Wardens Watching

The scale of the forest around him left Tsuga astonished to the point of slack-jawed incoherence, at least for the first few hours. He'd wandered between the trunks, beneath the distant canopy, atop the deep bed of duff and detritus, overcome by the sort of reverence usually reserved for cathedrals. To him it was a holy place, whose power was as self-evident as the sun was painful to stare at. Eventually he was able to transform his deference into devotion and got to work.

In a low-lying depression he found a shallow pool of water, clearer than other puddles that dotted the forest floor. A spring burbled somewhere beneath it, and around its edge he caught the scent of several other animals that had come here to drink. He bowed his head and offered up a greeting to whichever spirits might linger either within the spring itself or stand warden in the nearby trees. I should like to honor you with a shrine, where others might come to pay their respects. If you would rather remain undisturbed please make your will known. He waited a long moment, listening to the wind moving gently through the underbrush, to the calls of distant birds, and nothing seemed amiss or out of place.

Tsuga began atop a flat stone, perfectly placed and near at hand. Around it he began to assemble a ring of smaller stones, stacking them one at a time to form a semi-circle. Perhaps in the future he could return and affix them with clay but that was a multi-day endeavor and he wanted to have something functional in the meantime. Next he would decorate the base with artifacts and meaningful trinkets from the area. He perked his head up and began to scan the area for something suitable, and it was then he got the sense that he might no longer be alone out here.


"Talk," - "Listen" - Think