Shard: IX

Precursor: Now it's time for a story.

Body: "Hello!" laughed the Wind as it played in the Tree's branches.

"Hello," responded the Tree with as little interest as is possible. "How are you," the Tree added without meaning anything by it. It regretted it immediately.

"Oh, I'm fantastic!" exclaimed the Wind as it danced around the Tree wistfully. "I just flew a kite! It was so magical!"

The Tree, in an effort to kill the conversation said, "I hate kites. They get stuck in my branches and then those things climb up me and break stuff to retrieve them. Absolutely deplorable." And with that the Tree prepared to return to being a tree.

"Oh, that's too bad. They are really fun! Ooh! and then before that I was pushing a boat in the ocean! Can you believe that? Little ol' me, pushing a whole boat!" The Wind was determined to impress the Tree and then be the Tree's friend.

"Boats are awful. They are useless when not on land and if that weren't enough, they are usually made from my dead companions. Do you do anything useful, petulant one?" The Tree, despite itself was getting drawn in to the conversation.

"I'm all kinds of useful! Just the other day I was involved in taking rain, that's water from the clouds, friend Tree! I carried rain to a field. A field is a place with lots of plants, you should like that," offered the Wind hopefully.

"Hmph! Rain is a fine thing, in moderation. But I know what fields are. They are full of plants made to be slaves by those things. Even some of my brethren are made to fall in line." The Tree obviously wasn't going to give in to the Wind easily.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," apologized the Wind as it slowed to a more pensive flow. It offered for judgement, for now it felt the need to bare its sins, "I wish I could make it up, especially since I was involved in something worse."

"And what was that?" The Tree couldn't help but be amused by the Wind's sorrow, though he was sure it wouldn't last. The mood of the Winds never does.

"I was in a storm. And not just any storm. This was a storm that tore things apart! It flooded and ripped and crashed things! I didn't mean to do it, but when winds get together we get rowdy." The Wind, if it had one, would hang its head right now. "All of that trouble, just because of a party..."

"Well, did you harm any trees," inquired the Tree. It hoped that the critters had been inconvenienced, but trees deserved better.

"I don't know! It all happened so fast and we just keep pushing!" The Wind would have been in tears if it had tear ducts. "If I didn't, then I imagine some of my friends did..."

"See, little Wind? Those of you that can't help but move, those of you that can't sit still, end up harming others eventually," lectured the Tree. "If you all were more like trees, things would be better. For example, do you know what I've done today?" Knowing that the Wind would not have an answer, the Tree continued,"I have made oxygen, something that the creatures need to survive. Nobody has asked me to, I just did it. I have also made fruit that many of the creatures need to live. I have also made seeds. Those seeds will become strong trees, like me. They will do all of these things. We will be a forest and that forest will be important, because when we trees get together, unlike you winds, we make life better for everyone."

Satisfied with itself, the Tree goes back to being a tree and fully expects the, now disheartened, Wind to move on and bother something else. The Wind however, seemed to sit there doing something most winds don't do. It considered its place in the world. It thought about the Tree had told it.

Then it seemed to gain spirit. It began to dance and play again. It whistled and made the fallen leaves dance a ballet while it figured out what it actually wanted to say. And then it says, "I remember something! Just today and other days I have picked up seeds and took them places! I don't remember all the places, but they were places where they could grow! And they grew because they could have sunlight. Sunlight that you would have denied them, but that's not your fault. It's just the way of trees. And that fruit you make? I've seen the animals that eat it. They eat it and then take the seeds you've hidden in it and they do like me! They give your children better places to grow! See! I've done good and trees can do bad! We're the same," exclaims the Wind.

"Hmph," replies the Tree. It did not like this attitude the Wind had developed.

Finally recognizing that the Tree doesn't want visitors, the Wind goes on it's way and tries to be more helpful before it inevitably dies down.

The Tree prefers this new peace as he keeps making its forest larger, one seed at a time.

The End: So, that's kind of a pointless story and there is no moral or real resolution. But I bet you didn't realize that trees and breezes had such engaging conversations, did you? Also, here's something else for you since you had to plod through all of that: