Suikoden VI

Chapter Five: Part Three

Part Three

Hero and James stayed behind with the skyship to survey every repair that was needed for the ship. Daunte and the rest of the group was escorted towards Lukiae Ende Towayo to the west.

The reveal that Silvano had come home quickly raised the spirits of the angry elves, but the mood dropped again when Hero nonchalantly suggested they use the fallen trees to repair the skyship. Despite his initial anger, Kirkis agreed to allow them to use the trees, much to the consternation of the other elves. But nobody voiced any complaints.

Daunte was surprised by how quickly Kirkis's whole demeanor changed. As Silvano introduced them he shook everyone's hands and he laughed when he saw Sharon and her dragons. Daunte saw the strong physical resemblance between father and son, but he was also surprised by how accommodating Kirkis presented himself. Not that Daunte knew much about elves anyway, but even before the Plague the elves in Nagarea never really showed themselves to humans. Elves seemed to have a strong distrust of humans.

Yet Kirkis did not distrust them. Daunte saw easily where Silvano inherited his open-mindedness.

Daunte's eyes widened when he saw Lukiae Ende Towayo. There were several small houses that formed a circle around a large tree. He quickly noticed that every elf that passed the tree briefly stopped to bow to the tree before continuing on their way.

"That tree is Lukiae Ende Towayo," Silvano told him, looking at Daunte over his shoulder. "It doesn't seem like it now, but the tree will eventually grow large enough to allow us to live inside it."

"Live inside the tree?!" Arin said with amazement, his eyes going wide. "Like a treehouse village? That's incredible!"

"Will all these elves be able to live in the tree at once?" Gunther asked, gesturing to the houses surrounding the tree.

"Thousands of years ago the tree was enchanted by the Six Wise Men of the Forest," Kirkis said. He paused and turned to face the group. "Lukiae Ende Towayo grew so large that it was capable of maintaining a community of eight hundred elves."

"Eight hundred elves?!" the group exclaimed. Daunte's jaw dropped as he looked at the tree in question. While it was a large tree, it did not look big enough to even hold two houses! But it grew so big that it held eight hundred elves without collapsing under the weight?!

"But what happened to the tree?" Arin asked softly. "It doesn't look so big now."

Caesar sucked in a sharp breath, and Sharon shifted with discomfort. Silvano looked to his father, but Kirkis thankfully didn't look offended by the question. But his expression did darken. "Twenty-seven years ago, during the Gate Rune Wars, Lukiae Ende Towayo was destroyed by a weapon called the Burning Mirror. It burned the sacred tree nearly to ash, and it almost caused the extinction of my people."

Daunte was horrified by the story. The horror must have shown on his face because Kirkis raised a hand slightly. "It was a horrific tragedy, but I do not collectively blame humans for it. The person who committed the atrocity cannot even be blamed for it because his mind was under the control of a savage Rune. The government who sanctioned the atrocity is gone, and the government that exists now has helped us considerably to rebuild. Looking and dwelling on the past won't make a difference. We can only look forward."

Daunte was amazed by the fact that Kirkis held no ill-will about the near-extinction of his people. His efforts seemed solely focused on the future and rebuilding. And even without the huge tree to have for a home, the village seemed to be thriving regardless. Kirkis was obviously doing an outstanding job as Chief.

As a leader he can forgive and forget. Since I too am a leader, does this mean I too must forgive and forget everything that's happened to me?