They all got more and more familiar over the course of the evening, with the trio of visitors bustling with energy from the excitement of leaving home. Eventually however, Brunner got up to stow away the few plates of food remaining.
His house was all made out of oil-treated wood, inside and out and as a result it had an earthy smell reminiscent of nuts. The smaller guest house that the boys started eying, whilst thinking of their beds, was a one-floor version of the same.
“Hey, before you head off, I know you’ve all got a long journey ahead tomorrow, but can I show you all a little something before you go tucking in?”
The lads all exchanged a few glances, but then turned right back and nodded eagerly in service of their curiosity. Soon they were geared up for the chill night air of late summer.
Brunner only took them for a couple of minutes walk into the surrounding forest before he had them all scale an even bigger boulder than all the ones they passed on the way over.
Then the sight that met them at the top blew them away.
Unbeknownst to the trio they were looking at a kauri tree. Towering over the rest of the forest, with branches higher than 50 metres, reaching into the sky and extending far wider than seemed possible.
“The Lady of the Forest!” Boomed Brunner. “It’s my life’s work, I improve on her, her environment or her neighbours, each and every week.” He was beaming, and the sight of the shocked faces on the group of lads was clearly very gratifying.
Kalle finally spoke up, the first to get over his astonishment. “It’s amazing, how did we even miss it? It doesn’t seem possible. We’ve been walking this direction all evening while there was still more than moonlight to see by,”
Brunner tried acting casual despite his clear enthusiasm for the subject. “You see, I’ve put up a simple Light-bending field,” He pointed to a couple of pikes which had been driven into the ground, that seemed to be taking advantage of the strong latent energy of this glade.
“It’s not much, doesn’t beat scouting Skills or magic beasts, but it keeps away undue attention, if people don't know enough, or where to look closely.” He explained before walking off and giving them some room while he checked on his baby.
"He has to have a plan, to spend so much energy growing something like this in what, 20 years?" Oscar was the first to consider the implications.
"Maybe he's just passionate about large fruitless trees?" figured Harold openly, to the blank looks of the other two.
Before they could speculate much further the [Arborist] returned.
“You lads want to see me give her a treat?” Naturally they all nodded without even understanding the significance of the words in these particular circumstances, the gist was enough to make them intrigued enough on its own. Harold was practically head-banging.
What happened next stunned them, despite their mistaken belief that they’d mentally prepared their horizons adequately.
Brunner grabbed his hatchets from his belt loops and started sprinting. His target seemed to be a rival tree, one that was encroaching on his darling's giant roots. He leapt up and his hatchets fell like lightning, carving through the tree like it was butter, except for the loud clacks.
The towering iron oak was known for its hardy wood, and this specimen stood over 30 metres tall, and nearly rivalled a more normal kauri for width. It mattered not at all in front of this natural-born hatchetman. He started at the top, having jumped from branch to branch to land his swings, and the wood flew high before stacking gently in the slightly loamy earth surrounding the Lady’s roots.
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It took him no more than twelve minutes to carve it all up perfectly.
When he was finished the heavy wooden rings all laid spread out around the giant’s now freely growing roots, and Brunner returned to his audience, who were still figuring out what to ask first.
“She will have all that turned to mulch in about a week... I have ended up giving her quite the appetite over the years,” Brunner chuckled darkly.
Oscar looked amazed and decided to pipe up. “Is that truly right? That looked like it was an iron oak you were hacking down,”
“Sure it was, it is just that I have too many synergic Skills for that to matter much to these babies," he brandished his hatchets before explaining further.
"For one I was using [Spirited Edge], and with the target being a non-magic tree, and a bit of a rush job, it simply did not have the enhanced bark of a more naturally evolved specimen. Not to mention how my strikes ripple with nature affinity, so the tree’s natural defences were almost more help than detriment to my Skill-empowered blows,” He propped the hatchets up, and their unnaturally shining gleam started actually glowing as Brunner channelled his Skill through the weapons to show them. “And combined with my [Nutritious Bark] the wood I provide gets precisely the affinity needed to fit right in with the improving ecosystem I am always working on for my Queen,"
The lads were learning a lot, even if they knew how some of it worked from learning the regular farming practices they were familiar with, but Brunner was not quite done.
"It took me sixteen years to grow that oak, and that’s only possible because of all my other Skills. I even got an actual Spell with my last capstone, although how that one works, I have not quite figured out yet.”
Harold was most fascinated of all. He could sense something about the tree was special. “But how old is it, to have grown so large, do you just know what she needs? I’ve never even seen a smaller version of that kind of tree around here, not anywhere before this.”
Brunner was beaming again from the boys’ collective interest. “She's about forty years old now, if I know my lady, I'd have to cut her down to tell for sure though. Hah. It seems true that even a kauri-lady doesn’t tell,” He winked at the boys, but they were not old enough to really relate, so Brunner went on swiftly.
“I brought her here as a sapling. And it's more like I decide what she needs, or what her purpose is rather. If you were impressed by her branches then you should learn to sense her roots, that’s where I’m really putting the effort in. My ambition is the future, after all. She will be a Queen of the forest one day." Brunner was really warming up to his subject and the lads actually decided to sit down since this might take a while. Brunner hardly noticed.
"I brought her from afar, as she requires quite the space, which is why my farm is all the way out here. You need experience obviously, but I worked with some of the best on my travels and that helps just as much, the proper training and Skills." Brunner was really spilling the beans. The boys were surprised at his openness but their hunger for every word of the outside world and high level Skills kept their mouths from even considering an objection.
"I’ve also got my Passive [Forester’s intuition] to guide my hand, if something new enters my part of the forest or one of my trees reaches its peak. I just have a feeling for all the life around me here.” It was clear the lads had gotten lucky with the timing more than anything, the oak had, in a way, let Brunner know that it was its time.
That made them all look back at the tree and reconsider the extensive canopy. Although they felt rather small, once they returned they all slept well at Brunner's farm that night.