To Grow a Forest by chrissystriped

To Grow a Forest

It hadn’t rained for weeks when the lightning had struck, and the resulting fire had rushed through the forest like an angry dragon.

Alafwen used her dibble to press a hollow into the earth mixed with ash and gently planted an acorn, watering it before moving on. Close beside her, her family did the same.

Her heart was still weeping for the trees that had been killed in the fire. It would take decades, centuries, until this part of the forest grew back into what it had been and it would never be quite the same. But nature was change, nature needed change. Even if it hurt sometimes, even if it was a disaster like this.

The forest would have been able to heal this wound on its own, they knew this, but they lived with it, they took from it to survive, and this way they could give something back to it. Plant seeds, tend the young trees until they were tall and strong. They’d help the forest thrive as they thrived because of it.

Chapter End Notes

Written during the instadrabbling session on 20.08.22 for this prompt:

I can see in the acorn the oak tree. I see the growth, the rebuilding, the restoring. - Maya Angelou