Whisper, whimper on

Prompt: A large tree stands. It's dead and looked to be on fire on a previous day, but is damp from rain.

For @Vysenya!

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This land was odd and honestly, thoroughly offputting. It was one thing to have travelled these lands before, with @Chehalis but another thing entirely to venture out into the unknown by herself. Jesuite had moved on from the mountain she had woken upon after lingering for a little while, moving north along the coast.

The silverspun female stopped now, a puzzled, even concerned look upon her gentle maw as she stared up at what looked to be a tree that had quite recently been on fire, its limbs bare, the trunk burned to a crisp. A burned tree was not what built her confusion, however, nor was it the fact that the tree also seemed to be soaking wet from what she presumed to be rain.

There were a few things wrong with this picture, that Jesuite could see. One, it was clearly the only thing that had burned in the area. Not even the ground was the tiniest bit singed. Two, it was also the only thing wet in the area. The ground and grass were dry, the skies clear as a summer day. It was a puzzle with no clues, a riddle with seemingly no answer.

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Of all things, what better than to walk in and unknown land just to find a strange wolf gawking at a half-burnt tree. How quaint. 

Approaching slow from behind, Vysenya stopped short of a foot away. In silence, she watched, piecing together the possible outcomes of this interaction. Deciding whether she should stay, or move along as though she were never here. But in the end, what good would it do her to turn away from the possibilities being thrown at her?

“Nature is cruel.” A cold truth, but one nonetheless. Any who did not see it so were fools. 

But in life, there was a purpose to both end and beginning. Even when it came to the merciless acts tossed about like soil in the wind.

Moving a bit closer—more-so to the tree, rather the stranger—Vysenya gazed intently upon the burnt, then drowned bark. “Like all of us, it has served its purpose. Though, for it, time has run short.” As was not the case for all.

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An ear flickered back at the sound of another's voice, though it would take Jesuite a moment to pry her eyes from the curious state of the tree. When she did, she would do a half turn to face the adolescent girl, both ears now trained on her.

“Not always,” The once-mother would gently challenge, smiling a touch. “There is something more here, if you look closely.” Stepping nearer to the female who was only slightly taller than herself, she used a paw to indicate the grass at their feet. “The tree is burned, but the grass is not. If there had been a lightning strike, the ground would be singed. Nor is the dirt damp. So how is it that the tree is?”

Not everyone liked to be taught something new, so it was here that Jesuite fell silent, looking up at the tree again to contemplate its puzzle.

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Different thoughts, this one had. She saw most for what made them good, rather what made them flawed. Part of Vysenya detested this. But yet— how could she fault another for trying more than she?

“I have only known the world, and nature within it, to be cruel,” Her reasoning for believing this way, regardless of whether this stranger was deserving of it. “Mind yourself. Let not what is good shadow over the evil... it will only take advantage of you in the end.” Perhaps Vysenya was younger, but that would not slight what she knew to be true.

Shifting focus, she looks to the tree. The grass below it does indeed thrive, though, she seems to care little. For it is not the life of the grass that has been threatened. And regardless of the "why", the tree has burned nonetheless.

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So sorry for the wait!!

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“Neither shadows the other,” She replied, that soft smile still upon her maw. The girl was young, and had been shown a cruel world it seemed. And that was alright. It would make her a stronger creature, harder to hurt in the end; a flash of pain struck through her at the thought of betrayal, and Jesuite's ears laid back against her skull briefly in thought and quiet upset. As quickly as it had come, it whisked away, instead letting her lavender eyes turn to the girl once more.

“There can be no shadows without the light, no good without the bad.” It was something she had learned what felt like a lifetime ago. “I study the tree because to know what strangeness this world brings is to understand it a little bit better. There is something odd here at play, since it seems that the tree is the only thing in the vicinity that was touched by fire or water. If I know what happened to it, I can better understand how to avoid such dangers going forward.” Her curiosity was not naively placed, but nor did she deliver her words condescendingly or rudely. Just matter-of-fact.

“I am Jesuite, by the way.”

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