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Obwain was a little embarrassed to say he was only now making his journey to the Grandfather Tree. He'd spent most his life thus far thinking he didn't need anything special to be good at his role. And for the most part, that had been true. But ripples of news was spreading across homewood, things were getting more dangerous. There was change happening rapidly, and he was a bit nervous that being giftless wasn't going to cut it anymore.

The sky was overcast, making the barrens gloomier than ever. He thought he could feel an energy in the air growing as he neared the Tree, but maybe that was just his brain working overtime. He'd spent some time over the last few days, as he waffled over this decision, wondering what gift he might end up with. What suited him? What would be useful to him? Botanic would be nice for aiding the expansion of Homewood. Tilling and seeding and growing by hand with no aid was a bit tedious, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little jealous whenever he worked with a Botanic.

He'd also envied a Solar once or twice in his lifetime. They were just... radiant and influencial. Atmos were too, but he was sure that wouldn't be him. They were firecrackers - ever-changing and easily swayed by their emotions. Obwain's emotions were more like a thick molasses, never moving far unless seriously disturbed.

He'd wrapped himself up in his thoughts so much that he almost ran directly into the Grandfather Tree. He stopped and looked up at it, slightly overwhelmed. It towered over him, infinitely more powerful than anything he could imagine. Thousands of nouls had come here before him.

"Grandfather Tree," he invoked its name quietly. "I am sorry it has taken me so long to come to you. I hope you'll still grant me a quest, even if I am a bit late." He waited for a response, content to just feel the power here.

Being an Expander, Obwain often helped the Gardeners out. Now more than ever it was especially important that they had extra hands, because a new seed had been resurrected and all hands were on deck to help it thrive. They'd seeded whole fields, excited to get this new little plant established.

So when Obwain arrived to the fields early in the morning as the sun glinted welcoming golden hues down onto Vykeli, he was horrified to see a quarter of the field destroyed. He made a deeply confused noise, trying to figure out what he was seeing. Many of the sprouts had been entirely ripped from the ground. Some had been somehow bitten at the base of the stalk. Something was eating their plants.

And it didn't take him long to figure out what.

Standing in the corner of the field was a tiny, fuzzy creature he had never seen before. It was more hair than face, but he could see the leaves of one of their new sprouts hanging sadly out of its mouth as it mechanically chewed.

They'd resurrected something. He closed his eyes and counted slowly, mulling over what this would mean. In only a few minutes the Gardeners would wake up and come looking for their plants. He'd have to start working out a solution before they got here so he could quell their panic. But also, this was a newly resurrected creature. It deserved to eat, and if these plants were its food they should respect that.

He opened his eyes again and looked at the little fuzzball, confident now. "Okay, little one. We're going to give you half of this field, but the other half you can't get into." The creature stared back at him blankly.

That was fine, he didn't need agreement.

He set off into the woods, beginning to collect large fallen branches and snapping larger saplings off at the root. When he could carry no more, he brought them back to the field and began building a barrier straight down the middle. He was right about the Gardeners waking up and panicking. He'd only gotten a few feet of his barrier finished before they came wailing.

He calmly and confidently explained his plan to them, and gave them little room to argue. He was going to let the creature eat, but he was going to save some of them. After a moment of coming to terms with the fate of half of their field, the Gardeners eventually agreed and began to help.

It was much easier with multiple nouls working. Between them all, it took maybe a few hours to complete the barrier down the middle and to begin extending it all the way around the untouched part of the field. The whole time the new creature skittered around, munching at leaves in the field it had left.

By sundown the field was completely fenced off, and the Gardeners were in higher spirits again. They chittered excitedly about their new fence and how they could use it for future renewed seeds. Obwain just felt accomplished, and a little happy to see the new creature settling into a den at the base of a tree near the field. They'd saved some of their plants and also gave this little creature a home. He was satisfied with that.