Tales of the Exalted

Eida moved quickly through the hallways skirting around the notice of everyone that he passed. Noone needed to know where he was going, noone worried about his passing. He tried to empty his mind while he walked, but all he saw was Cion with his flirtatious grin, and Donovan with Callista in the windowlight. He was not sure why it bothered him so much, but it did.

He slowed down to catch up with his racing thoughts and realized that he had somehow wandered straight into the welcoming boughs of the orchard. Looking for his walking stick again, he noticed that it had several new shoots branching out from it. He took the old polished wood into a small clearing and buried the foot of it into the ground that it might eventually root and find this place home.

He took solace in his act and lay down in the soft grass, staring up into the branches as they rustled in the breeze, trying to rest his furiously beating heart and slow down to think clearly.

Persica shuffled through another stack of papers. There was so much to do before calibration and it seemed to be endless. The northern peaches had failed to fruit on tice and where a week late and the coconuts on the Salted Isle, well she'd didn't even want to get into the infernal coconuts until she filed paperwork on the cherry blossoms. It was bad enough that Vertumnus had sweet talked her into doing some of his paperwork especially since he delt with the changing leaves which to her was like comparing starfruit to moonberries.

She felt a shifting in her demense, an essence that wasn't connected to it in any way so she knew it wasn't the princess. Curious and needing a break she drifted down to the leaf covered floor and went exploring in her deer form.

After a bit she came across the visitor and supposed that she shouldn't have been surprised to find the young man Callista was so fond of. Where was the girl?

A twig cracked under her foot, an intentional gesture even though it would not seem so to most. The tree antlered doe stood still and patient for him to notice her.

Nothing had changed in the peaceful glen, so the noise was definitely out of place. "If you were Chanekeh, the courtesy would have been a blade at my throat, so thank you for the warning." Eida opened his eyes and looked up at the majestic form of what he instantly recognized as a god. One of the two Callista mentioned resided here in the desmense, and from the vernal appearance, this was most likely Persica.

Eida stood up and greeted her in the Old Tongue, hoping that the different tongue would mask his troubled mind. "You grace me with your presence, Goddess of the Orchard. I hope my appearance was not an inconvenience to you. I found myself here quite by accident."

"One who wanders into secret places by accident? One is a curious creature indeed. Then again most find the Eternal Sakura by one's hearts, not one's mind." Curious thing the boy was, so naive and so wise at the same time. She was pleased that he spoke to her in her native tongue. "Please, one should sit. The princess welcomes one here and so shall I. One has no worry of the Azuma here. That one knows only the love of duty."

Eida took a seat as requested, looking up at the regal deer-like creature. Gods took so many different forms, it was a wonder that no two looked alike. "I had a few concerns on my mind, and I suppose that I find this place calming on even an instinctual level. If what the Princess had told me about this place is true, then it would call out to those in need of respite without their realization. A desmense like that if only secret when it wants, no?" It had not asked him a question, and Eida was not sure if he felt like talking, but still the words came rolling out. "Apologies, thank you for the haven. I am called Eida, of the tribe Nahuatl. To whom do I have the privilege of speaking?"

”This one knows of Eida. This is Persica of Every Pome, but Eida already knew that because the princess told him.” She came closer into the grove and assessed him with eyes that were the molten color of ripe peach flesh. ”Concerns are questions, questions need answers but silent questions get none. Is this place calming to Eida because of what it is or what it stands for? Perhaps who it stands for?”

"To be honest, all three. This place is untouched by the people that sought to break down the walls, the meaning there is difficult to refute. But it is also the place where I remembered a part of who I am. The Princess taught me here, under these trees, that to have someone to be vulnerable around is to keep yourself whole." Eida leaned back a bit so he could hear everything around him, drown himself in the sounds of the trees, feel the soft grass under his palms, escape from the formality of mortal courts, even if just for a moment.

”A wise lesson for one so young. This one wonders why the name Eida is on our Princess’s lips when she prays, yet answers her own prayers.” The deer goddess flicked a downy ear and looked up at the Sakura. ”It will bare fruit one day.”

"And even after it does, it will remain the great treasure of your garden, Persica of every Pome." Eida caught a falling petal in his hand and turned it over. "She prays for me? I would ask, but those are private thoughts given in confidence. I suppose I am glad she has the ability to answer her own prayers. Rare is that person, willing to act on their innermost feelings. I know, I hold myself at bay because it is not my place. Though..."

He turned to face the deer-goddess to ask a direct question, not execting a real answer. "What is the place of the servant whose master freed him? All his life he knew how to act for another, and never the chance to be himself, and when the day comes, finds people of stronger station and social standing vying for what he is after. Is it wrong for him to stretch his branches beyond the mighty oak and virile apple so that he can taste the sky?"

"This one was not speaking of the tree baring fruit." She snorted amused but did not answer him about Callista’s words in private as he was correct in assuming that she would not disclose such information. The princess had many names on her lips over the past few weeks but Persica had noticed which ones were uttered more often and which ones made her voice tremble when she spoke. ”A caged bird set on an open window may choose not to fly. Even a small acorn can outgrow the mighty oak from which it fell, if it chooses not to sprout is that the fault of the oak? One asks questions which answers lie in doing not asking.”

Eida sighed and leaned into the tree, the problem with spirits is that they give answers that you have to figure out yourself. He already knew that and asked anyway. "Which is more or less what I expected, thank you. This sapling just has to decide if he is good enough to vie for her attention. I want her to become strong. She has a nation watching her. She does not need someone with an overbearing attitude to overshadow her presence. She does not need a guardian to protect her from every possible threat or slight."

"Forgive me, these idle ramblings must be distracting. I do not know what I expected out of this. Is there anything I can do to assist the Goddess that has welcomed a stranger into it's haven?" He needed something to do. Sitting around bemoaning his station would solve nothing. Staying active would at least keep him distracted with the task at hand.

The deer shook her antlers impatiently causing several ocher leaves to float down. She wished as she had many times that Vertumnus would allow her to avoid the seasonal changes but he was not lenient to anyone, even his wife. ”Maybe it is not for the sapling to decide. What she needs is to glean the same wisdom one has.” Frustrating. Humans were always so frustrating. Why did it always feel like they never understood what she was plainly saying?

”The stranger is always welcome here so long as it makes the Princess happy. If there is more this one requires, it will say.”

Eida had to smile as the Goddess was getting impatient, for a tree spirit. He understood their words a lot better than the actions of people. After all, he had Jaeda. He stood up and brushed the light flowers off of himself.

"Thank you Goddess Persica, this one will give his wisdom where he can. And if she chooses him, will welcome her in his own way. I hope that no longer will I be stranger, your abode is soothing to the spirit." He had collected himself, and if the Goddess did not need anything, there was no reason to persist in keeping her attention.

After a few step he turned around, remembering the events just a few weeks prior. Bowing to her in respect, he thank her. "For the gift from your gardens. Without your aid, I would not have recovered."

Persica had to smile to herself. If only the man knew what the princess offered to get that salve, he might not have thought so little of himself. "It was not a gift but a boon paid for in full so no thanks are needed." She bowed her crowned head and moved silently back through the trees. There were paperwork that still needed done.