The Storm Shades

“Bard, wake up,” Sen insisted. Bard rolled over. “Bard!”

“Sen…” he grumbled. She was definitely more of a morning person than him. When Kai nudged him, he stirred and sat up. Sen was up in a tree looking down at him. She seemed worried. Bard noticed the fires were out, and the forest seemed to hum with tense energy. This was enough to get him up.

He pulled on his clothes, straightening them out as he walked over to her. Kai rose and stretched.

“What is it?” he asked, trying not to yawn.

“There are storm clouds…” she said and Bard straightened. Storm shades again? He started to climb, but Kai came over and pushed him up the tree faster. Bard thanked Kai before looking out where she was indicating.

Black clouds rolled at the edge of the horizon, moving around the mountains unnaturally. There was a higher layer of normal looking clouds above them. Then he saw a flash of white and specks of white moving in the lower clouds. He gritted his teeth. Definitely storm shades. They seemed to be drawing the regular clouds towards them. He grabbed Sen’s attention and indicated they should climb down. She was swiftly on the ground while Kai helped him down.

“Are those?”

“Yes. Storm shades. We can either try to outrun them, or we can stay here and seek shelter with Elder Steadfast.”

“But she doesn’t want us to stay.”

“She won’t turn down someone seeking shelter from the storm, but yes, she wouldn’t like it.”

Sen grew somber at this. Bard began to pack their things, and she silently helped. When it was all done, Bard pulled out a short wind instrument and played with the trees. He saw them part the way towards the center and climbed onto Kai. He reached out a hand and helped Sen climb on board before they took off.

Sen’s arms wrapped around his middle as her head leaned against his shoulder blades. The tense energy grew as they got closer. Smaller trees were being ushered to the center, and the smallest ones were being carried with their lumps of earth towards Steadfast.

Kai avoided the rushing of the trees and shifting of the earth. The dodging and weaving from avoiding getting in the way or trampling the younger trees was drastically slowing them down.

“Would it be better to leave?” Sen asked, and Bard wondered how to explain this to her.

“Not really.” He said. She hadn’t experienced storm shades. And it would be a risk to try to outmaneuver them. If they got caught… well, he didn’t want to dwell on that possibility.

When they reached the center grove, it was packed, but there was a small clearing as if set aside for them. Kai weaved over there and settled down. Bard jumped off and helped Sen get down. As they hunkered down, Bard held Steadfast’s token and bowed as he let it slip on its string. Sen also bowed, mimicking him. He would need to teach her about that on their journey.

He then turned to their gear and made her token like his, with its own string. He then helped her to wear it as he did his own. Kai dug down a bit around them, creating a small ravine. Bard guided Sen to snuggle into his fur while Kai wrapped around them. The trees then closed in around them and placed deadwood over them. Sen’s concern grew and Bard pulled out a small light stick which he handed to her.

“In case you get blown around and separated, then break this, and we will find you.”

“Blown around!” Sen cried out. Bard tried his best to console her.

Other animals around them came and hid in burrows or between trees. Now they would wait.

The problem with storm shades was their speed. Sometimes they could cover the entire horizon in a short few hours, other times they grew in the distance and moved heavily at night since their cloud cover hadn’t moved. And then there were their winds and rains. It wasn’t necessarily heavy rain, but it was annoying, and the winds whipped those drops at speeds that cut and harmed those around them. If they were really unfortunate, these storm shades would have lightning that arched between targets. The trees here would work to spread the damage so it wouldn’t be lethal, but it was still frightening.

They munched on food from their packs, and Kai slowed his breathing and tried to sleep so not to consume very many resources. They drank in rations in case the water would be dirtied when the storm hit.

Which it did hit. Near the end of the day. Bard held onto his token to add to the melody of the woods. Night with storm shades was terrifying, since the shades were unaffected by it as they swarmed. The noise of the storm also competed with the melody of the woods, though Steadfast was especially persistent with these conditions.

They rode through it, with more branches being tossed on top of them and some animals taking refuge with them when the wind died down for a bit. Sen stayed huddled next to him as they passed through the night.

When daylight began to filter and the winds had stopped and so had the rain, Bard and Sen helped Kai get unearthed from the fallen branches. Some of the little trees had been killed in that storm and the ones who had tried to protect them were visibly sad, but many survived, so there was reason to rejoice. However, once Kai had stretched, and they had restocked on some clean water, Steadfast kicked them out.

Sen was shocked at the forest outside Steadfast’s domain. It was in shambles, destroyed and yet still somehow living. The trees out here told of a different tale than the ones in her woods.

Bard felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked back at Sen, who stared at the landscape. As his gaze connected with hers, he could sense how distraught she was.

“Sen,” he sighed. “This is normal outside an Elder’s protection. And especially around here,” he said. “They will grow back.”

“But… but there is no one who…” she seemed lost on how to voice her thoughts.

“Who will mourn for them?”

“Sen… I…” Bard paused, not sure why this would matter to her.

“Are you not an Elder? Can you not do something for them?”

“Like what?” his confused and sharp tone silenced her.

Kai’s pace faltered and Sen was thrown into his back. She pushed back hastily. Bard glanced back to check on her, but she was already trying to dismount. Kai was still moving.

“Sen!” he shouted, as she fell off and Kai slid around, confused why a rider had fallen. Bard barely held on and looked at Sen, angry at her actions. She was a shriveled heap on the ground as she struggled to prop herself up. Bard hoped that she wasn’t injured, that would slow them down and maybe, they would have to return to Steadfast’s forest. The storm shades were in the vicinity after all. This only made him more angry and frustrated. She was acting like a spoiled child who had never seen death, never been on her own in the world.

Kai padded over and brought his nose close to her face. His soft hum of concern, caused Bard to rub his hair and sigh heavily. He grumpily got down from Kai and walked to Sen’s side. He reached out to help her up and she slapped his hand away.

“Sen!” Bard complained, and her face snapped to look at him. Tears streaming down her face, she looked fierce and indignant. Bard knew that face. She was casting blame on him. Just like all the others he had come across in his travels. For what, he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t like it.

“Get on, we need to keep moving,” he said firmly. Sen drew herself up and stood still. Her unflinching stare was getting on his nerves.

“No.”

Bard paused and heaved a sigh. Anger and frustration wouldn’t help in this, and it would only build as they miscommunicated.

“Why?” he asked in as neutral of a tone as possible.

“Is there nothing you can do for them?” she asked, indicating around them at the broken landscape.

“Sen, these trees are not part of an Elder’s jurisdiction.”

“They didn’t choose that.”

“They did and they didn’t.”

Bard’s feelings were threatening frustration and resentment. She was the reason they were in this predicament.

“If we stay, the storm shades could come back,” he tried to explain. Sen visibly shrunk, but her eyes still held hurt and determination. “Why does it matter to you? Would you threaten our lives on this?”

“So you can do something?” she asked.

“I… I didn’t say that,” he groaned. “There… there is something I could do, but it’s on an individual scale. There isn’t something for widespread devastation, and it’s mostly reserved for an Elder’s passing, or the death of their forest.”

Sen looked at him confused, and he re-explained in Dryadic as best he could. Sen’s countenance fell as he finished.

“Oh…”

That was all that escaped her mouth, and she walked towards Kai with reluctant steps. Her attitude both pained him, that he had let her down, and irritated him. He would need to teach her what an Elder, or bearer of tokens, was and did.

As he began to walk behind her, his mind unwantedly combed through his memories and what he could do for this destroyed land. It kept coming up blank. Was there really nothing he could do, no ritual or song to mourn for the departed, or bless the land on its recovery? Were there no sounds to encourage the trees to seek refuge with Steadfast or some other Elder instead of bear the brunt of the storms on their own?

As Sen climbed back onto Kai, he looked out once more, trying to see what Sen saw, some way to understand her instead of what his memories and mind saw. Wasn’t that the way an Elder would behave, seek understanding and then try to create a solution, or ease the burden?

He climbed onto Kai as the answers eluded him. They rode in silence, neither able to fully accept the outcome, but seeing no way to change it.

With each passing moment, the unease in Bard’s heart and mind grew. There had to be something he could do. But his inability to see an answer, kept him on Kai’s back.

As they left the destruction, Bard’s mind wouldn’t rest. He groaned as he pulled on Kai’s harness, urging his friend to stop. Kai paused, and his large head looked back. As Bard indicated back where they came from, Kai seemed reluctant but then happy and excited. Perhaps, he too wasn’t pleased with this outcome.

As they turned about, Bard tried to figure out his emotions. There was relief, but there was also a bit of an unhappy attitude at this. He knew he couldn’t perform any rite with this attitude, so he worked on resolving and reconciling it. He then looked back at Sen, who seemed hopeful, but still hurting.

The hurt that lingered in her eyes is what bothered him. She was getting what she had asked for, and yet she was still hurt?

As Kai stopped, and they dismounted, Sen seemed embarrassed.

“Bard?” she said, breaking the silence. He inclined his head to listen, but didn’t say anything.

“I’m sorry. You’re doing this because I...” Her words stopped his tracks.

“No, Sen. You were right. I should have acted more like the Elders I represent. I’m sorry for responding the way I did.”

“But I was also wrong. I shouldn’t have jumped or acted that way. It’s unbecoming of a leader, and a Dryad.” Her words swapped and Bard paused as he followed what she said. The resentment was starting to dissipate at her words.

“Let’s both try better next time, okay?” he asked, reaching a hand out to her. She nodded and walked over as she gave him a hug. Bard let his arm wrap around her as the frustration stilled and he was able to breathe a bit easier. Anger was not an emotion he needed or wanted. And it certainly didn’t serve them well.

“Well, so we don’t do this again. Why did this matter to you?”

He listened as she explained how those of the silver wood took care of seedlings since they were rare, and how they respected the trees that passed on. It made sense that seeing all this death and treating it so flippantly bothered her.

Bard also explained that in their travels they would come across many areas that experienced hardships and lack of resources, it was normal to see this sort of destruction and cruelty and take it at face value.

Kai sat by attentively as they discussed. He nudged Bard out of their discussion and, with his big nose, indicated to the storm clouds out by the hills. There weren’t signs of storm shades under them, but it wouldn’t be wise to stick around much longer.

Bard thanked his friend and looked out at the destruction. With no elder nearby, and the trees not beholden to an Elder, it would be wiser to forgo using the tokens.

With this in mind, he scrambled across their things on Kai, and secured a simple flute. He smiled as he saw the old, unpolished design. His first instrument, and one he had made. It brought back quite a few memories. With a fluid motion, he was off Kai, and standing by himself in the destruction.

Bard stood there for a time, listening. Then he sat down. No tune came to him, but there was something almost imperceptible. It was quiet, subdued, and the tune seemed broken. He listened harder, and his mind naturally filled in the missing notes. It was too complex to play with his flute, but perhaps it would be enough. He brought the instrument to his mouth and took a deep breath through his nose before playing.

As he played, he didn’t notice Sen come over until he heard her voice. She sang the notes he could not play and harmonized with him. It initially surprised him, but he had long learned to keep playing no matter what happened around him.

With the sounds, the landscape didn’t seem so desolate and destroyed. Instead, it reminded him of starting anew. A clean, fresh slate. He almost felt that the trees seemed to understand them and thanked them. In that moment, he wished to stay, but the melody soon came to an end.

His eyes shifted to Sen as he put the instrument down and she had a happy expression, despite the tears on her cheeks.

“Thank you. I think that’s what the trees want to say,” she said as she closed her eyes, her head tilting sweetly. Bard looked away embarrassed, partially ashamed he had dismissed this so easily and harshly, and partially because he didn’t feel like he deserved the thanks.

Sen’s extended hand grabbed his attention and he took it as they walked back to Kai, who was sitting happily.

Their journey continued in peace and they made it to the edge of the next Elder just as dark was starting to set. Kai hadn’t seemed wary of any sort of storm or darkness, so they had pressed to make it to their next destination. Though that had made the journey a bit more rough on their legs and back from the hurried pace.

They set up camp and Bard scavenged a few supplies before beginning on his knife again, much to Kai’s dismay.