Exiled to a Lesser World Ch. 03

After she left I looked around the house again and saw it was neat and clean, but everything seemed to be simply made and primitive. That could be because that was where the new me came from, Maybe not from this being an old house in the back of the woods. There were no signs of anything electrical.

Just as I was beginning to believe she had left for good when Anita returned. She dragged over a chair beside the bed, sat on it, and looked at me for a minute. She said, "OK, I'm going to believe you and try to help you, but if you're messing with me or give me any gruff later these wounds you have now will be only a hint of what I'll do to you. Understand?'

I nodded and said, "Yes".

Then she asked three questions, which were "What is your name? Did I know her name? And did I know where we were at?" When I told her, "I only knew her name was "Anita de La Vallière" and mine was "Steve" because the doctor told me. That I was in my home, because the people, who rescued me, told me they were taking me there".

"OK, I guess I need to act like a reporter for you. Who? What? When? Why? Where? She started, "You are Steven Roderick Land, and are 28 years old. You work as a carpenter/repairman and outdoorsman for yourself and hire. You have lived in this tree about seven miles outside of the village for about nine years alone. That's when your parents moved to another area with your sister Jennie, her husband Ben, and their children. Does this mean anything to you?" she asked.

I thought for a minute to make her feel I was thinking before I shook my head no and asked, "What else am I?"

She answered, "I may be giving you ammo to get at me later, but you are a burly 6'2" tall man. You have red hair with blue-gray eyes from your Scottish origins. Also, you are known to be brash and hardheaded, not a warm people person. You are very good at your work. Is that enough info for you?"

"No, I still don't remember my past. It's like you're telling me about someone else." I said knowing she was. I kept this thought to myself. "What happened to me?" I asked.

"As far as we can tell you found a hidden field of Feel-well plants." Seeing my confusion she explained, "These plants have a gentling aroma to most anything in their aromas area. They also have pods full of wax-like nectar that is both of medicinal and food value. They are rare in the forests and won't grow in gardens".

We all think that you had harvested enough to make you well to do when you sold them. You left a good bit uncut and tried to replant the cut areas.

As you were loading the plants into a cart a Snuffle-Ripper must have crept up on you, but you must have heard it as it started to attack you. There were signs of a struggle between you. It must have tried charging you during the fight because you speared it down its throat. We could see where you grounded the spear to help drive it deeper. We think it smacked and clawed you around as it was dying.

Your BMID was torn out from under the surface of your arm. Luckily for you, it was triggered, even though you normally keep it turned off, so no one could track where you were.

They saw signs of you pulling yourself over to the body and putting his saliva on your wounds to stop the bleeding. It was very smart of you with all those injuries and pain to think of that. It appears to have changed your appearance somewhat.

"Wow. That is quite the story so far, but can we take a break for now? I've started getting tired and I'm feeling pain. Thank you for telling me so much." I asked tiredly.

"Yes, we can. I'll get you a tray and tonics that will help the pain and then let you relax or sleep." Anita said going to the kitchen.

I watched her make a small tray of drinks and food. When she came back with it, she sat it on my lap and sat back down in the chair. She watched me for a bit working at drinking and eating the items on the tray with my right arm before she asked, "Any questions so far, or are you remembering what happened?

"No. I'm not remembering anything yet." I said between drinking and nibbling on the soft food from the tray. "Can you tell more about me more later or do you have to go home?" After she chuckled for a moment, she said, "I'm not going anywhere till you're healed up enough so you can care for yourself. Everyone expects me to take care of you. Finish what you can on the tray and then take a nap." I did as I was told.

When I woke up it was late afternoon or early evening from the shadows across the floor and the faint light coming in the slit in the wall. I was alone in the house.

I looked around trying to understand this house, which was supposed to be my home for the last nine years. Whoever built the house was a master carpenter, but the furniture was of a more primitive design, even though the furniture was well made and hand-carved with strange hunting scenes and other carvings. It didn't seem to have grown and formed and flowed together like the house.

As I was thinking this I felt more than heard murmuring in my head "Thank you for your good thoughts about my work at the growths. Who are you? I felt our connection end when the one who lived here with us died. We heard the thoughts of the men who brought you here. They think you are he."

"Who are you and are you talking to me mentally? I don't hear you. I seem to feel you", I asked.

"You don't seem to know about us. We are of the "Trees" (When the trees sprouted it was because of a need for it.

They had joined into a union with the local species of the planet long before man came, but it was an incomplete union.

A man was the perfect Symbiotic relationship physically and mentally needed by the trees. The trees grew to house and protect man, so they would feed, interact with them and groom them.

When sprouting they quickly reached a girth of 40 feet, with an inside hollow of about 35 feet. Then it grew upward to an interior height of about 20 feet.

On the inside were basins of water, these were raised on the wall to different levels needed by their users. Originally they were low on the walls because the creatures that used the trees before were short apelike mammals.

The tree required all creature wastes and food wastes to be deposited in dilating catch-basins.

The tree grew slits to let the light in, but to keep unwanted pests out.

A doorway was opened and a strong web of vines acted as a doorway.

When more room was required a growth spurt would accrue and other levels could be made by interlocking vines and then a growth covering the vines.

A thick vine-like growth would grow up the side of the tree at a slight curving angle and would attach to the new upper walls. The growth first temporally covered the first doorway and made a new doorway to the outside and a doorway up to the new floor.

All of the growth of the first floor of a tree took about 2 weeks and other floors about the same.

The top of the tree grew like a feathery umbrella that sheltered man and kept the right temp.

No fires were allowed inside but an area where the tree hardened and vented after many mental discussions from both parties.). We have a Symbiotic, a man's word, relationship with men. We each supply the needs of the other. This is an old-style bond that has existed long before man came here. ", I heard in my head. I thought for a minute and knew that the truth was the only way. "I know you a read my thoughts, so the truth is I was hurt and I was put in the place of the dead person who lived here, so I could be cared for. I hope that doesn't anger you."

"No, it doesn't because you didn't hurt him and you didn't make the change. We will try to live with you, but you will have to fulfill your part of our relationship too. We will help you understand our bonds and needs. But now rest, heal, and renew" thought the "Tree".

Before I slept, I thanked the "Tree" for accepting me and their good wishes too.

EXILED TO A LESSER WORLD 3

Word Count: 1,539