Through The Dark

A heavy, crisp autumn breeze whistled through a giant peach orchard filled with succulent iridescent fruit. Shimmering leaves of royal purple billowed in the carefree draft, completely unchanged by Afallon’s seasonal influences since time in memorial. The unusual phenomenon of stasis ended at the boundaries of the Orchard. The vast surrounding woodland echoed with the changing of seasons in brilliant shades of red, gold, and orange.

Tucked away in a nearby hillside the sounds of clashing wood and soles scraping against the dirt in protest broke the gentle hum of untouched nature. A training field had been carved out of a flat area within the sloping forest terrain. There were various wooden pillars with dummies for swinging at, sparring rings and an obstacle course with rope swings that jostled in the sudden strong breeze. The movement distracted the wayward eye of a young dryad woman in the middle of a spar nearby.

“Eyes on me, Binnei!”

Theon’s voice rang out over the clearing as his training branch whistled through the air and struck the smaller dryad ’s arm. The impact earned a startled squeak from the young Springborn who recoiled back, clutching the weapon in her trembling hands.

“Gah—! Sorry!” Binnei squeaked, hurriedly hopping into an awkward fighting stance. Her mint green frame was shadowed entirely by the Firstborn’s towering bulk in comparison. Theon, his long mane of dark teal ferns tied back into a semi updo, didn’t lower his weapon. He nodded curtly, waiting for her to recollect herself and try again.

“Hi-YAAAH! YAH! HAAAAH!” Binnei charged forward, swinging wildly. Three sharp overhead strikes flew at Theon, accompanied by what Theon could only guess were battle cries. The first strike missed her Warden mentor by a foot. The second scraped harmlessly past his shoulder. The third clipped him with a glancing blow to his upper arm. He grimaced, more out of surprise than pain, before planting a hand on her chest and shoving her gently but firmly backward.

“Good strike,” he said, his voice steady but encouraging. “Now parry.”

Binnei barely had time to recover before Theon’s weapon descended in a wide, sweeping arc. The thick training branches collided with a loud crack, and for a moment the Springborn managed to hold her ground. Her stick quivered under the weight of his swing, her arms trembling as she pushed back with all the strength she could muster.

It wasn’t enough.

Theon broke through her defense easily, his force sending her staggering back. Her weapon flew from her hands and fell unceremoniously into the dirt with a dusty thud.

“AAAH—! Time out, time out!” The young Springborn jumped back with her hands flying up in surrender. Theon’s brow arched expectantly but he stepped closer still, branch poised to strike again. This sapling had to learn how to act under pressure. Even if the pressure was simply to remember the proper phrase to stop her training.

“Wait— I yield! I yield!”

Theon halted mid-step, his determined focus and fighting stance softening in seconds with a sharp exhale. The tense line of his lips lifted into an encouraging smile as he lowered his stick to his side.

“That was a good effort,” he said, his tone gentle but firm. “You lasted longer than a minute.” He watched as the Springborn let out a breath of relief at his words, shoulders sagging from her own stance of self-defense.

“I bet I lasted for at least five minutes this time!” his tiny trainee beamed hopefully.

“Hah, not quite…” Theon chuckled as he leaned down to pick up her weapon, amused at his pupil’s enthusiasm despite her obvious lack of skill. It was true she was making progress but the young dryad still had a long way to go if she thought the Warden’s path was right for her. “More like two and a half.”

Binnei groaned loudly in dismay, throwing her head back in exaggerated defeat. A few petals from the pink blossoms clustered amongst long, darker pink leaves that grew from her head shook loose from the momentum and fell into the dirt at her feet.

“Fighting is so HARD!” Binnei whined with a frustrated stomp of her foot, driving the lost petals deep into the soft earth. Theon stepped forward to offer her the stick she had dropped. She pouted and grabbed it from his hand with a bit too much force, her round green cheeks illuminated with bright pink irritation. “… And you look kinda scary when you fight.” She mumbled under her breath but it was still loud enough for him to hear.

“Scary?” Theon echoed her choice of words skeptically. In a way he couldn’t blame the sapling for being shaken up over a largely unfair fight. He very clearly outclassed her in size and strength as a Winterborn. If her prior mentor hadn’t already dismissed her for lack of promise she would’ve been having this duel with someone more appropriate to her body type. Still, scary was definitely new for him.

Binnei looked up at him with regretful apprehension. She barely reached his chest in height, as was the fate of most Springborns to be the smallest of the seasons.

“Okay… well, maybe not scary.” She amended as she started to rock back and forth on her heels. This sapling had a hard time staying still from what he could tell. “You just look so serious. It’s so different from how nice you normally are!”

Theon had to exhale quietly through his nose to keep from sighing. This wasn’t the first time he’d had this kind of conversation with a sapling. Less than a year old since their bloom day, many of them had expressed over the years that he was the ‘nice’ one compared to his other Warden peers. They all quickly found out to their disappointment that ‘nice’ didn’t translate into ‘easy’ inside the sparring ring.

The pressure of being a mentor and role model weighed heavier on his heart than the burden of his gentle character. Which is why when a new doe-eyed or arrogant sapling came to him with thrill-seeking dreams of slaying monsters he had to be the heavy hand of what a life of fending off the monsters beyond the safety of the Orchard truly meant.

“I appreciate the sentiment.” Theon replied as he rolled the shoulder she had managed to strike to ease some of its soreness, “But I can’t stress enough that fighting is serious business, Binnei. It could mean the difference between life and death for someone, you included. I need to treat it that way when I’m teaching, don’t I?”

Binnei looked like she wanted to protest but her lips were pressed tightly shut as she thought it over. Just as she opened her mouth to speak another voice cut through the conversation off to the pair’s left behind the training fence.

“Hey you two!” A Summerborn dryad called to them in a sing-song voice. Her caramel skin complimented the pair of curled dark brown branches with lush lichen accents draped in front of her shoulders. She bore a bright yellow patch on the outer arm of her clothing with a black cooking pot that identified her as one of the Cooks. “How about a break? I brought snacks for the trainees!”

“Snacks?!” Binnei gasped and grinned widely. “Say no more!” The distracted Springborn dropped the wooden stick without another thought and took off like a shot towards the fence. Despite her petite frame she scaled the wooden barrier with ease to hop over it instead of leaving out of the open gate half a dozen yards away.

Theon shook his head as he bent over to pick up the training weapon a second time. A harsher mentor would have chastised her for it. His second in command certainly would have. What he lacked in Nejaht’s discipline he made up for with his wisdom as the First of his kind. Such wisdom left him with a sneaking suspicion that a continuation of their training wasn’t going to be necessary.

An honest conversation was definitely in order.

He headed towards the rack with the other basic training sticks nearby. They were all thick and sturdy branches of various sizes that had been stripped of their bark, sealed against the elements and given grips made of dried plant fibers. They were simple and far more approachable than proper Warden weaponry for a beginner. He took his time to make sure they were all put away correctly before stepping out from the sparring ring.

When the Warden finally caught up with his pupil she was walking back towards him from a small group of four other trainees and the Cook who was still busy handing out her treats. Each trainee wore a simple pair of woven cotton tunics with a red Sapling patch on the outer arms to distinguish them from the silver sword and shield on royal blue patches adorning the arm and breastplates of proper Wardens. The design on Theon’s own partial mahogany breastplate battered through years of putting dangerous beasts and trespassers to the sword was worn down but still clearly identifiable. It held up thanks to a consistent effort on his part to repaint it from time to time.

“Theon, look! She brought us muffins!” Binnei waved a half eaten muffin around in front of him with a large grin, holding a second one in her other hand. “I got you one too, slowpoke.”

The Warden offered his gratitude in the form of a smile. It was still fairly warm from the brick oven and had a distinct smell of warm spices that gave away what it was long before he had the chance to taste it. The burnt orange color didn’t leave much to the imagination either.

“Ah.. pumpkin muffins.” The corner of his smile twitched with subconscious disappointment. It was a classic choice for this time of year after the recipe’s inception a few years back. It was just a shame he hated the taste of pumpkin.

The reminder of days where the ability to be spoiled for choice was a daydream pushed him time and time again to give the squash an honest try. But not even brown sugar and cinnamon could save it. It was simply unappealing in any form. That same stubbornness made him unwilling to let food and a thoughtful gesture go to waste despite his displeasure.

“Why don’t we sit down and take a break to enjoy them?” He offered with a sweeping gesture of an armored arm. Well-worn padded gray armor reinforced with wooden slats tucked between layers of cloth and coconut fiber gave him a weathered appearance that contrasted Binnei’s contemporary sapling garb. The Warden had the dignified features of a dashing young man in his prime of strength, yet his armor held echoes of a bygone era that the others had simply come to accept as a stylistic choice.

Binnei nodded eagerly, already heading back towards the sparring ring. There were three other sparring rings in the clearing, all currently in use by the visiting group of saplings and their Warden mentors. They both found a spot along the edge of the fence, sitting on a pair of wooden stumps and leaning their backs against the wooden slats nailed to the base. The slats notably creaked underneath Theon’s weight as he leaned back but he was quick to straighten his posture to reduce the strain. While his young pupil was pleased as a peony to enjoy her treat Theon only pinched off a small piece to chew on. The Firstborn’s nose wrinkled as he took his first bite, quick to swallow to put it behind him.

“So...” the Firstborn began casually to break the silence. He kept his tone light and conversational. The last thing he wanted was offend her. “You seemed to enjoy working with the Menders before. Are you really sure you want to change paths now?”

Binnei looked over at him skeptically before looking down at her muffin with a shrug.

“I mean, it’s not that I don’t like it. Learning Mender stuff is fine. It’s nice to make other people feel better when they’re under the weather but it’s just… a lot to remember!” She sighed, taking another bite. “Mmm— all the different kinds of teas and medicines are really confusing and hard to keep straight. Then there’s the stuff that only works on plants or trees which is a whole DIFFERENT thing and, ugh—” The young sapling gave a dramatic shake of her head. “I don’t have enough room in my head for it all!”

“That sounds pretty overwhelming.” Theon nodded, not looking up from his own half-eaten muffin. Being a Mender required a lot of patience, knowledge, and sometimes a steady hand that Binnei appeared to lack. She was barely seven months old. There was still time to develop those skills if she applied herself. “Is there anything in particular that made you want to join the Wardens?”

Binnei hummed a bit, looking off to the side in thought. It was taking longer than Theon expected for her to answer but before he could press further the Springborn deflated before his eyes with an uncharacteristic sigh of defeat.

“Honestly… not really. I’m just trying a little bit of everything, I guess.” Binnei shrugged again. It was clear she didn’t have an answer that satisfied her. “I hear so many stories about how Wardens are the coolest because they get to train and protect the Garden from monsters instead of working in it. Sounds like a lot more fun than just picking vegetables and cooking all day for gods who don’t even know we exist.”

A candid eruption of laughter from the Firstborn caught Binnei off guard as she jumped in her seat with wide eyes of surprise.

“You sound a lot like a good friend of mine.” The Warden mused with a soft smile, thinking fondly of Warren. It had been a week since he’d last seen his best friend. He was supposed to be busy with the rest of the Autumnborns clearing away leaf litter from the trails through the rest of the Garden. Whether he was actually participating or not was truly anyone’s guess.

“You have friends?!” The sapling blurted out with a playful gasp.

“Yes. I do have friends.” He said flatly, not falling for her bait.

“Well, yeah, but— you’re the Firstborn! And the leader of the Wardens! How do you even have time?”

“I make time for the ones that matter.” Theon replied with a knowing smile. “But let’s get back on topic. There’s nothing wrong with trying everything you can to see what suits you. All I want you to consider is that becoming a Warden is not something to be taken lightly. The work we do is important. But it’s not easy and I can’t promise it’ll be fun every day. It will wear you down if your heart isn’t really in it.”

Binnei chewed thoughtfully on the last piece of her muffin, her expression falling a bit as the Warden finished.

“Are you saying you don’t think I can do it?” She asked softly, sounding a little dejected.

“If I thought that then I wouldn’t have stepped in after Nejaht cast you off.” Theon reassured her with a supportive smile. His Summerborn colleague could be very harsh when her sky-high standards weren’t met. “I just don’t want you to regret wasting time pursuing something that doesn’t make you happy. I have no doubts you can do anything you set your mind to.” He concluded with a nod.

The potential to save a sapling from underestimating what they were really signing up for without scaring them also had a part to play in this. The call for adventure in a young soul was a powerful thing. Sometimes to fatal detriment.

“Hmm…” Binnei frowned a little as she seemed to consider his words until she looked back up at him with curiosity brimming in her bright green eyes. “What made you decide to become a Warden?” Binnei asked. “Or uh… I guess… What made you decide to become the FIRST Warden? How did you know that’s what you wanted to be?”

Theon paused a moment and looked down at his partially eaten muffin as his lips tightened into a line. It was a question he hadn’t really considered for some time. He was always so focused on doing what was best for the community and Orchard day to day that assessing his own life often fell on the back burner. Being the oldest left him in a position akin to an elder or mentor in the eyes of many around him. Most sought answers from him about themselves or their problems instead of asking him such personal questions.

“To be honest, I never really thought about it. Being a Warden is just what I’ve always done.” He began as he reluctantly pinched off another piece of his muffin and popped it into his mouth. “I was the only one around for a while. Then I was the only one strong enough for the role until more capable saplings started blooming from the Orchard.”

“So, you just… fell into it?”

“In a way.” Theon admitted. “I had to learn how to do most things myself. Or with Maker Ama’s guidance when she could afford the time.”

“Do you ever wish you were doing something else instead?” Binnei pressed with a curious tilt of her head and torso in her seat. Springborns had a way with being as naturally endearing as they were visually unique.

“Mmm… not really.”

“But what about what you want to do?”

“I’m happy being a Warden.” The man gave the sapling the most confident looking smile he could muster. Theon meant it... for the most part. Repeating that line as much as he had in the last six years made it easier for him to accept as his truth.

“But you didn’t answer my question!”

CAAW! CAAW!

Both dryads startled and jumped with a yelp as a crow suddenly dove down from above and brazenly snatched Theon’s half eaten muffin right out of his hand. The bird was gone with a flap of its wings in a flash and left the Firstborn looking on in shock.

“Hey, give that back!” Binnei shouted at the fleeing creature as she jumped to her feet. The pair watched as the crow flew low across the dusty, long trampled ground until it came to settle on the shoulder of a very familiar looking newcomer that strolled through the bronzing tree line into view. Theon immediately recognized him by the unmistakable mess of bright red maple leaves pulled back into a short ponytail, the green Gardener’s patch on his brown leather tunic embroidered with a white peach and matching pair of wheat grains curved stylistically around it, and the sly smile on his handsome olive green face.

“WARREN! What the corn cockle!? You taught your crows to STEAL from people?!” Binnei gawked and stomped her foot indignantly as he approached.

Warren, one of the infamous Autumnborn twins and keeper of a small flock of trained crows, smirked as the bird dropped its prize into his open hand after landing on his shoulder. The Autumnborn had the decency to pretend to look abashed.

“Whaaat?! Psh— no way, I’d never do such a thing.” Warren insisted with a dismissive wave of his free hand. “Crows are natural scavengers. I just encourage them.” He winked in Theon’s direction, taking a bite of the stolen muffin.

“Strange how your crows like to steal from me lately.” Theon chimed in skeptically as he stood up, brushing the remnants of muffin crumbs off of his lap.

“Hey, a Warden should expect anything, right?” The Autumnborn joked as he tossed the rest of the muffin back up to the crow. The corvid caught the sweet midair with a shriek and took off in the opposite direction back towards the woods. “You don’t even like pumpkin anyway.”

“Maybe,” the Warden finally smiled, “but you can ask first, you know.” It was getting harder for Theon to mask how charmed he was that someone remembered such a small personal detail. Especially coming from Warren.

“D’aww, but where’s the fun in that?”

“Uh— hello?? I’m right here??” Binnei’s huffing protest as she threw her hands up into the air was enough to remind the two that they weren’t alone. “Are you guys seriously going to act all weird and stuff when I’m still here? Come on, Theon! You haven’t even finished my training yet.”

Theon’s eyes widened. Warren’s smug grin only grew wider at the young sapling’s attempt to butt in.

“Don’t worry, Ginny. We’re just messing around.” Warren assured her while jabbing Theon in the side with his elbow, his sincerity as thin as spider silk.

“My name is BINNEI!” She shouted angrily, her pink glow flashing across her cheeks and the flower blossoms in her hair in irritation.

“Uh huh, right, my bad.” Warren waved his hand dismissively and then directed his attention squarely at Theon. “Anyway, I need to borrow you for a bit. It’s important Warden stuff. Super secret. Can’t tell anyone else. You know how it is.” The mirth stoking in Warren’s striking orange eyes with every sentence was a dead giveaway to the Warden that he was enjoying Binnei’s sour reaction a little too much. The redhead’s gaze cut back to the sapling out of the corner of his eye. “Sorry, Billy.”

“What did I just say!?”

“Yeah, sorry. Got places to be, see ya!” Warren was already waving goodbye as he turned around and started walking back the way he came with one last shout over his shoulder. “Don’t keep me waiting, Big T.”

Theon wasn’t given the chance to refuse. Not that he would have. There was no stopping Warren once he had set his mind on something. It was something he quietly admired about the younger male. Even so, he couldn’t help but notice a thin undertone of urgency in the way he hastily walked ahead without waiting for Theon to catch up with him.

Binnei was far less impressed as she crossed her arms and huffed. Theon didn’t need to see her face to know she was glaring daggers at Warren’s back as the Autumnborn walked away.

“Ugh— why are the Autumnborns so weird?” She grumbled.

“Binnei.” Theon’s soft but scolding tone paired with a sharp snap of his lavender gaze in her direction made his point clear.

“Okay, okay! I’ll stop talking about him, jeez!” Binnei put her hands up in defense, backing away towards the sparring ring.

“I mean it. No gossiping.”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you.” Binnei muttered as she turned her back to him, hopping the short distance into the training ring and grabbing a new stick from the rack. “Just be ready to rumble when you get back. I’m gonna last five minutes next time for SURE!”

“If that’s the case then you should practice your form on the training dummy while I’m gone.” He offered, hoping it would help her let off some steam.

“On it! I’m gonna beat it to splinters!”

Theon couldn’t help but smile in amusement at the young sapling’s sudden determination. Warren’s dismissal of her had clearly touched a nerve of some kind. Either way it seemed the best thing he could do for her now was step aside and let her cool off. He waited for Binnei to start her practice swings on the target dummy before turning away to follow Warren into the nearby woods. The Warden caught a glimpse of the Autumnborn’s fiery gaze looking back at him restlessly before he disappeared back into the tree line with a brisk pace.

“Hold on, I’m coming!” Theon called after him, not wanting to be left behind.