[S]acred [G]arden
Even badasses have to take time off and recuperate. What better place than a quiet garden? Locatedrent to the barracks building, Captain's office, and brewery, the secluded garden offers rest. Peace emanates through the garden like a scent on the breeze; all-encompassing. When you enter, time seems to stop. Indeed, time has brushed the garden in a strange way.
The stout four-foot high walls seem old, worn and grungy. However upon closer inspection, it can be noted that the walls are sturdy, ancient and beautiful in a sad way. Despite their worn appearance, the walls still portray faded glyphs, half-hidden by the trailing vines.
The garden is small yet so well tended that the foliage gives it a much larger and confined appearance. One feels safe, guarded when entering the garden. Several weeping willows loom on the edges of the garden, draped with spanish moss and leaving room for small paths and other plants. One corner is lost entirely to a stand of sturdy green bamboo. Other plants such as birch trees, speedwell bushes, yarrow, sanicle and lilacs take up leftover space whilst still leaving wide, open paths and leaving the area about the entrance open.
A small naturally occuring stream runs its course through the garden, providing water for the plants. It enters from a minor sandstone rise as a short waterfall and leaves through a convenient hole in the wall. When one stares past their reflection in the water, they can see the stone streambed.
Boulders and a few weathered benches line the paths to provide a place to rest. In the center of the garden an old cracked limestone slab once proudly held a holy idol. Now the pedestal and statue are half-sunk into the loam as fallen leaves gather in its hollows and vines wind around the last testament to the garden's past.
To the side of the formerly-arched and eroded entrance grows a beautiful and stately sakura tree. Around the tree, very few other plants grow which leaves an open view of the sky. The tree is easily the largest tree in the garden(nearly one hundred feet tall with a trunk ten feet wide) and gnarled with great age and the torment of many seasons. Besides its impossible size, one other feature sets it apart from most trees in general. The great sakura tree is split nearly in two at its trunk. Both dual trunks support a grand total of six crowns.
