Acorns on an Eucalyptus Tree

Featuring Éliot
Mid-Autumn, Year 760 of the New Age
Huisha's Garden, Glenwood, Glenmore

previously: Kindred Spirits
Recommended music to listen to while reading: American Beauty - Any other Name (Thomas Newman)

Silence. Not a whisper, no rustling of leaves as the wind blew through them, no bird's chattering; not a single sound. Still was the forest, and still was his mind.
The silence felt unusual, otherworldly.

Autumn was peaceful here. Trees lost their foliage as if it was some kind of contest - which tree would be the first to stand completely bald? - sending leaf after leaf silently wafting to the ground, which was now in most places covered by a soft layer of brightly bronze leaves. Mushrooms peeked through the moss where none of the leaves had found a spot to sit; and even the creeks and rivers had resolved upon continuing their day work more unhurriedly than they used to have in summer.
A smell of weariness and parting hung in the air. Autumn had this special character, the strange mood when everyone felt the forest hanging on the brink of winter, the only thing keeping it from falling its undying desire to live.

Éliot roamed through the garden, softly humming to himself. The place was beautiful, truly charming...
and precious, because it had become a shelter, a little home in the foreign for him. Not even the fury every autumn brought with it in the name of rut couldn't reach him here, no, here he felt truly sheltered from everything that was to be found on the other side of the shrubbery. He adored Glenmore, too; it was a place of abundance and kindness in his eyes, eyes that only had seen the madness of an Oakfern cave before. By now, Eli refused to think about what he was to do next. As an outsider, he couldn't stay here forever, even if he'd liked to. With his memories clouded like that, no place to return to - or rather, none he remembered - it would be so easy to start anew in this kingdom, but Eli knew too well how impossible that was. No, he had a thirst to satisfy, a thirst for adventure, for stories not many had heard before, and so he was destined to leave again. He wondered if his whole life had been like that - never really arriving at a place, always restless... the feeling seemed to be rooted deep inside of him, old and familiar.

And once more, he sang.

"Don't you know who reign'd the skies before the world began
one mighty breath to form the earth, so wondrous was his plan -
Who came to birth Earrann, the Oak, and Áillte, the swan,
who made the wood, the moss, the grass - and und us to walk upon.

Now hush, my prince, my love, my dear, day's light is running out
Look who sends the world to sleep; it's Óganach, no doubt.
His tears are streams, his crown the trees, his eyes are sun and moon
that watch and guard your sleep tonight, just as I sing this tune."

The sun was just about to disappear behind the treetops, it would be still a while until the evening came - Éliot didn't know where the song had come from so suddenly. Walking on, he repeated the lines several times, as he used to, to mesmerise and brand it into his memory forever. If there wasn't anyting left from the life he'd lived before the journey, he thought with a streak of frustration, he would just create new memories for himself.

Quietly putting one hoof in front of the other, he trudged on - until, suddenly, he saw something that made him falter - until a broad grin appeared on his face.
Was this one of the eucalyptus tres Huisha had spoken of? The saplings he'd gotten from a Windborne wanderer, just like him? Éliot's face brightened. Awestruck, he went closer to the tree that occupied a little place next to a beaten, well-frequented path. Yes, he knew it; one part of him was sure that he recognised the tree, the leaves, the white bark that peeled off so easily. It didn't fit here, just like him. It was Windborne. Éliot's heart began to beat faster inside his chest.
As he twisted his neck to glance upwards into the tree, smiling, he felt a little breeze getting up. The chestnut chortled - but it was not until he saw something else that the wind sped up and left leaves, grass and air whipping forcefully in its sudden excitement.
An Oak was standing next to the eucalyptus. Looking up into the branches above him, Éliot suddenly caught sight of a little, shiny nut - just about where the branches of the two trees were intertwining above the path. And all of a sudden, a furious gust of wind hit him, and with it, his whole life.

An acorn on an eucalyptus tree... of course!
Standing still, like in a dream, Eli remembered Rusalka, his friend Rue, who had shown him the same little fruit, years ago. He remembered her plans, her own travel, that she wanted to go into the world and find out where it came from. He remembered how different they had been from each other - and now, here he was, at the exact same place she'd probably visited as well, all these years ago! And finally, he allowed his mind to follow his old self as it returned, back to the heard, back to its life, back to his life, back to his... father...
Tears welled in the buck's eyes as the remembrance hit him together with the gust of wind. His father. Suddenly, he knew everything, remembered all the years, the hardships and the beautiful childhood it had been in the end, the rolemodel his father had been for him, how he'd wanted to be a soldier like him - and finally, how they'd parted, how he had confronted Éilias right before he'd been lost forever.
Sudenly bereft of all his strength, Éliot sank to the ground.

What was he supposed to do now?

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YAY! I was so excited to finally upload this. I had this pic finished since June. xD Eli's story is coming together, slowly, but steadily.
I didn't like his memorylessness, but it was necessary for him to taste the sweetness of adventure first. Now he'll have a hard time deciding whether to go back home or stay at this fantastic place a bit longer and continue his journey after that. xD
Hope you like it, fawnling and non-fawnling folk!

I kind of like the sleepsong he's written ;u; I imagine Eli sings these songs to anybody who wants or doesn't want to hear it, so feel free to use them whenever you write about your fawnlings, I would be honoured. c:

Also the picture cost me a whole week of my whitsun holidays xD And then my sister poured lemonade over it! xDD maybe you know what kinds of stains that are - you can still draw on them, but it has a strange surface. But I didn't want to start again, so I covered  the stains very sneakily. 8D let's see if you can find them. They're enormously big, btw.

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998 words (lol shiet) + 1 magic

Eli, art (c) by me, no ref used.