I decided to leave my dead home behind, knowing in time, it would recover. Unsure what to really do, I headed out to find water to hopefully find a good source of water Qi to fill the ground of my grove, and maybe add something more. So I began to wander, I found a few small streams, and added bit of Qi, just to keep things going, but not staying too long, unsure if there could be anything out here that would find her to be an appealing treat. My instincts gave me the feeling that not many beasts would try to eat my wooded flesh, but I did have a source of power, and that could entice nearly anything.

  I wandered maybe days till I saw a haze coming off a rock wall. It reminded me of the mists that would sprinkle against my bark on cool mornings. It took another day before I reached it, but after losing it in the trees, I was guided by a crashing sound. I got the feeling it was water, but everything was new to me, so I couldn’t be sure. Upon getting closer, the sound felt near deafening, but my comparison was a quiet forest.

  I soon was close enough to see what I was truly suspecting was a mist formed from falling water. I decided to try to stealthily approach, because this was unknown to me. I scanned for any beast but saw nothing, so I moved up cautiously. When I got to the bank of a river falling from the sky, I felt eminence amounts of water Qi in the area. Now I just needed to find a safe area to cultivate. I saw a large rock past where the water was falling and I figured I could get to it pretty easily. I began wading my way out to it when my next step found nothing but water. I should have been able to stop myself from falling in, but with the current of the river, and having already fully committed to the step, I fell into the deep.

  It was odd underwater, I could feel my bark soaking up the water. I tumbled a bit until I hit the bottom, where I found the current ripping past me, and soon swept me away. I was able to regain my stance a bit down the river, and walked back to shore. I found I had traveled much further down river than I expected in such a short time. It took about ten minutes to get back to the ‘water fall’ , something told me, and I wondered how I would be able to get out to the rock. I looked around for any other area that could work, and I saw a a bit of a ledge leading behind the waterfall. It looked like it would take a bit of climbing, but my limbs where now fully up to the task.

  I walked over to where the cliff met the bank and realized the ledge was much higher than I had thought. I tried at a jump but couldn’t quite make it, even with a running jump it was just out of reach. I then saw some rocks around the base of the waterfall and figured that would work well enough, I just hoped nothing other than water fell on me. So with a running jump, I leaped towards the rocks but before I could get to them, the water forced me down again. Reaching, clawing to find something to hold on to I found the edge of a rock. I then tried to find some place the current wouldn’t rip me away again, but it didn’t look great. So I just clung on with all of my strength, and began to pull in the natural energy of the world.

  The Qi was immense, more than just water here, filled with a strong sense of movement. I pulled it in and when into my space. I was able to fully soak the ground quickly, and with the movement part I directed it further into the ground to allow more water Qi to be absorbed. Quickly even that was done, so I looked at the area I had available and wondered if there would be a good place to store excess water. I routed a channel around the base of my tree, leaving a good sized arc to allow for future transplants to my grove. Off aways a bit, near the edge of the space available, I made something close to a pond. I then siphoned off the movement aspect of the Qi and layered it into the channel I had made. All the while filling my new reservoir with energy, and actual water.

  This took a surprising amount of time, but by the time I was done I could tell I wouldn't been needing water Qi for a while. Returning to the real, I was surprised when I was not where I had expected to be. I froze, hopefully before I had made any movements. I could still hear the rush of the water fall, but it was muted, distant. I could feel water from my waist down, but I was in open air above that. I couldn’t hear any movement other than the faint roar, and the moving water. I decided it was time to move, carefully I got up trying to be as quiet as possible.

  I could tell I was in some kind of underground area, but my intuition had little more to tell me. The area was dark but there was a faint light from further ahead, and a bit coming from the water as well. I probably came in from underneath the water, but I wasn’t sure how. Creeping up the path, I could tell I wasn’t as quite as I was hoping, my large stumpy feet crunching on rocks and the like. As I turned the bend, more of the area was illuminate by faintly glowing stones set into the wall at fairly regular intervals. A large furry mass was also revealed, bobbing slowly, breathing. I studied the scene, seeing the carefully places objects on shelves of stone, some mysterious to me, other, of obvious use.

  The were small figures and artistry in places that seemed to show a reverence, along with blocks of stone in the corner. I wanted to step closer to look, but feared what this being might do if I did so. I decided it would be best if I left, so turned around and as I did made a large crunch of stones. I froze and turned my head to look back to see if I had wakened the beast. Seeing no new movements decided it would be safe to continue. After two more steps I heard light, rolling growl, again I froze, not knowing what to do. I was out of the light of sight of the beast so I wasn’t sure what had set it off at this point. I was about to make a run for it when I heard in my head, similar to my instincts, but more direct

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  “Ah so you don’t understand the language of beasts then?”

  At this point I was entirely unsure what to do, it didn’t sound threatening, but I had never experienced anything like this, the grove an I had always communicated through our connected roots, it was slow, and fairly faint in meaning. This, it was direct, and distinct in not only meaning but in tone, and understanding. I could feel no ill will in it, a bit of irritation, but not at me. I turned around a stepped up to where there was a bend in the passage and peaked my head around the corner. Now, with its head poking up, the beast looked right at me. I blinked, it blinked back. We stared at each other for a bit will in my head again it asked,

  “Can you speak?”

  I blinked again, unsure, I don’t think its a thing trees generally do, so I wasn’t getting any kind of intuitive thoughts on it. The it went on,

  “Well come on out, its good to see you didn’t drown down there, but you have been out for a while, maybe a day or so.”

  I did get a sense of relief from the being, and a bit of curiosity as well.

  “Well now, don’t be shy” he said

  I stepped back into the main living area, or possibly some kind of shrine. I looked at the beast, it looked at me. I was still on guard and ready to run if needed, but I was becoming more and more at easy, and I think it could sense that in some way. Then is spoke to me again,

  “Well if you would like I could teach you how to communicate like this, it will be helpful in your travels I’m sure.”

  I stared at it, unsure how I could even communicate that I would like to learn.

  “Well maybe we should start a bit more simply, lets get you yes and no, like the humans do, your body is similar in shape, but not much else than that. First, nod up and down for yes, and shake sided to side for no.”

  I nodded, vigorously, not sure how long I should do it for, so I did it for a few seconds.

  “Well then you are quite ready to learn or maybe I’m not the best teacher, it doesn’t need to be so fast.” And he showed what it looked like for him, and I suppose I probably looked a little frantic at the slower pace he nodded and shook in. So I nodded back, but a little faster, just to be safe.

  “Ah, so maybe a bit of both the ay?” he gave a little mental chuckle.

  “Well then, lets begin, first, you need to think of what you want to say, and solidify it as a message, then you take that and wrap it in Qi and push it out to who the recipient should be. The clarity will drop of with distance and how well you wrap it up. Keep in mind, it is not exactly words that are sent, but meaning, along with some other stuff that is harder to leave out. That why this is probably my least favorite way to communicate. Now give it a try, its quite a basic Qi technique.”

  I wasn’t sure how any Qi techniques worked, so it was good, he broke it down so easily. I tried, looked expectantly at him and waited for a response.

  “Ha-ha, you are new aren’t you? How about this, I’ll ask yes or no questions, and if its not really either, lift your shoulders a bit like this” he got up and sat on his rear, then showed what he meant. “The humans call this a shrug. They use it a lot even while talking, so its a good one to know. Well except for the stuck up ones, they tend to be all proper or whatever, but good luck finding one of them out here in the wilderness.”

  “So, lets start, are you know to being awakened?”

  I tried with just a simple ‘yes’ and tried to send it, after waiting a bit, I nodded my head.

  “Ah good, this is a good practice for learning, or at least it was how I was taught and haven’t heard of any other new ways to teach it. Now, do you have a name?” he asked.

  I built a firm and singular ‘no’, but again it didn’t seem to work, so I shook my head.

  “Well we can work on that later, better to be able to really communicate when coming up with a name. So, do you know much of cultivation yet?” failing again I gave a negative.

  “Ah that's a shame, many beasts get strong instincts for what their cultivation needs and how to progress, especially early on. Ok, lets see, ummm, are you a beast?” after another failure, I shook my head.

  “Alright, are you some weird human?” again I shook my head.

  “Huh, well that's most of the options off the table, I’ve never met one, but I’ve heard of plants awakening, is that you? I nodded in failure.

  “Interesting, that would explain why you look so strange, oh, not in a bad way of course. Kinda viny I guess you could say. Better to ask more about that later. You know, I’m not as good as I thought with these questions, I don’t get all that many visitors you see. I think I remember an acquaintance saying that an awakened shrub he knew couldn’t go far from it’s bush, does that mean your, ummm, host plant is near here?”

  This one was a bit more complicated, since I didn’t even know where my tree really was, I tried sending the message “in a way” but I still seemed to be having trouble, so I gave a shrug.

  “Well I don’t really know how to take that answer, if you want to we can talk about it later.”