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--- sessions:star_era:2023-05-29 [2023/06/02 19:27] – created shyriath
+++ sessions:star_era:2023-05-29 [2023/09/18 15:05] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
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 Crystheart's eyes began to glow as well, and she empathically pushed out a modicum, a tincture, of the Mind-Tree's pain, but no small measure, surely.}}
+{{wst>shyriath|The takmar had no telepathic facility of their own, but they did have an empathic one. They were no strangers to the feelings of other beings. But they had, unaware though they were of it, evolved it as an aid in hunting, and in a number of ways it was the most sensitive in ways that would lead them to prey.
+And while pain was certainly among these, they had utterly failed to pick up on that of the forest, which was diffuse and lacked the hot, sharp focus of an animal in pain. It might have been different had they been out in the middle of it, surrounded by it, instead of at its edges, but the situation was as it was.
+Now, of course, in the face of the psionic communication, the pain was made manifest. As the communication ended, the takmar stared, dazed by the sight and the feeling of it.
+The safir might have seen the confusion arising in the minds facing them. Beings from a paradise beyind the stars? Wings covered in... something like hair, but not hair (for winged safir were the only feathered creatures on this world)? The ability to speak into the mind? The ability to appear from nothing? Glowing lights? Were these witches? Strange, alien gods?
+And the forest... sapient? Who had ever heard of sapient trees?
+Dwathnil glanced aside at Kedem, who was still stunned. He felt it prudent to speak before she did; she was a decent organizer of work and materiel, but tact and diplomacy were not her strong suit. No one had expected them to be needed here. Gulping in unease and making I'll-handle-this motions in Kedem's direction, he edged his way out from behind the barricade and toward the strange beings.
+"O matriarch of the star-people," he began, addressing Darkflame in a voice that did not quite manage to conceal his terror, "We have no knowledge of thinking, feeling forests. We came across the sea, from a place where such things do not exist." //That we know of,// he added silently, though he supposed that it was likely that the beings would hear it just the same.
+"But wood is the material with which we build our homes and cook our food. We do not have the material here to build in stone or brick, and the weather is too wet for earthen homes. The ships that brought us here from the Inner Sea have gone back and may not return for many turns; and if we move elsewhere, they may not find us again and think us lost.
+"And though we dared much in crossing over the Great Deep, we were all adults and could choose it freely. But there have since been children born here, and more yet to come, who we cannot risk in crossing back, lest the Devourer take them. What, then, would you have us do?"}}
+{{wst>halian|Crystheart and Darkflame look silently but expectantly at each other for some moments. What's not immediately apparent to the takmar is that they're having a telepathic conversation with one another, poring over what they know about the area and thinking of a way forward that benefits all three parties — the safir, the takmar, and the Mind-Tree.
+From time to time as this continues, they gesture with their four hands, their wings, or in Crystheart's case with vis member, to nothing in particular. It's clear that whatever is going on in their minds is rather profound, perhaps even contentious. Eventually, Darkflame tosses, without looking, the knot of mindstone to Dwathnil, before again sending telepathically to the takmar.
+Darkflame conveys to the copydragons that there are several alternatives not too far distant. Their own data obtained before upon this world landing includes notations of a clay deposit that ]may] be reachable without disturbing or injuring the Mind-Tree, as well as peat in the nearby swamps, and non-sapient trees in the inland hills.
+As for the feasibility of reaching those from the coast, she suggests that they beat a road between them, a task with which the safir would be willing to assist if they discontinue this quarrel. She also sends that the safir would teach them how to responsibly harvest and manage each of those resources, especially the trees.
+As an addendum, Crystheart offhandedly mentions mindstone, the psychoplastic material that Dwathnil now holds in his claws, though disclaims that conjuring it //ex nihilo// in large quantities is not healthy for them.}}