Tāne

393 AC - I grit my teeth. When will we learn? When will we learn from our mistakes? Everything was flattened, broken and shattered by the explosion. From what I heard, the Axiom and the Bravos had conducted an experiment near here. They overloaded an Aerolith fragment with vibrations to measure its explosive properties. The experiment had been successful, but as for its results… Even here, miles from ground zero, branches had been ripped off, natural shelters destroyed, nests sent crashing to the ground… I suddenly feel a wave of sadness wash over me upon seeing a pile of broken shells. Using Alteration to repair this biome would take weeks. But the good Oneiros could restore it to its original state instinctively, and much more organically… Feather and leaf. Egg and seed.

He starts to walk among the bent and bare tree trunks. His fingers caress the distressed trees. Where he brushes against them, his color seems to rub off onto the lifeless bark, then rise to the branches. It turns into leaves, a soft green at first before darkening. The grass shoots up in concentric waves around his feet, and when the ripples reach the trees, the branches flower as if experiencing a new spring. Then Tāne raises his arms in the air. I feel his call through the Skein. Flocks of birds begin to circle above our heads, then alight on the branches and among the new foliage. I bow to the Eidolon, who now has dozens of colorful birds perching on his arms.

Tāne is a deity in Maori mythology, the god of forests and birds. He is the son of Rangi, the sky father, and Papa, the earth mother. When he separates his parents, he brings about the world of Light, which plucks their many children out from the shadows where they were living.

TEIJA