long time. Zayana had moved along in her trip, leaving Elsheba to contemplate her vow to visit Lumikani. A cowardly part of her wondered if she could, instead, put her well wishes in a letter and send it along, but the look of relief on the woman's face when Elsheba agreed to visit refused to leave her brain.
So... this would be the last harvest for... perhaps some time. Elsheba knew herself, knew well enough that once she left Chibale there was a good chance she may not return, at least not anytime soon. Isle Kiros was... as far across the world as she could get, past Yael and even Belrea. And for an Aishan who had never gone farther than Sauti, during the war, such a trek was... quite a lot.
Logically, she should stretch the trip to visit the other trees but, if she was honest with herself, Elsheba doubted she held much interest in any except for the one her sister worshipped.
So. The harvest. Elsheba, with her basket in hand, pondered which harvest to contribute towards. Her mothers were proper elders now, lined with age and loss, and while food would be beneficial, medicine would likely be much more help. So Elsheba found herself scouring the bases of the trees and crystal grasses, seeking out the glowing fungi that, when processed, would become proper medicines.
Finding the right types proved to be easier said than done; there were hundreds of varieties of the mushrooms that grew in Jauhar, some poisonous, and Elsheba admittedly wasn't the most familiar with them. It would've been more helpful to bring her sisters, or even a younger Alkidike to help in her pursuit, but alas... lack of friends or prentices to lead and nurture meant Elsheba was alone in this.
It was easier back when she was young. When the only responsibility was survival, when siding with other Alkidike was the only hard decision to make. Even back then, deciding to accept hybrids hadn't been enough to drive a chasm between them. Her mother Levonn disapproved, but the spectre of exile had never been a real threat.
Before the extremists. Elsheba... wondered if Lumikani still felt so strongly about it. Did she resent hybrids, and still believe their existence weakened the Aishans? Or had she left merely because she didn't want to coexist with earthlings? Would she sneer and turn her nose up at Elsheba, who worked with earthlings for much of her life? Did the extremists still exist, or had their daughters grown past such ideals, mellowed where their mothers and grandmothers did not?
These were all questions she'd been too afraid to ask Zayana when she was here, but now she desperately wondered. Younger Aishans had spread across the world, starting new trees in the same way the Extremists once had, and here Elsheba still was... back home, supporting her settlement in the most half-hearted of ways. She'd denied herself the right of a family, had pushed aside the ones she already had - she was as good as a stranger to Ashani and Anya, what made her think she could nurture anything with Lumikani where she had failed elsewhere?
In some ways, Elsheba felt as if her contribution to her people was similar to this basket she'd filled. She'd lost her focus, lost her passion and drive to help, and as she returned home with a basket of mushrooms she realized she had no idea if they were medicinal or poisonous.
Perhaps leaving was for the best; like cutting off a dying limb, she could return home one day healed of her rot, or not return at all. But at least she had one last gift for her people before she left.
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scarlett arbuckle Vice Captain
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