Fulfilling Obligations (Solo)

[Massacre]

Fulfilling Obligations Timestamp: 80th of Spring Location: The Scarlet Saplings "You damaged one of our trees. Thank Caiyha it was minor, and the tree will recover. But it will not go unpunished. Tomorrow, at dawn, meet me at a place called the Scarlet Saplings. Everyone around knows where it is. You will spend the whole day planting saplings on the outskirts, to replace the tree you harmed so recklessly. Understood?" Massacre was more than a little annoyed. He should be out hunting, not going to plant trees. As if one arrow was going to harm a massive tree like the one he shot? And what if he accidentally struck a tree on accident while out hunting? What if he dug in too deeply with his claws while landing on a tree branch? What if his feet bent a blade of grass to far? Would he be punished for those things as well? And no, he did not understand. The tree wasn't harmed by his actions. It was barely even phased. A woodpecker did more harm than Massacre had.. but the kelvic girl did catch him off guard, and she was backed by an army of massive Jamoura.. so.. Massacre eventually accepted the fact that he was going to have to do what he was told. The Scarlet Saplings was a sacred place to the Jamoura. It was where they buried their dead and replanted the trees that were lost during the storm. Massacre could sort of understand. Even Zith buried their dead, though it was usually under a pile of stones and not in the ground. Massacre understood the significance of the place, but he still thought it was pointless for him to be there. He was a hunter, not a grave digger or gardener. As Massacre complained to nobody but himself he slowly made his way to the place he was supposed to go. Dawn would be arriving shortly. He didn't know why he couldn't just plant the trees at night. Working in the daylight was going to be horrible, especially out in an open field with no shelter from the sun.. but Massacre had no choice. He had to accept his fate, no matter how much he didn't want to.

[Massacre]

When he arrived he saw that he was not the only one who was going to be digging that day, though most of them were volunteers unlike himself. As he approached, doing so on foot, he was quickly intercepted by a large Jamoura, one of the Hahk'Shatara, the guardians of the Spires. They were imposing creatures, the Jamoura, though Massacre thought he could probably handle one of them if he had to. "You must be Massacre. They said you harmed one of the trees." Massacre frowned at the Jamoura, not liking his tone of voice. "I barely hurt it. The arrow did not go deep, the tree is fine." The Jamoura shook his head, realizing the Zith didn't understand. "You wounded the tree, and if it is not looked after, the wound will fester. The bark has weakened where you shot it, making it more vulerable to outside threats. Insects will try to enter it, the weather will be hard on it. Even the smallest wound can become deadly." Massacre thought over the Jamoura's words. He didn't understand all of them, but he understood the overall meaning. He supposed the Jamoura was right.. but it was still just a tree. It wasn't as if he had accidentally shot one of the large apes. Even so, they lived in the trees, so they probably cared for them more than a normal person would. "Well.. where do I start?" Massacre was handed a shovel led to an empty patch of ground. "Dig here, and dig deep," the Jamoura told him, and then left Massacre to his work. The Zith stared at the shovel with contempt. This was not something he was suited to. Massacre was a warrior! But again, he had no choice. Soon enough the shovel plowed into the dirt, and Massacre began his hole. It wasn't long before he was sweating through his fur with the effort, and he wondered how in the world some people could volunteer for this sort of work. It was probably a bell or more before Massacre finally dug his hole deep enough to satisfy the Jamoura who occasionally came and checked on him. It was almost as deep as Massacre was tall, and had it been a Jamoura he was burying it would need to be even deeper, but Massacre was in luck. He was burrying a kelvic, an attractive female who had died in the process of being captured. It was a shame, Massacre thought to himself, she would have been a good mate for someone. Massacre did not assist in the lowering of the body into the grave, which was probably a good thing. The Zith probably would have just dropped her in, which would have likely angered the large Jamoura. Instead they lowered her in gently and respectfully. The Jamoura stepped back before kneeling and driving a wooden post into the ground next to the hole. Massacre couldn't read, but he didn't have to, the Jamoura read it out loud. "Her name was Mara. She was a kelvic, a blue jay. She was born in the Spires, and she died in the Spires, and here she lays beneath this sapling to rest." Of course the sapling wasn't there yet.. Massacre still had to put it in, but that's what the post said. After a moment the Jamoura left, and Massacre returned to work, filling in the hole partially before adding the tree. It was hard to move it by himself, the Jamoura could probably do it one handed, but eventually he dropped the tree down into the hole and began filling it in the rest of the way. By the time he was done, his hands had been rubbed raw and he had blisters from the shovel. It was worse than learning to use a sword! When all was done, he was set to work on another grave. Massacre would plant three trees that day, but that was all the time he had. Digging graves was slow, tiring work, and the sunlight was making his head hurt. By the end of the day Massacre was exhausted and angry, and wanted nothing more than to return to his bed and sleep. He wouldn't hunt that night, for sure, and slept well into the day before bothering to rise. Even then, he waited until nightfall to hunt again, and his hands were still sore. He might not have understood why harming the tree was such a big deal, but he would certainly take great care not to do it again. ~End

[Cinna]

And the forest reveals.... Looks like poor old Massacre is doing a little manual labor, poor thing. That's what he get's for harming those trees! Also I really like the beginning letter on each post, thats pretty cool . Massacre : Skills: Gardening +2 Socialization +1 Lores: Location: The Scarlet Saplings Trees Are Sacred in the Spires Close and Personal with a Shovel Planting a Tree If you have any questions or concerns about my grading then please don't hesitate to PM me .