Tall ferns settle around Rain, Edric, and Sera beneath the clearing’s edge. No shrine stones remain exposed; roots and young woodland reclaim the earth without disturbance.
Edric has set aside his armor and helmet. He opens a cloth bundle of gathered roots and coarse bread, placing both where the three can share them.
Sera
Rain, which plants do you trust when the forest offers them, and what signs tell you a place should be left alone?
Sera sits with her cloak folded beneath her, bare feet resting beyond the white flowers. Edric listens, breaking the bread into plain, careful portions.
Edric Vale
We can clear fallen branches from paths, carry water, and remove what chokes the young growth. But we must know when help becomes another burden.
Sera
And boundaries matter. We cannot call every silence an invitation, or every useful root something meant for our hands.
Edric Vale
If service requires surrendering control, I must learn that before I offer this valley anything more.
“*he looks to Sera* "well a lot of that is experience, even if my brain forgets things, my body doesn't, it's cravings I trust, also Mother has a way of showing you what you're looking for if the time is right" *Rain looks down at the food* "the biggest thing help you can be I feel is removing what doesn't belong, so invasive plants from elsewhere, man-made objects, things of that nature, anything more will be very nuanced and is harder to do right, Mother knows best in most cases, she's been here as long as time has allowed her to be."”
SUCCESS (Great Survival, rolled +2)
Rain
Well, a lot of that is experience. Even if my brain forgets things, my body doesn't. I trust the cravings.
Rain
Mother also has a way of showing you what you're looking for when the time is right. The safest help is removing what doesn't belong: invasive plants, man-made objects, and such things.
Rain looks down at the bread and gathered roots. The food rests among fern shadows, plain offerings beneath branches that sway without wind.
Rain
Anything more is nuanced, and harder to do rightly. Mother knows best in most cases. She's been here as long as time has allowed her to be.
Sera
Then experience is not merely memory. It is a conversation carried in the body, answered by the forest when the moment is ready.
Edric Vale
Removing what does not belong gives us a clear beginning. We can carry away refuse and foreign growth, but leave judgment to the living place.
A fern frond bends toward the bundle, brushing the coarse bread before lifting away. Beyond it, a single unfamiliar weed shows among the roots, its pale leaves stark against the native green.
✓ Quest Accepted
Remove the invasive weed