Story: Youngkin

[nsfwords]

This fill was inspired by a prompt from fuzzyred at the January 2023 Crowdfunding Creative Jam of "Learning through playing."  At 657 words it is the third story of The Earthen, following "Blessings of the Cool Dark" and "Stronger for Diverse Perspectives."

Youngkin

   Under the golden tinted clouds of a late Autumn dusk the Earthen bring their youngkin out of the burrow to explore the undergrowth. The sun’s harmful rays are weak and filtered, with shadows thick across the forest floor, so it is safe for the youngkin to romp about and play at being great gatherers.

   For the toddlers, Dobry and Emmelian, their minders are Bendek and Feliks, who watch them scamper through the fallen leaves and toss big armfuls into the sky to let them rain back down onto their heads with peals of glee. Earthen, when they are young, have simple gifted names from their fruiting parent, which they may grow up to keep but usually set aside for something more fitting once they are fully matured. Dobry is sweet and pleasant, a Good nutlet, and enjoys any play that lets him grub about in the rich dark soil of their burrow. Bendek finds him a Blessing to mind; the youngkin listens raptly to his tales of spring and autumn gathers of the past, learning the names of the Burrow's staple foods. His harvest mate Emmelian is known to be highly Active, restless in a way that makes it hard for the mature Earthen to keep him contained within the burrow during daylight hours. Set free upon the forest at dusk Emmelian tears through the trunks of the trees, but Feliks is Lucky enough to keep up, and finds himself laughing along with the youngkin’s delight as they race. Emmelian is learning to be agile and quick as he darts ahead of Feliks’ laughing attempt to snatch up the boisterous kernel.

   The youngest, a crawler called Racine, rests in Dezydery’s arms with their cheeks pressed together. The babe’s hide is a unique Rose color, tinted like the bark of a red pine in the Northern forests. She learns to trust the mature Earthen to protect and nurture her as they stroll together through the forest, but Racine loves to be carried by no one as much as she adores Dezydery. The two often make a pretty sight as they slowly meander amongst the ferns and oaks, and the Desire for a child of her own grows in Dezydery’s heart.

   Itka is Industrious, very talented, with a sharp memory. She has an area against the trunk of a maple tree that she has crafted into a play kitchen. Every evening as the youngkin are released from the burrow Itka scrounges through the leaves and mosses for her ingredients and plays at being an Earthen hearth crafter. She watches Dobry with Bendek and thinks he’ll grow to be a fine gatherer, but for herself she wants nothing more than to grow up knowing the way to devise Earthen cures and curses. Most nights Zotia stops by Itka’s kitchen and shares her Wisdom by devoting time to teaching the girl the uses of the forest’s great bounty. She too hopes Itka becomes a prodigious crafter, and dreams of having an apprentice once Itka matures.

   Gnegon is still charged to keep a Watchful eye as the youngkin play and discover the world around them. But most nights now he finds himself with a silent shadow. Only a year from maturity Berna has chosen her own name and set aside her fruiting parents gift name. Brave Like a Bear, and she truly is a fearsome warrior, she faced off against a skunk last spring armed only with a fallen stick from a beech tree. She’d won the battle but stunk so bad the other Earthen’s eyes had stung for hours as the noxious odor wafted from her acorn green skin and filled the burrow to the furthest reaches. Ever since the skunk attack Berna had placed herself at Gnegon’s side, quiet and fierce. The girl wasn’t playing anymore; she was set on learning all Gnegon could teach her by joining him on patrol, a bow and cocklebur arrows strapped across her back.