Ravensblood Forest the great trees

naturalist thread for Revui :D

Charon'd spent a lot of time in this forest, as it was so close to Stavanger Bay. As he grew up Charon had always appreciated Ravensblood Forest and its towering sequoia trees. He remembered meeting the white wolf here -- he forgot her name, but he knew she'd been a part of Duskfire Glacier too, where he had been sent by the wolf that had harmed him now -- and he remembered that she had taught him about the sequoia trees. @Revui had shown a growing interest in learning about how nature worked so Charon decided to take him to Ravensblood Forest so that he could show him the great sequoia trees.

As they travelled the trees could be seen sticking out from the rest of the forest, large and impressive and it made them easier to pinpoint. Charon lead the way as they travelled there and upon entering the forest, the father picked a winding road through the forest that gave him a familiar thrill as he started picking his way through the forest to find the magnificent sequoia trees.

Lately Revui had been stalking his siblings, and any other members of Moonspear, as they went about their duties. He'd often guard the borders alongside the others, but lately - since advancing in the ranks actually - he'd taken to roaming further and further from their claim. The boy often thought he was doing it to keep the others safe; he'd keep some distance, but always be watching for danger when members of the pack went outside of their limits. Then, there had been the meeting with the white rabbit (not a real rabbit mind you, just a pale girl with a strange face), and lets not forget the encounter with Speedy in the Bramblepoint Woods. To say he was interested in plants wasn't exactly accurate. Revui had encountered curious people with odd fixations and he wished to understand those fixations, and perhaps by doing that he would cultivate a set of skills that would set him apart from the others.

So, when Charon ushered him from the mountain and to the north on a day trip, the silver serpent was overjoyed. The pair made good time and soon arrived at the towering woodland which was so familiar to Charon, but so new (and so intimidating) to Revui. The paths twisted and turned through thickets of narrow trees and dense ferns underfoot, until shadows replaced them and - as he looked up at the trunks of the trees, which themselves seemed so much bigger here than anywhere else - Revui was shocked that he could not see the ends of them. The trunks were huge! They stood tall and that was impressive, but more impressive to the young man was the width of the trunks.

He paused by one of the large sequoias and hoisted his chest and forelegs up upon it, leaning like a hound which had chased something up a tree, trying to reach as far as he could (it was pointless, but only exacerbated his wonder). As he lurched back down Revui looked to his father — his expression full of questions.

The trip went without any strife and Charon enjoyed seeing Revui's excitement upon the looming shadows of the trees falling over them. "Impressive, aren't they?" Charon remarked as he noted his son's response to the huge sequoia trees. He smiled and watched as Revui inspected the trees and tried to climb them. "They are sequoia trees, and they are what this region is named after. The most special thing about these trees isn't that they are so big, it's why they are so big." Not that he thought Revui would ever guess, but Charon decided to give it a shot anyway: "Why do you think it is these're so big?"

Charon was giving a history lesson, or that's how it felt to Revui. He liked the sound of his father's deep and commanding voice but he didn't hear it often, and the scholarly quality it had taken on since their arrival was different from that. He decided he much preferred when they had their combat lessons — Revui didn't need to listen to words to understand those. He only needed to read the body of his opponent, and by now the boy was well versed in such things. He wasn't an expert but he was well on his way to becoming quite an esteemed warrior — he had no use for words.

But, Charon had asked a question. To appease his father, Revui glanced at him and then averted his eyes deferentially, giving a roll of his shoulder to indicate that he wasn't sure; but then he shook his head, and lifted it to stare up at the trees again. No, he meant, I don't know.

While the boy was diligent in learning things, Charon often worried for Revui's lack of words. He supposed that he could grow up just fine the way he was, but what if he wouldn't be fine? What if something was wrong with him in the head that made him this way? Charon mentally noted to ask a healer about this sometime, though he wasn't too sure it was a fixable thing. The questions like these were meant to draw him out and at least make him try, but it wasn't successful again.

Since there wasn't going to be a decent answer, Charon went on to patiently explain: "These trees cannot catch fire. Fire happens sometimes when there's storm with lightning or when it's very dry in summer, and it destroys everything. If you ever see a lot of smoke and it's very hot, you have to run." Charon glanced up at the tree they stood by again. "These trees, and water and earth, are all that seem to escape from fire."

Revui doesn't understand the significance of the trees. He thinks he's been brought to the forest for some sort of battle training, or maybe a hunt, but certainly not for the forest itself. He listens to his father drone on about the sequoias the way a teenager might half-heartedly pay attention to a grandparent; listening enough to please them, nodding along to questions, but otherwise remaining disengaged. Yeah, he thought the trees were giant and cool, but that's as far as his interest went.

He could tell by Charon's tone that he was missing something. When the quiet became evident (and Charon had stopped the lecture), Revui's ears twitched and he looked from the trees to his father, feeling the awkwardness grow as the silence filled the gap between them. He idolized his father; unlike Arcturus who had recently undergone a shift away from Charon, Revui was still fixated upon the man's skill, scars, and power. But this conversation was putting a damper on those thoughts - Revui hoped there was a point beyond "these trees are big"; had he been really listening, he would've known there was more to it than that.

After a few seconds of strained silence, Revui finally cleared his throat and said, Fire? with enough of a lilt to suggest his curiosity; really, he just wanted to appear interested so that he didn't get in trouble.

It wasn't often that Revui spoke. Charon worried at times that his boy might not be very smart, but then again, his actions spoke much louder than his voice ever did and showed Charon that there was enough to be proud of. Charon didn't really consider his son might not like learning about these trees very much, because to him, they were and had always been very intriguing. He was younger when he'd first learned of them from Scarlett, but they'd always captivated him in their sturdiness. Maybe because that was how he wished to live, too -- forever, and strong enough to withstand whatever time threw at him.

At Revui's curious word, Charon smiled. Partly because Revui spoke, asked a question even if it was just with one word -- proof that he could, that he would if necessary -- and partly because he had been paying attention. "Fire is hard to explain, but you will know it when you see it. Your instincts will tell you to run. Your nose will fill with smoke and you have to get away from it before it suffocates you." Charon looked at the great sequoia tree again and smiled. "Unless you're this guy. Would be convenient if we had a skin of this sort of bark, too." Then Charon looked at Revui to gauge whether there was anything else the boy needed to know, or wanted to know, about the trees. "Do you want to head on home, or stick around for a bit longer?"

He knew what was expected of him when it came to his family; it seemed as he got older, more and more was expected, and he could measure up less and less. In situations of protection over the mountain he often thought that Hydra wished him to be more of an animal; yet when he sometimes found himself atop the mountain and at peace, it was Jarilo that initiated a more mentally invigorating side of him with talk of the stars. And here, with his father, Revui was still trying to determine exactly what was expected of him. Not battle, not all the time anyway. There was a certain reverence that Charon carried with him for the natural things, and as much as Revui wanted to understand it and impress his father, he struggled.

But he was listening. Trying to engage. The concept of having a thick skin made sense to Revui and he began to wonder what that would be like — teeth deflected by such solidity that the attacker harms themselves, what power, he thought. To be fierce and damning in his assault, all-consuming like this fire that he was learning about, was an ideal he wished to one day reach (despite the impossibility). However, when Charon offered a way out of this odd conversation Revui was swift to nod and get a move on — heading towards the mountainside again, silently answering by choosing his path.

It seemed Revui was eager to head on home. Charon wondered if his son had enjoyed this talk of the sequoia trees but then again, he supposed that even if not it did not matter. Children didn't always need to enjoy everything that they witnessed; sometimes they just needed to be present and learn. Charon had learned many things as a child that he, at the time, thought utterly useless.

"Race you to the edge of the forest!" Charon said and he darted ahead as quick as he could, hoping to get at least a bit of a head start on his son. Another good lesson that life wasn't always fair and it paid to be alert.

up to you if you want to fade this or continue! :)