Scorched Campaign

18: Rebirth

.^^ Armor of the Arch-Druid ^^

— Cassidy —

I laughed a little at my sister, biting her tongue because she was too busy teasing me to watch where she was going, and then laughed even harder when Glade joined in, making her glare at both of us.

I left them to their little squabble, and went to find Sandy. She was with the Earth Mages again, most likely, her and all four Druidlings, whom she had called through a portal I'd opened for her. When I arrived, however, Jia shook her head. "She's not here, no... she went somewhere in the southern caves. Some old house of hers." She shrugged when asked for more information.

I nodded, and walked to the caves she'd mentioned, a series of massive draw-bridges at this point. Only one of them was down, so that narrowed things pretty well. I walked in, taking a look around, and hummed in surprise. The explosions had melted the roofs of each of the caves into a near-perfect dome, but most of them had some semblance of a remaining structure or two on the ground, having been shielded from the majority of the blast, just not the resultant heat.

I found her sitting in the courtyard of a structure that still stood, and leaned against a piece of wall, waiting to be acknowledged. If she wanted to be alone, I didn't really think it was my right to interrupt her grieving. I was smart enough to know whose house this had been.

"I don't like grieving." She said suddenly, still staring at the building.

"Good. Grief is to give us closure, so we can move on with our lives. No one should like grief." I shook my head.

She chuckled mirthlessly. "True. I meant that I don't like what it makes of me. A coward. I've been sitting here for three hours, and only your presence allowed me to speak. The weight of all these dead pressed against me until you scared them away."

I smiled and approached her, sitting next to her casually. "Eh that's what I'm here for. I'm big, bad, and dangerous, and everyone knows it. Even spirits, apparently."

She smiled a little, and shifted until she sat in my lap, leaning us back against a piece of wall. "I want to rebuild this place... but it feels like an insult to them, like I'm trying to make it look like what happened here never did." She sighed.

"Then build something new. The best anyone can do for the dead is to move on and pay their respects, so just move on, but use the foundation to make something they would be proud of. A library, perhaps? A Forge? Maybe a garden? I didn't know them, so those are my best suggestions." I shrugged.

She smiled. "A Garden... father would like that. He liked Desert Berries, specifically. The toughest of all plants, sprouting in the middle of the desert amongst the burning black sands, their roots a dozen meters deep and a dozen meters wide, to catch the slightest bits of moisture. And the wine made from their berries is delicious as well. There used to be a few planted-" she halted, and scrambled out of my lap, sprinting over to where a small pile of melted sand lay, cracking it and pulling it apart with no regard to her cut hands.

I grabbed her wrists, and healed the cuts, then formed my staff into a shovel, (though I could feel it's disapproval radiating out,) cracking the rest of the sand and shoveling it off, until I'd revealed a small Bush, with a single, shriveled Berry attached. "Well I'll be damned. That is a very tough Bush." I chuckled.

She smiled, and placed her hands on the plant, pouring magical healing into it, and the bush cracked, the burnt skin peeling off like bark on a tree, and revealing fresh white wood underneath. It grew slowly, revealing more berries, and she took a few gently, planting them around the bush and growing a few more.