"You're here faster than I thought." Dwayne greets Gertrud from his chair behind his desk. In front of him an open ledger with the deliveries and payments. He looks tired.
"I've heard the kids caused problems?"
As they walk to the meeting with Dwayne Jewel thinks over what Mrs. Johnson had said. "But Bruihu is one of Erastil's creatures. He wouldn't cause a war...." Her voice trails off as she thinks about it. Would he? If the people of the village were clear cutting the land, that would be against what Erastil wanted. So maybe?
Jewel steps up when Dwayne makes his statement. She considers her words carefully before speaking.
"Yes sir. I believe what happened could be interpreted that way. We were... I mean, we are trying to help, with the drider problem. And whatever other creatures might come up out of the hole."
"As for the tree-person, Bruihu, we were guided to him by a servant of Erastil, the Stag. He is helping us. But of course he has a different viewpoint concerning the trees than what human people have. He's OK with trees being cut down as needed, but feels that we should be more careful of the land while it is being done. New trees need to be planted so the soil won't be blown away at the next storm."
She pauses with a concerned look on her face, "I'm sorry Mr. Smith. Perhaps I've spoken incorrectly because I don't know anything about your profession. I am as you correctly stated, a kid. Do your workers plant trees to restore the land while they are cutting trees down? While I was walking out on the edge of the cutting area looking for the Stag, it looked like the area was being completely cleared. Maybe that was what upset Bruihu. He probably walked through there, and then came to confront the lumberjacks. And, unfortunately he upset Jack...."
"That's ridiculous." Dwayne starts laughing tears.
"I'm sorry. I can't help myself" Dwayne excuses himself, as he wipes a tear from his eye. "I accuse you of being the problem and not to you, but to Gertrud, while you stand at the side. And you give me a sober rundown of events and what has to happen."
"It's ridiculous." Dwayne shakes his head. "I had Jack here a few minutes ago, and he threw a tantrum like a three year old. Whining about getting wet and calling you names, I will not repeat. I wish some of my wood cutters had half your brains."
"But I'll be honest with you. Those guys know nothing about planting trees. I point them to trees, they cut them down, remove the branches, and the horses pull them to the mill. I don't care where the trees are from as long as the horses manage to get them to the mill as fast as I can saw them into timber. If it keeps that walking tree guy away, tell me where to cut the trees and plant trees all you want to make him happy."
Jewel starts to flush, embarrassed at Dwayne's laughter. "Redic.... But.."
She promptly and politely shuts her mouth and listens further, wondering at his words. She had felt that he would be angry with her and Tarjun, for upsetting Jack the Chopper. He seemed to have a reputation with the other lumberjacks. But....
When he finishes his statement she smiles. He was willing to work with them to plant new trees! "Tarjun and Clara went with Bruihu to see about the saplings. Bruihu seemed to know where there were lots of sapling that could be transplanted." She glances over to Gertrud. "My father is a farmer. Not trees but other crops. Sorry, You know that already.... The reason I mentioned that is I wondered if similar methods would work with trees? Are there certain types of trees that need to be grown or cut differently? Certain trees that grow faster than others, or that have to grow for longer times than others? I don't know trees, but I know Dad changes crops in his fields from year to year. More importantly, he only plants one type of crop in a field. Certain crops come in earlier than others, and it would be hard to harvest hay from a corn field. Are trees similar? And, would it make sense to plant the trees in rows? I know that in the forest the trees are all randomly placed by wherever the seed falls. But to farm trees? Or am I way off any common sense?"
She pauses, and then adds, "I'm sure Tarjun is sorry for conjuring the water on Jack. He put him to sleep 'cause it looked like Jack was really going to swing that axe at him. But the water was, a mistake. We're all really just, or still learning."
"Great if Will can support you with his knowledge. As I told already, I'm only cutting them. Maybe ask that tree guy? I suggest you start marking trees that can be cut, or those that shouldn't be cut? What do you think works better?"
"And I'll have a talk with my woodcutters so they know what to do and don't. And of course I need to have a special talk with Jack so he behaves in the future. Do we have a deal?" Dwayne asks offering his hand for Jewel to accept.
Jewel smiles and puts out her much smaller hand. "Yes or course! I think best to mark those not to cut. You know what you need to cut for lumber! The main thing is to not clear cut an area. I'll talk with Dad to see what he thinks about using farming methods with trees, and with Bruihu if I can catch up, about what trees have the best roots and such."
"Wonderful!" Dwayne exclaims. "It's great how you care for the village. I see a great future for you."
"With all settled now, I have to ask you to excuse me, I need to talk to my men now, to get work started again as soon as possible."
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"You know, those wolves are surprisingly quiet," Tarjun whispers to Clara while picking up as many saplings as he can. "And still."
""I'm sure Tarjun is sorry for conjuring the water on Jack."
"[smaller]Also I'm not sorry,[smaller]" he mutters under his breath. He's not sure why he felt the need to say that.
"These aren't weeds. You can't just pull them from the ground!" Clara objects to Tarjun's way of working. "Can't we just take one as a sample and come back later with some tools and a cart and mom, Paddinton, Wookie, and whoever else can help deal with the wolves?"
As Dwayne turns to leave Jewel smiles to Mrs. Johnson. "I think I need to run to try and catch Bruihu. Can you tell Dad that I'll be back shortly? We've got so much to do now...."
She turns to leave and runs out in the direction she thinks Tarjun, Clara and Bruihu might be. She watches the ground for Bruihu's tracks but completely misses that they didn't go to the stream. When she gets there she calls out as loud as she can.
Gertrud shakes her head as she gazes after Jewel. With a crooked smile she tells "You're a bastard Dwayne. You butter her up with compliments and drop all the work on her."
"You know me too well." Dwayne replies with a shrug and leaves to gather the workers.
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"We can never have too many samples," Tarjun retorts, holding the saplings close to his chest like a prized possession.
"About the wolves..." he clicks his tongue. "I don't have any spells that'd work for the whole bunch of 'em. And I don't wanna hurt 'em- or them hurting me. Maybe you can scare 'em away with your fire? Without torching 'em I mean, that'd be cruel."
At first Jewel is angry that the pair, and Bruihu, aren't at work plowing the trench. Her yells go unanswered so she sits to think. Maybe Bruihu had something to show them?
She walks back along the trail, searching more carefully this time for Bruihu's tracks, or Tarjun and Clara. Maybe Bruihu can hide his trail when he wants to?
Finding something she slowly walks along hoping to find them. "Chirp. Fly above me and look for Tarjun, Clara or Bruihu. Let me know if you spot them. I need to find my friends!"
"Bruihu, please bring us back. Tarjun has pulled enough saplings out of the ground."
Bruihu does as asked, and guides the kids away from the wolves and back towards the settlement.
Half way they meet Jewel.
Shock, confusion, anger, more confusion.... Jewel reaches deep to not explode with the waves of feelings running through her. "Tarjun? Why are you carrying all those little trees? We need to figure out where they should be planted, dig the holes and have the water ready...." Then his words register. "Wolves? Quite a few, as in a pack? Could you pick out their leader? There might be something wrong. We don't usually see many wolves around here."
"Yes, I spoke with Dwayne Smith, the leader of the wood cutters. He's happy to work with us and cut the trees the right way. I think he was very impressed with Bruihu. Pretty sure he'd never seen one of the tree people before. Let's get those saplings back in the soil so they can grow. In the future maybe we can pull a little wagon out so the little trees can stay in soil and not be bent in your arms while you hug them. I'll take a couple." She takes a couple from Tarjun so he isn't quite as loaded by them. "Once we get to where these need to be, Clara, Tarjun and I can dig and mud them in. Could you please get your mother? Tell her about the wolves. I'd like to go back and talk to them, but not alone. And I'm sure our parents will feel better if your mother is along with us."
She walks with Tarjun chatting. "Mister Smith was pretty nice. We need to talk with Dad about how he decides on what plants he puts in the fields and such, and why. But I think I understand some of it. And we will move the saplings into the areas that are cleared already. Put them in rows with the same kinds of trees together. Some trees grow faster than others so they'll be ready for cutting sooner.... and you know all this at least as well as I do! I'm just rambling 'cause I wonder about the wolves. Let's get these saplings planted quick!"
"See what you got us into?" Clara accuses Tarjun. "Now we have to dig a lot of holes, because you couldn't simply take one sample."
Once they are back, Clara gets a hoe and uses it to vent her frustration at the soil. Holes to plant saplings are rage-dug.
Jewel lets Clara vent her frustration for a couple of holes before offering to take over. "Clara, I thought I said Tarjun and I can dig the holes? We need you to go tell your mother about the wolves, and ask if she can come with us? I'd like to talk to the wolves to see why they were here, and so close to you, Tarjun and Bruihu. They might have just been curious, but there might be something wrong."
Clara pauses the hoeing. "What's wrong with wolves lying around in the woods?"
But then she realizes, that this is her chance to get out of this horrible work. She drops the tool and is gone. "I'm on my way..."
Jewel grins as Clara leaves. She continues digging the holes for the little trees. They could conjure the water once the saplings were in place. "Did the wolves seem scared of Bruihu? My only real concern is that they might have a lair near the saplings. And if we have to go there much to get more of the little trees, they might not like it."
"Wolves aren't pets, and if we are going into their area we need to be sure that we don't upset them."
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"Yeah, wolves! And I haven't seen any leaders of theirs, you know I can't talk to animals as well as you do," Tarjun is happy to chat along, carrying all his little plants. "I can't even talk to most people as well as you do- good job with Smith! I just figured that the more saplings, the merrier. I don't mind about planting them all, 'cause these things are fragile, and without older trees to surround 'em they're gonna have trouble growing up."
His eyes light up as he's speaking. "It's all about the Mama trees, you see. Did I tell you about the Mama Trees? They're like these older trees that take care of the young ones in the forest, sometimes you can recognize 'em 'cause they've got those long branches to block the sunlight, so the young trees don't get greedy and grow too fast..."
He prattles away about the benefits of growing slowly for young trees and the likelihood of them growing all wrong when left alone for the rest of the walk, while digging holes and while filling them with magical water.
"Mom, Clara shouts when she enters the house and listens for a response. As none comes, she walks into the kitchen, grabs a sausage and sits down at the table. She takes a bite, spits it out again and holds it at the opening of her vest's pocket. Weasel sticks his head out and grabs the food, retreating into his comfy lair.
Clara then takes a bite for herself and waits for her mom to arrive.
As the pair dig and plant the little trees Jewel asks Tarjun about them. How thick the trunk will get, if there are low branches, how much space each will need. "You really know more about them than I do. I've got so much to learn. I think that we need to keep similar types of trees together. That way when the tree cutters can harvest the fast growers, they aren't accidentally hurting the slow growers."
"I think things will go better with us and Bruihu, and the forest in general if we can think of this like farming trees. That's why I wanted to talk to Dad about that too. He doesn't farm trees, but he knows about farming. With what he knows about farming, and what you know about the trees, I know it will work. I know that the trees with harder wood, lumber you know, like oak, grow slower than the trees that have softer wood, like pine. But each type of wood is needed for different things. Softer wood for framing a house for example. It can bend a little if a really strong storm blows against it. Harder woods will crack and break. But the harder woods are useful for furniture and cabinets.... I'm being silly now. You know building better than I do. I only know what I've seen and remember."
As they finish putting the last sapling in she looks around. "We're going to need lots more, but next time we'll use a wagon. Clara must have had trouble finding Mrs. Johnson. Let's go by home and get a bite to eat. We've still got a trench to plow and some wolves to chat with."
"Oh, you're back. I thought I saw the others planting trees." Gertrud states as she comes back to the house and into the kitchen.
"Yes, they do. I'm sent to ask you, if you'd accompany Jewel into the woods to talk to a pack of wolves. We met them, where Bruihu led us to get the saplings." Clara explains with her mouth half full of sausage.
"Shall I be summoned?" Gertrud asks rhetorically and takes a seat at the table too. Holding out her hand to move Clara to share the sausage she answers it herself. "I don't think so."
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"Yeah, I don't know about trees that much," Tarjun shrugs. "Just that they're all really different from each other- they never give the same wood. And also, they can try and steal each other's light and food if they're not of the same species and planted too closely."
He gladly accepts a break for some food, but eventually starts finding it suspicious that their friend should be so late. "I wonder what Clara's doing. We check on the Johnsons?"
Jewel considers Tarjun's question, then giggles a bit. "No. She wouldn't be much help with the plowing anyway. And she'll get tired of waiting for us to show up looking for her. Let's take the plow and ox out to the stream and start that. The sooner we get that hole filling, the sooner the drider can go home and stop guarding the hole, and the adults of the village can move about there freely again." She finishes her food and grabs a skin of water. "Being able to conjure water doesn't mean it's easily drinkable. And that will be thirsty work! Let's go!"
Getting the ox and plow down by the stream Jewel looks at the path that they need to follow. "The plow will only break the ground. We'll still need to shovel the dirt out of the path.... This is going to be a lot of work!" She stares for a few seconds at the path. "Well, it won't get done if we don't start. Besides, the ox is doing most of the work here. Can I start?"
Knowing that Tarjun is much stronger and more experienced with the plow, she still tries. Once the ox is hooked up she stands on the plow and tells it to pull....
Clara notices that Jewel and Tarjun leave with the plow. "I'll tell Jewel to visit you later, okay?"
She pockets the rest of her sausage and leaves to follows at some distance. When Jewel fails to get the plow into the ground she steps out from behind a tree. "I can be a dead weight." she throws in trying to sound cool. She might have gotten the meaning of that saying wrong.
Jewel giggles but doesn't comment on the phrase. "Both of us aren't equal weight to Dad, but we can try...."
She has trouble keeping the plow balanced with Clara and ends up falling over. "Tarjun, I'll have to give you the controls and just talk to the ox to control his pulling.... Sorry!"
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"Hey, the water I create's perfectly drinkable!... I think," Tarjun adds a little too quickly. For the first time, he has to ask himself where the water he conjures out of thin air comes from, if it even comes from him. It's not a very pleasant thought, he decides.
Although it does have funny implications for what happened to Jack.
Switching places with his sister, he frowns as he struggles to bury the blade in the ground, much less plough in a straight line.
"Hold on-is this thing broken? Do you know how to make it work?" he asks Clara hopefully. He's been called "dead weight" a lot by other kids and always figured it might not be a compliment, but there's still the odd chance that he misunderstood. Or that Clara knows something they don't.
"I don't know nothing about farming. Maybe you have it upside down?"
Jewel shrugs and comes back to the plow, examining the blade. "We've only got this one. Maybe we hit a rock or something and bend the tip while Dad was teaching us? Pull the blade up and lay the plow on the side...."
She examines the whole plow, "Look here! Darn. I think the tip here is bent a little. Let's take it back to Dad. We can work on it once we know what to do. And we can talk to Mrs. Johnson and see if she can come with us to talk with the wolves. I don't want to risk the three of us facing a pack of wolves. They may not care at all, but I don't want them to decide to have us for lunch one day while we're getting so me more saplings!"
Clara can't believe that all that walking should be for naught. She picks up the plow, makes noises towards the ox, and makes pull ups on the handles to bring it into the ground. And finally the plow does its work. Probably she found a soft spot without tree roots to start with.
Jewel's shock ends quickly when Tarjun speaks. "Wow! Thanks Clara! I'll get started digging out the loosened soil. Just keep going while it's working! Let the ox pull.... Ah, Just ignore me. Whatever you're doing it's working!"
The ox calmly trots through the forest towards the creek. It takes a lot longer than simply walking there, but compared to digging it works like a charm. Once there you find (like you've seen before) that the water is a few foot below the drench.
Jewel struggles to dig the loose soil out of the trench until her arms and shoulders are just too tired to continue. Then she walks along the track until she gets to the stream. Looking at the amount of work to be done, and how deep the track will have to be she is about ready to cry. "We'll have to dam up the stream, at least some to get the water level up so it can flow.... That's.... a lot of work! Erastil, There's got to be an easier way!"
The clouds in the sky open, the the rays of the sun shine through the opening, dazzling you as, Jewel hears a deep booming voice "No there isn't. Keep digging, that's a valuable lesson."
The expression on Jewel's face is one of shock, then fear. She hadn't meant to call on her God for help! She just kept her focus on him the way that she felt a priestess should.... Maybe she needed to talk with her Dad about that, tonight.
She hears Tarjun's words vaguely as she stares up in the sky. "Right... I mean, no. The beavers have their lives too. And this is work that we can do, without help. It's just going to take time." She looks around and gathers the shovel up. "Right. This is a big job. It will take some time. But once it's done it should help everyone! The drider and her people won't have to worry about us climbing down into that hole. We won't have people scared of her or her people coming up from the hole. And their might even be good fishing once the water is flowing good. I've heard that big fish like deep water...."
"'Keep digging, that's a valuable lesson.' I think I understand. Sometimes hard work is it's own reward."
"Let's go back home. The shovel needs work, cleaning, and the edge is dull from my digging."
As Jewel comes back to the village Dwayne is standing outside on the open field. He greets her with a wave and inquires from afar "You marked the trees already?"
Jewel stares at Dwayne for a second. She is tired from the digging.... "Marked the trees.... Oh, I'm sorry, No. You are aware of the hole in the ground and the drider there? We're trying to cut a channel from the stream to it. The water will fill it and stop them from coming up and any of us from climbing down. They don't want any dealings with us and I guess most of us don't want the drow or their creatures coming out. I've been digging."
"Can you teach me a little more of your business? What trees you cut for different jobs? Knowing more will help me mark the best trees for your men, and help us to know the most important trees to replant. I know some trees grow faster than others, but not much else."
"Sure thing." Dwayne replies and leads to the trees.
Dwayne gives Jewel a tour through the woods and explains what kind of trees they cut down for what. Basically everything can be used. But for business they prefer trees that are tall and straight for timber. And trees that are not, are cut for firewood. Only trees that are softwood and not straight are spared.
What is also interesting is what he doesn't talk about: What happens to the land when they are done, or how to plant trees.
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Tarjun obligés Jewel and digs for a while, but when he sees her walking away with Dwayne he starts thinking that maybe his position is unfair.
"We did say we were taking a break," he says to Clara with a shrug. He picks up his crutch to follow them.
He shows great interest for what Dwayne has to say about the trees and how to differentiate them for cutting.
"But if you leave only the crooked and the soft standing," he reasons. "Doesn't that make it harder for new trees to grow up? 'Cause the tall and straight, they're giving the young shadow to grow strong and healthy. If they don't have that, they're just gonna grow wrong, and then you'll have no more timber trees for cutting."
Jewel listens, noticing that there is no mention of planting new trees but says nothing. She takes time to learn each of the trees by sight, noting what Dwayne says about the type of wood and what it is used for. She asks about the quantity of trees cut over a year and which trees are needed more than others.
When Tarjun comments about the twisted trees she furrows her brow, thinking. "Maybe. But leaving the soft and crooked in place will protect the saplings until they are strong enough to stand alone. They could be considered like an old Aunty, protecting mother's young trees. They can be cut away once the young can stand alone. And the wood might have uses, perhaps training young wood carvers?" Her eyes glitter with the comment, knowing that Tarjun enjoys carving wood.
"Thank you Dwayne. I think I understand now. And these trees can be cut here. Tarjun and I will look at the trees over there and mark those that we think will be best for the rest of the week. We're planting new over in that cleared field. A few are already in and we'll add more as we can. I know it will take time, but I hope we can get the trees arranged like our father's fields so we'll be like farming trees."