Grey started with the daily contribution in addition to the official one, and I follow suit. And Alkia, lovely spruce trees! Maybe one of them features shortly in my little story. Please have something about a
Pine tree
Everything ends. It had had an incredibly long life, and its body was still unwilling to cease. But too much is too much. The smashing and thrashing had finally ended it, and it lay lifeless on the ground, trapped under the heavy weight.
Later
The mangled carcass poisoned its surroundings and it lay on bare rock. No animals came near it, and the bugs and critters knew better than taste the diseased flesh. Whether by some surprise blessing, luck, or sheer coincidence, no rashlings further crushed its bones either.
But everything ends, even supernatural pathogens. The cycles of sun and rain, freeze and thaw affect even stone, and finally its already atrophied flesh started to decompose. Fungi grew on it after the sun of sufficiently many summers had decontaminated it.
Later
Leaves and needles from the neighbouring trees had largely covered it. Moss grew on the bones, and the natural order of living things progressed. Nearby, on a warm and dry day, the scales of a pinecone opened. A woodpecker feasted on it, but one of the seeds fell to the ground and landed into a small hollow. There was just enough plant matter at the bottom, and some sun came through the same hole the seed had arrived through. So it settled there (after all, it hardly had any choice in the matter) and waited.
A bit later again
The snowmelt provided abundant moisture. The very thin soil under the seed may have been washed away, but it was snugly in the hollow and the soil stayed put. The seed grew a little root to hold itself and its soil to the ground. When that was secured, it started to try find some sun.
Still later
The seedling was struggling. The hollow had been a good place to get started, but was now too small for it. It had some needles in the sun, but it felt it was supposed to get more sun and grow more needles. A lot more! It grew branches, trying to find good positions for them. Oh, here was another hole! Double sunlight, double good!
Even later
The sapling was very proud. It had been bent into an awkward position, but it had spread its roots widely and strengthened so much that it had managed to raise the obstacle off the ground. Now it finally had room to grow into the great big tree it was supposed to become. Spreading its branches towards the sun, it fondly remembered the little hollow it had started in.
Much later
The young tree felt jubilant. Finally it had grown taller than the neighbors! Its branches were laden with pinecones, spreading its essence around. Except for that one branch that was always in the shadow. There were no pinecones, as it bore stranger fruit.
Many decades later
A little girl was skiing by. “Daddy! Look at that pine! What is that strange thing?”
“Hmm, it is strange indeed. Looks like some sort of a skull. But I have no idea what animal that could have been. It’s somehow... off.”
“But why is it high in the tree?”
“ Oh, honey, I don’t know. It looks very old. Not much is known of the Difficult Times.”
“Maybe someone put it there! A human hero!”
“Maybe they did... now that you mention it, I remember something! They used to do rituals out in the forests. Sometimes a mage would take the skull of a slain beast, and place it high in a tree to release the spirit of the beast back to Tapio and Mielikki. I think it was called Kallohonka.”
***
The pine tree felt a weird sensation. The skull cracked and fell to the ground, and that one branch was free! It felt lighter, but for some reason also a little sad. A strange little whirlwind blew for a second in its branches, ruffling its needles. The wind felt a little sad too, but also very happy. (How weird, the tree wondered, how could a wind feel anything?)
***
“Oh look daddy! It fell! Now it’s all broken! I would have wanted to study it! To see what kind of thing it used to be!”
“Well, maybe that’s for the best. Like I said, it must have been very old. You know it’s best not to touch Very Old things.”
“Yes, I know. But this one was all dry and clean. Look daddy, one tooth is unbroken! Can I take it? Please daddy please!”
“Well, let me see... You are right, it’s dry as, um, bone. You can take it I suppose.”
“Thank you daddy! Thank you Mielikki! I’m sure it will bring me blessings!”
***
A few kilometers away, in a warm den dug under a great big spruce, protected by thick snow, a young female bear stirred. For the first time, it felt the as of yet fluttering movement of new life in its womb. A cub then! Or maybe two.
Edit: spruce! No firs grow naturally in Finland! I always get them confused. Norwegian SPRUCE is the second most common tree in Finland.
