Book 2: Chapter 49: Lowly Witness

Book 2: Chapter 49: Lowly Witness

The late afternoon sun filtered down through leaves and branches, casting long shadows from the west. All attention was on me. With Maria at my side and the firm trunk behind my back, I started telling the story of the ancient spirit and how she came to be.

Ellis continually asked questions, and before I even got to the part of the tale where she had found a seedling, I paused, seeing how viciously his writing hand shook.

“Are you all right, mate?”

“Sorry. This is quite unprofessional,” he replied, glaring at the offending hand. “It’s just—this information... for a battle between cultivators to have devastated the land so.” He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. “Knowing this history is invaluable.”

I nodded.

“I feel like my words can’t do it justice. Imagine you were kilometers above us, and each bit of land was scorched earth as far as the eye could see. Whatever you’re picturing, it was worse. Far worse.”

Maria squeezed my hand, and Ellis took a drink of water before stretching.

“Okay, I’m ready to continue.”

I nodded and launched back into the tale.

When I described her reaching out and expanding her awareness into other trees, a soft snapping sound rang out. Ellis looked down at his broken pencil, then up at me.

“All good, Ellis?”

He swallowed.

“Are the blue trees created when a spirit enters them, or are they the only trees she could inhabit?”

I gave him a rueful smile.

“I had the same question—she doesn’t know. If the trunks of these lemon trees turn blue, we’ll have our answer, I suppose.”

Ellis sharpened half a pencil and took another drink, then we jumped right back in. We had to pause again when I mentioned the changing levels of chi, Ellis’s pencil once more snapping in his blurred hand.

“The carnage, the creation of the bay, the scoured landscape... it was all before the power diminished, bloomed, then decayed again?”

I nodded.

“Yeah, mate—is that significant?”

He chewed his cheek, looking up at the sun’s dwindling light.

“I had assumed the land-destroying battle was the result of the gods’ departure, but for it to have been centuries from then until the power started fluctuating... it sounds more like the gods fled around the same time the chi levels changed.” Ellis swallowed. “I always thought it strange that no records remained from the time of cultivators, but upon hearing of the power they wielded...”

“It’s not surprising that books didn’t live through the carnage?” I finished.

He nodded, wincing as he sharpened his pencil.

“Just so.”

We had to pause a few more times for Ellis’s shaking hand and snapped utensils, but the story wrapped up before the sun had set. Silence reigned, and Maria set a hand against the tree’s trunk, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“That must have been horrible.”

Claws leaped from her spot in my lap. She wrapped her limbs around a branch high above, hugging the tree tight and making reassuring coos. I grinned at her, Claws’s affection tearing right through the negative thoughts that lingered. The root extending from the ground made a shrugging gesture, mimicking the cultivators that had so often visited her clearing. She sent a surge of complex emotions into me, and a smile grew across my face.

“What did she say?” Maria asked.

“The general sentiment was that all things happen for a reason. If not for all those experiences, she never would have met us. Without meeting bloodthirsty cultivators, she couldn’t have properly appreciated our peaceful nature.”

Saying this seemed to lift a dark blanket from the faces of everyone around me, and conversation once more rang out through the clearing. I simply watched, bathing in the enjoyment of those around me and the spirit at my back.

I stood and stretched.

“I think I’ll go sort out some dinner and turn in early tonight.”

“Early?” Maria asked. “The merchant is coming tomorrow, so everyone probably wants some rest... but you? I thought you’d want to stay up all night with your new friend...”

“Usually I would, but I just learned something really important.”

At the speed of light, Ellis’s notepad was out, his hand ready to record.

“What did you learn? In detail, if you would.”

I laughed.

“Nothing like that, mate.” I glanced back at the tree spirit with a grin. “It’s just something I’ll need to sleep on.”

Understanding me better than anyone else, Maria’s eyes narrowed into a glower, and I nodded back at her, confirming her suspicion.

“That’s right—she doesn’t have a name.”

Her panicked hisses of laughter were music to my ears as she tried to break free.

***

With a temporary truce enacted and an otter perched atop my shoulder, Maria and I strode toward the forest. The sun poked its head over the horizon at our backs, causing us to cast long shadows that stretched out toward the trees. The night’s chill still lingered in the air, and as I took another sip of coffee, I bathed in the warmth it provided.

“Thanks again for brekkie.”

Miria beamed a smile at me.

“You’re most welcome.”

I threw the last of the pastry into my mouth. It was buttery, flaky, and as sweet as the woman beside me. I took my time enjoying the last bite of croissant, staring at the trees as we stepped from the sand and into the forest. The humidity present beneath the lush canopy had trapped the cold of night, and if not for the coffee heating me from within, it would have sent a shiver down my spine.

Maria looped an arm in mine and pulled herself close.

“I miss summer already...”

“Not a fan of the cold?”

“Hmm... it depends, I suppose. It’s nice if you’re curled up under a blanket or sitting around a fire, and it's a welcome reprieve if you’re doing fieldwork, but I’d definitely say I’m more of a summer person.”

I focused on the cold air surrounding us; with each step, it seemed to steal some of my body’s warmth.

“You know... I think coming here made me a summer person. I hated the humid summers back in Australia, but here in Tropica...” I trailed off, remembering the sun’s kiss as I stood on the beach, a fishing rod in hand and the sound of waves lapping at the shoreline. “I guess I’ve only really been here a couple months, so I’ve only experienced autumn, right? Maybe I shouldn’t speak so soon.”

Maria shook her head, her shoulder-length hair softly tickling my upper arm.

“The last few months have been about as hot as it gets. You get the odd heatwave here and there, but I’m sure a big, strong man like you can handle it.”

She squeezed my bicep and waggled her eyebrows at me, causing a laugh to burst from my mouth. We stepped from the trees and into the clearing. Leroy, who was sitting at the base of the blue trunk, opened his eyes and smiled at us.

“I was wondering how long it would take you to arrive.”

“G’day, mate! You haven’t been waiting here all night, have you?”

“No,” he laughed. “Barbara would have my head if I spent the night with a tree instead of her, whether or not it contains an ancient spirit.”

Said tree’s canopy shook with laughter, and Leroy raised an eyebrow at it, shaking his head with a smile.

“I can’t go to the merchant anyway,” he continued. “It’s not worth the risk of someone recognizing me.”

I cocked my head to the side.

“Yeah... I wonder if we couldn’t think up a disguise or something? It seems unfair that you can’t re-explore Tropica.”

“It’s fine, really. I have so much to be thankful for—I shouldn’t complain about a little inconvenience.”

Despite his words, I didn’t miss the twinge of sadness in his eyes. Nor did I miss the mischief held in one Corporal Claw’s visage as she loped forward to rest a reassuring paw on his knee.

“Well,” I said. “Even if you were bothered, which you’re clearly not, I’ve got something that might cheer you up...”

His eyes rose to meet mine, and I nodded. Maria leaned closer, squeezing my arm.

I cleared my throat, puffing out my chest and rolling my shoulders back..

“Long and hard have I considered!” My tone was grand, deep, and oh-so pretentious. “I ask you to bear witness, dear friends, for today, I give name to an ancient being of significant—”

Maria cut me off with a groan

“I swear, Fischer—if you leave us on another cliffhanger, I’ll—”

“Lieutenant Colonel Lemony Thicket,” I bellowed, raising my hands to the sky. “Or Lemon for short—which would you prefer?”

A lemon fell from the tree behind me, hitting the grass with a muted thump.

“Lemon it is!”

“Fischer...” Maria said. “Lemon is super cute... but Lieutenant Colonel Lemony Thicket?” Her voice was filled with exasperation. “You have to be messing with us at this point, right?”

I threw my eyes open and pointed an accusing finger at Maria, then turned toward Lemon.

“Do you see this lowly witness’s hubris? What say you, Lieutenant Colonel Lemony Thicket? How shall we punish the upstart?”

Silence stretched throughout the clearing. At the speed with which I spoke before considering my words, a thin root poked from the ground, drew back, then flicked Maria on the butt.

Her eyebrow twitched, and she turned to face me, a forced smile and a promise of violence on her face.