The Fountain of Carmelya

[Lichen]

The rich green carpet of grass that coated the ground of Acumin was green year round, fed by magic more than any natural life-giving substance. It's soft green leaves were parted in the center of town by a bulge in the land. This small mound was topped with a small stream that bubbled up from the depths of the ground, the life-giving water spreading about town in several small streams. It was a calming place, full of life and beauty and a reminder of the gift and the task that they had been given. Many came here to pray quietly and to find solace in the gift of nature. It was in technicality their temple but there were no services here; the people of Acumin believed in finding their faith on their own.

There were priests, of course. These priests were druids as well, and used their magic to protect the town, the Dolwoods, and each other. The druids had been trained immediately after the shield had gone up, those with talent coming to learn under who soon became known as the head priest despite his insistence otherwise. Lehan Y'las was a humble man, and did not pay much mind to those who called him their leader. He had been a journeyman when the calamity had befallen the town, and had quickly risen to the rank of Master. Nobody was certain how this was as he'd been the only druid left in the town; some said he'd followed the Elder Treant into the Dolwoods and begged to be taught so that he could teach others. Lehan had never commented on this rumor. He was remarkably young to be a master druid, however.

Very near to the fountain was a small statue of the goddess Carmelya. The woman was indistinguishable as far as her race went... she could have been elven, could have been human, could have been halfling. The statue was very small and had been carved from a large stone left over from a building that had been destroyed in the war. She was wearing loose robes and had a look on her face so kind that it was nearly excruciating. Carmelya had saved them from calamity after calamity and had erected the protective shield about their town in order to protect them all from further harm. Her servant, an elder Treant, had given the town a book bound between two slabs of bark, held together with grass. This book contained the creeds of their Goddess, the instructions for how they would live from now on, but it was incomplete. It told part of a story, but not the beginning, and not the end. When asked why this was, why the rest of the book was made of blank pages, the servant had replied that when it was time, the words would show themselves.

This book sat next to the statue, an unobtrusive and humble lump of bark and grass. It had obviously been enchanted for the water did not disturb the parchment but ran off the edges leaving the writing untouched. This book was used for prayer and to remind the citizens of exactly what had happened to their town and how to never let it happen again.

The Return
And Carmelya saw this and became sad, and Her tears dripped across the earth once more, and touched some of these People, and caused them to remember. Those who remembered came to the Goddess and She was not alone anymore. Seeing that she needed to protect nature from the Destroyers, She reminded these People of their pasts and they became Guardians once again. And these People were gifted with the knowledge of Carmelya herself and were given the tools to the Magic of the Forests and Plains and Deserts and Seas, and so the People became Her friends and Her tools, and she named them Her Druids.

But Her Druids had been Destroyers for so long that they did not know what else to do, and so when Carmelya told them they were to live in the great Forests, they began to cut down Trees to make houses. And Carmelya stopped them and told them that they should not live in dead Trees but bend the Trees to their will, and that they should live in holes in the ground, and in caves in the rocks, and live as the Animals did. And the People agreed, and for a time things were good.

And then the People said that they did not know what to eat, for surely if they killed the Animals they would be Destroyers, not Guardians? And Carmelya replied that should they kill for food then they were not Destroyers, but rather followed the path of Nature, for was that not what the Children of Carmelya, the Animals, did? And the People agreed and for a time things were good.

And then the People said that they did not have wool or cotton to make clothing from, and that they needed more clothing than furs from food-kills alone could provide, and that they needed money to trade so that they might be clothed and stay warm in the winter. But they did not know how to get this money without becoming Destoyers and not Guardians, and so they asked their Goddess what they should do. And Carmelya replied that they should take from the Lands only what it could give freely, and that this was what they would trade for those things that they needed. And the People agreed, and for a time things were good.

And then the People said that they knew what to eat, and they knew where to live, and they knew how to trade, but they did not know what to do to protect the Lands. They asked Carmelya, for how were they to Guard when there were so few of them and so many of the Destroyers. And Carmelya replied that they should multiply by speaking with the Destroyers and making them remember what they have Forgot. And the People agreed, and their questions were sated.

But Carmelya had seen them forget and knew that while People were smart they were not as smart as Her and might forget again. As she did not wish that, the Goddess decided to make a reminder for them all, and so she took a great Tree of the Forest, the biggest Tree of them all, and in it's bark she formed the words of the Wisdom of Carmelya. And these words were indeed wise, and the tree became wise in itself, and the words were this:

"And you shall live in Nature and be of Nature, and all shall be right and well with you. And you shall not cut down the Trees, nor flatten the earth, but bend the Trees and burrow like the Animals do, and live with Nature in it's true form.

And you shall not hunt but what you need, and shall not gather but what you need, and all shall be right and well with you. And you shall not kill but what you will eat, and you shall not destroy but act as the animals do.

And you shall not take but what the Lands cannot give, and all shall be right and well with you. And you shall take only what is freely given, and leave some for the future and growth will continue and replenish what you have taken.

And you shall go out and you shall teach the words and spread the message and all shall be right and well with you. And the message will be the Ways of Carmelya and the ways of Nature, and the Destroyers will remember and will follow in your path."

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[Throk Mumson]

Throk was finally up and running again. His eye, or what was left of it, still hurt like hell but it did give him a really neat eye-patch! He tugged at it and scratched his eye socket. The healing wind that blew through town was really nice and it healed a lot, except his eye. But it did close the gashes that were still in his socket. If it wasn't fot the wind, his socket would problably have gotten all stinky, and that yellow goo would come out.

He removed his finger from his socket and continued his stroll through town. Lots of new things had appeared since that big tree came by. The wind was nice, but that nice little river he put on the lawn was great! All manner of people sat next to it, mumbling something to a person called Karmelia. If she was that important, perhaps she was the sister of Mila?

No matter. Throk's feet were killing him. He took of his enormous shoes and placed them under a big tree.
"Stay 'ere, Ah won't be long now."
With a carefull glance on his rebellious shoes, he walked back to Camelya's stream. He sat himself on the bank and put his sore feet in the cold water.
"Aaah, that feels good."
He wriggled his toes firmly. He felt his feet relax now that they could release their tension and let the nice, cold water take the heat from them. He took one foot out of the water and cleaned it with his hand. It had been at least a month since he had washed his feet, and he could smell it. It remined him of Mum's own cheese. It tasted so nice on a loaf of bread...He brought his foot very close to his nose. Now he was certain, they did smell like Mum's cheese.

He put his foot back into the water. A short shiver went through is leg when it touched the cold water. Nice.
Time to check on his other foot. He retrieved the painfull limb from the water and smelled his left foot. Again a very familiar smell. A pattern was forming in Throk's head. Perhaps he should wash his feet more often!

He began immediatly. He started rubbing his feet like a madman. Clean, clean, clean, clean, that was all that was in his mind.

[Tellurion Tanendar]

Rather tired (and rubbing his sore right hand, black from ink and tired from the writing), Tal managed to find himself at the fountain, where he looked silently at the rich writing on the enchanted book. He needed to talk to Lehan about what had happened before he and Huturo had come here, and get his part of the story. And perhaps ask him anything useful about the Dark Elf town rumoured to be near here, deep beneath the surface. He needed to find Huturo. And as irritating as the halfling was, his own insane expedition to find the kidnapped children had its merits. The image of little Keri clinging to the Vysticchi and telling him everything was all right made him distinctly nauseous, and he knew it would haunt him until he found her and rescued her.

But that was far off yet. He still didn't know how to use the two swords he kept on himself, one an elegant steel piece from Prime, the other some wicked edge wrought by a Dark Elf and stamped with some arcane writing that Tal had no idea what it meant. He needed to know something that would keep him alive. But in the meanwhile, his face felt grimy, his arms cramped. So he dipped his aching hand into the clear pool and felt the tension melt away. He splashed some water on his face and felt better. Then his nose noticed the particular smell, and he turned... and looked more closely at the giant vigourously scrubbing his feet.

He suddenly felt dirty.

"Mr Mumson?" he asked politely, ambling over to the giant. "What exactly are you doing?" Tal wiped his face vigourously with his cloak, hoping the dirt would wipe away the smell. It didn't. "And would you mind if you told me a little about yourself? I'm writing a book. I'd be happy if You would like to be in it. How about it?"

Tal tried not to let the cheesy smell bother him. And failed miserably.

[Throk Mumson]

Throk stopped washing his feet when he saw that someone was looking at him. He always felt kinda uneasy when someone was staring at him when he washed his feet. He quickly his them under his thigh bones. No one was looking at his feet without his permission, how rude of the pointy eared man.

"Well, whut does it look like ahm doin'?" he somewhat agggrevated replied.
"Ahm washin' me feets, silly."
He brought one of his gigantic pedestals to his nose and smelled with a deep snorting sound. He cherised the moment and put his foot back to where it belonged.
"Do yoo wanna smell? Ah thought dat dey needed a good washin' so ah just started washin' dem."

Wierd man, Throk thought. It couldn't be healthy to be interessed in someones feet-washing. But he had met stranger creatures, lately, so perhaps he shouldn't think about that anymore. Some people were just different then Giants.
Well, at least a whole lot smaller...

"But what do yoo wanna know about me? Ahm just a Giant!" He waved his arms in the air as to emphasise his confusion.
"A Giant with stinky feet, ghehe" he giggled.

[Tellurion Tanendar]

"Sure," Tal said to the friendly giant. "But how did you get your eye poked out? And where did you go to with the two really really short people? I'm sure you could describe what the big tower was like."

Tal waited politly for an answer.

[Throk Mumson]

Throk opened his sleepy eyes. He must have dosed off while this weird stranger was talking to him. Yeah, he never was the most polite Giant when it came to a conversation.
He rubbed his eyes and things changed from blurry to sort-of-clear.
"Erm, bfrf" was all that came out.
He stretchedhis enormous arms upwards and his back cracked loudly as his spine was pushed back into position. That felt much better.
"Rgh, yoo wer's sayin'?"

[Cheshire]

As the giant awoke, he saw a different human in his sight. As the man saw Throk's eyes open he smiled and nodded, greeting him.

"Serale, sir giant. It seems the fountain has more than calmed you, eh? I am Matthes."

The man was medium sized, for a human, and carried two slightly curved swords on his back. He was dressed in greens and browns, perhaps a ranger.

[Throk Mumson]

Who was that?
"Ehm, 'ello. Ah fink that the water was so nice, ah fell asleep."
He pulled his feet out of the water and pulled some vines off his back that had grown there over time. He left the fern on his head. It would keep his bald scalp warmer then the three hairs. And it looked really nice as well!
He smelled at his feet. Yup, they were clean.
"Righty," he notified the man. He was ready.

Throk looked around, and only then did he notice all the vegetation that sprouted from...well, everywhere!
"Oooh yeah, the big tree...He made all the flowers grow y'know."

He scratched his emtpy eye socket and in a rare moment of clarity he asked:
"So 'ow long 'ave ah been asleep?"

[Cheshire]

The human gazed up at the sky, still smiling. His green and brown clothing signified him as a ranger, as did the dual elven longswords strapped upon his back.

"Well, It's only been an candlemark or two. Do you have a place to stay out the night? Have you been to the tavern?"

The man's words were kind, and gentility was obvious in his eyes. It was not every day a giant came to the fountain of Carmelya.

[Throk Mumson]

Throk rubbed the sleeping sand out of his good eye. He still wasn't seeing all to clear, but that would fade away after he had eaten something. And who was this guy anyway? He did seem very polite though, but he had a strange demeanour(Throk didn't exactly thinkabout the word demeanour, but you could say that he was thinking something very similair. I mean, c'mon, you would never ever think that Throk is capable of saying sometthing like that, do you?).

"Yeah, ah've been to the tavern. Mila's there." he said to the strange man.
"She's nice to me. And to all the other people. I'm nice to her too." he said while he stood up.

He looked around, and everything was about the same as before his Slumber, as he called it in his head. With the exception that there a great deal more flowers and bushes, but that was normal, of course.
"Ahm very 'ungry, shall we got some grub togetha?" he politely asked the Ranger.

[Lichen]

Matthes smiled. "Yes, Mila is nice to most people." The tavern waitress and now owner had a special place in the hearts of most people in the town for her actions both during and after the war. The Sooty Cavern had been a safehome when there had been nowhere else. "Oh, I am afraid I cannot do that." He said at the invitation towards going to get some grub. "I am on my rounds, you see; I am one of Acumin's rangers." He regarded Throk for a moment and then smiled as an idea occured to him. "Tell me, Throk - do you have a job here in Acumin?"

[Throk Mumson]

Absent minded, Throk was turning around on the spot, looking for the tavern.

"Erhm," he said, while he thought he saw the outlines of the village's most important building.

"Yes, well. Rounds. Noproblematall..". Throk was sure he had seen the tavern right over there the last time. But that building didn't look like it at all...Perhaps that building next to it? No.
Slightly annoyed by the taverns uneventful dissapearance, Throk turned to the ranger. "Mister, can your Round show me the tavern 's well? Ah think ahm lost. Ah dunno what Rangers do, or how Round you can get, but ah do 'ope you can show me de way."

By then, the Ranger's question reached the deep cavaties of Throk's brain. It didn't take him very long, however, to come up with an answer. "An' ah do noffing for a job."

[Lichen]

Matthes smiled. "Well, I suppose I can make a slight alterance in my path. The tavern isn't far from here, after all." The human began to walk, slowly enough that he knew Throk was keeping up and paying attention. "Well have you ever considered becoming a ranger, sir giant? We protect the forest and the people here, fair Mila included, and a man of your height and..." Matthes paused, searching for the right word. "...noble intent, would be very welcome among our ranks."

[Throk Mumson]

Throk walked besides the Ranger. What was a Ranger anyways? It had something to do with making rounds. Perhaps the Ranger could tell him what a Ranger was supposed to do.
"But what if ah become a ranger? What am ah supposed to do then?" Throk asked puzzled. He had absolutely no idea. It did sound nice though. Throk The Ranger had a nice ring to it.

[Lichen]

"Well," Matthes said, stepping over a clump of grass-covered rubble. Though Acumin had sprung into eternal greeness after that darkening, rubble still remained covered beneath the blanket of flora. A hazard for stubbed toes and occasional discoveries of old basements. "If you become a ranger," he continued, "you'll be in charge of protecting this town, and the forest beyond it. You will use your strength to keep this village safe, and all of its inhabitants, including Mistress Mila and her tavern."