Chapter IV
Alright this is the fourth and final chapter of the story. Thank you all for reading. It's been a blast to do this, and I do have another story planned since this was received positively, so keep a look out for that in the future. Anyway let's get on with the show.
Steven looked at Pearl and grinned before he stated "You just told me that you had gone back to the village to find out what was happening." Pearl sat herself on the bed beside Steven before she pondered just how she should share this story with Steven. After a brief moment of silence she nods and returns to telling the tale "When I reached the village, I went to their elder and asked them just how had the site been compromised. He told me about how someone had been pulling the people out of their graves, and pushing the caskets out. The only evidence of what was going on were several strange burrows they found in the sides of the walls of the grave. Now of course I was curious as to how anyone could burrow holes into the stone without being noticed. I kept that in mind and I asked him a second question. When did the tree start to grow that strange fungus on its side."
Pearl watched as Steven's eyes started to glaze over as he slowly fell asleep. It was almost his bed time after all. She smiles softly at him and runs a hand through his hair "The elder told me that it had started several months ago when the first bodies had disappeared. I assumed that there had to be some sort of connection, but I needed more information. So I asked the village elder permission to climb down into one of the sites. He agreed, and so I made my way back up into the mountain, and when I reached the top I looked down at the cliff face. I noticed that the scaffolding which the villagers used to reach the graves was old and rotted so I made my way as carefully as I could."
Pearl quietly thought back to how she had shape shifted into a rat to make her way across. It hadn't been the most pleasant experience, but she had done what she had to do. "Once I made my way into the grave I discovered that yes there were holes in the sides of the sites. What's more, the holes had a strange residue oozing out from their sides." Steven covered his face as he seemed to be growing more fearful of the story. Pearl took note of this, and in order to make the tale a bit more tame for Steven she decided to skip the part of the story in which she found the corpses which had been reanimated by gem shards contained within the mountainside.
Steven glances up to her and states "And then what happened?" Pearl glances down at him and states "Well...After I finished my investigation I went back to the elder of the village. After a bit of coaxing on my part we decided that the best course of action would be for me and several of the town's guardians to stake out one of the grave sites over night. Once inside it was discovered that the fungal infection within the tree was something more... Malicious than I had been lead to believe, and it had been using the root system to burrow into the grave. After our..." She contemplated what word she would use. "Investigation. We decided that the best course of action for both the village, and the dead would be to destroy the tree which after a bit more thorough look we had discovered had been killed long ago by the fungus. We gathered what seeds we could from the tree and then lit a fire at its base. For twenty days and twenty nights it burned."
Steven looks down at his lap and sniffs saddened by the tale. He then feels two thin arms wrap around him in a hug before Pearl states "What's wrong?" Steven glances up at her "It's just sad that the tree had to be destroyed after all the time it had been around." Pearl looked down at him and states with a soft voice "Steven you must understand that death is a part of life. In order for new life to grow, the old sometimes has to give up its place in the world. Yes the great tree had to be brought down, but after it had been destroyed the villagers planted the seeds, and created an entire forest of trees in the soil which the ashes from the flame had made far more fertile than it had been in many years. From the death of that one tree an entire grove of trees, all of which had the beauty that the tree which had given birth to them once had. Even more than that all of them were unique, all of them had something to be treasured. From that one sacrifice, something beautiful was brought into the world."
The boy sniffed once more and states with a saddened voice "But...The original tree was so big. It had been around for so long. How could those smaller trees hope to be as great as it?"
Pearl took note of this and hugged him a bit tighter. She then smiles at him and states "Well... I suppose that it's all subjective, but the younger trees had space to grow. They could shape themselves in whatever way they chose. At least that was what I found when I watched that tree atop the hill grow from the sapling that the villagers gave me." Steven blinked at her and states "Wait your tree came from that big one?" Pearl nodded and wiped some of the tears which had formed in the boys eyes away. Steven squirms around in Pearl's hug for a moment until he is free of Pearl's tight grip and he lies in his bed. "Thanks Pearl that was a great story."
Pearl smiled at him and stated "I was happy to share it." Pearl kissed his forehead and got up off of the bed "Good night Steven." She then calmly walks away from the bed and walks into her room in the temple. Steven lies there for a moment as he contemplates the story Pearl had shared with him before he closes his eyes and allows himself to be taken by soft hold of sleep. In her room of the temple Pearl quietly partook in her usual routine. Shining her swords, taking stock of the various supplies she had stored away in case anything in the house was damaged, ect ect. She then sits down and meditates on the pillars of water allowing the sounds of the rushing waterfalls to soothe her nerves. Several hours pass and she quietly returns to Steven's room as she had done in the past, she crawls up to the foot of Steven's bed.
She watches the boy for a few moments as he dreams. She then glances over to the portrait of Rose that they had so hastily put up just before Steven had joined them in the temple and smiles before she thinks to herself 'Thank you, for every moment we have with him.' She then carefully makes her way down the stairs and back into her room.
Alright, that's the story. I hope you all enjoyed it. It was certainly a learning experience for me.