Solar Bright

Planting The Seed

Once Upon a Time, meaning I don't know when this happened but it's true because my mother said so. Well, she didn't actually say so. She shared it with me while I was still a seedling.

Anyway, Once Upon a Time the august Sequoia King of the Conifer Forest and his graceful Oak Queen had seedlings. I'm not going to tell you what they did to have seedlings, but the queen went to seed and the seeds grew. The queen wanted to have at least one seedling grow as tall and stately as her husband, but the king wanted seedlings that were as lithe as the queen.

For the weeds among my readers, a seeder tree must bury its roots and stand over it seedlings for five moon cycles. A tree gets one ring for each moon cycle, and without at least 5 rings to keep it sturdy, a tree will die when it lifts its roots. During this time, the seedlings learn their maternal family history through the sap. Then she must take another whole moon cycle to lift her roots and ween the seedlings from her sap. This is to give the seedling time to decide which gender it wants to become.

The queen buried her roots and begin attending to her many seedlings. She was ecstatic to find one grew tall very quickly, its trunk going wide faster than any of her other siblings. Her leaves were so glossy, bright and bushy that the queen named her Solar Bright. Another one of her siblings grew very slowly, its trunk thin but flexible and it's leaves wide and dark. The king rejoiced in this little seedling naming her Leaves Glow.

The king and queen named each of their seedlings according to their characteristics, in the same way that the king and queen were named when they were young, but during the dry season of the second moon cycle, the fire sprites invaded the kingdom. Many good trees were burned. The queen and most of the seedlings died in the fire. The Redwood King feared that he had lost all of his seedlings along with his beloved Queen, but he rejoiced when he found solar bright huddled next to her dead mother. At least he had one seedling left of his beloved Queen.

He was soon to find that he was wrong; he had two seedlings left, for Leaves Glow had hidden in a fire cavity burned into Solar bright's trunk. The King was excited to find he had two reminders of his beloved Queen, but they were dying without the connection to their mother. He begin to bury his roots into the ground, right there next to his dead wife. He wasn't sure if it would work, but he knew they needed sap. There he stood for four more moon cycles, ruling his kingdom next to the Queen and his two young seedlings.

In those four years , the seedlings learned all about their fathers maternal history and watched as he led the forest. Solar Bright and Leaves Glow grew from seedlings to saplings and learned all they needed to know to run the kingdom of the Conifer Forest from the king. Once they were weaned from his sap, the King went in search of a new queen. and left his daughters to care for the Flora of the kingdom.

The King left them in the care of a vine, called Cieba. Normally the king would not leave his daughters with a vine, but he felt that he needed to find a new Queen to guide his daughters in the ways of grace. Cieba joined him and his queen and their kingdom not long before she went to seed. He didn't know where Cieba came from, but he knew that the vine was very important to his beloved wife, and she had trusted him implicitly.

The king is gone for many moons and the girls become friends with Cieba. He acts as their protector and they give him a place to rest as they move around the kingdom. Cieba rests more often on Solar Bright, and both girls prefer this, as he is quite a large vine.

The king finally returns during seeding after many moons with a lovely white birch whose branches are filled with bright red cardinals. He found his new queen in the Boreal Forest of the north. She was gracious when introduced to the girls, and...

Oh... I see. You're getting sick of hearing me talk? Well, I guess I could just show you. Sorry weeds, if you can't understand my sap flows perfectly. I'll explain what you should be seeing. OK then, just bury your roots next to mine. Yes, just like that.

No! You don't have to touch my roots. Yes, I know that weeds buy their roots close together but only trees of close relationship dig in so close together, and I would prefer to have some more room, Thank you. Now, where was I? Oh, yes...

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"Dad!" Solar bright called out as she saw her father walking toward King's grove from the north.

"Dad's back?" Leaves Glow asked as she scrambled around Solar Bright in an attempt to see. Cieba pulled back from Solar Bright and stood, picking up Leaves Glow so that she could have a better view. "Thank you Cieba. I'll catch up to Solar one day."

"Of course, you will Glow, but until you do, I'll be here." Cieba replied as he put her back down. Immediately Glow began to run to her father, jumping into his boughs as soon as she got close enough.

Laughing, the king caught her and twirled her around. "One of these days, my Glow, you will learn the stateliness of slow growth. " He looked up, with a smile, "like your sister."

"Yeah right, Dad," Solar said as she sauntered up to the group. "We both know that Glow is your favorite, so it won't do any good to tell her that she should act more like me."

"While it is true that Glow reminds me of your mother, I love you both equally solar." the king began reproach fully. "How could I not love you with all my wood? You are the sapling first named by my beloved Gloria Bough, and you remind me so much of myself that I can't help but love you. You are both my little syrup-barks." the king finished with a laugh.

"...and speaking of the queen, This is my new queen, Dài Strip. She was living in Boreal Forest where her first husband, an old spruce, took her once they married. He was lost in the same manner as your mother." the girls both gasp. "yes, the fire sprites even get up that far. Anyway, I believe she glad to be back in the more temperate Conifer Forest." He continued, turning his smile on her.

Dài beamed up at him and then turned her smile on the girls, "oh yes, I'm very glad to be back in the Conifer Forest. I've been rooted in permafrost for so long, my roots are still cold." the King laughed at this, as did the girls, but Cieba said nothing. "your father has told me so much about you girls that I feel like I already know you, but who is this? Cy, do you really trust a vine around your daughters? Did you not see how he was clinging to solar?"

"Cieba was a trusted companion of the former Queen. I trust him with my daughters and my life and will trust him with yours." the King responded sternly, but added to Cieba, "you should not be clinging to Solar. She is not some lowly clipping."

Cieba replied, " Yes, your Majesty" at the same time both girls began to protest.

"But dad, it's facultative mutualism!" cried Glow.

"But dad... Wha... Ummmm what she said." Solar stuttered, caught off guard by Glow's words.

"Using biologically correct words won't change my mind Glow. I know that it is voluntary and that it doesn't hurt you, but it is still not graceful. Dài will show you." the king replied, sounding exasperated but secretly glad that his girls were still saplings in some ways. He didn't really see anything wrong with Cieba clinging to Solar, but maybe it wasn't graceful. That is why he found a tree that could teach the girls grace.

"Yes," murmured the new queen, "that I will."

"But Dad, can't we.. sometimes, just just for fun? Pleeeeease?" Solar begged.

"Solar..." the king began, a bit irritated.

"Pleeeeease?" joined Glow.

The King looked at Dài and then at his girls. Then he looked at Cieba.

"I won't take advantage of it, your majesty." Cieba interjected.

"Fine." The King capitulated.

The new queen grimaced, glaring daggers at the little tableau. It was not a good beginning.

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