The Martial Unity

The food, to the credit of the elves, was quite delicious.

They served rich, delicious stews of boiled vegetables along with servings of a rice-like grain, as well as all manner and variety of assortments of different parts of plants and trees, including the roots, leaves, flowers, fruits, and even the bark.

Yet, they made it work in what was fulfilling meal that was satisfying, but not too heavy.

He found it interesting that they ate with their hands, rather than with a culinary tool fashioned from wood or plants, cleaning their hands with an organic root sap disinfectant before they had begun eating.

By the time they had completed their meals, the dark elves had finished every ounce of food, leaving nothing to waste.

“We thank Mother Nature for this meal,” the dark elf elder conjoined her hands together as she closed her eyes. “May she feed us for all time to come.”

The dark elves solemnly joined in the prayer as even the children found it in themselves to engage in a moment of silence.

“Now then.” The dark elf elder turned towards Rui and Amare with a welcoming smile. “Would you like to rest with us for the night? We have plenty of room to spare for the two of you.”

“We would love to, but tomorrow is an important and busy day for us,” Rui smiled knowingly. “We will need to sleep well and get up early as we continue our official tour of West Genora. I’m afraid we will have to decline your generous offer.”

“I see, that is most unfortunate,” the dark elf elder murmured with a tinge of regret. “Nonetheless, we have enjoyed having you as our guest. If you ever wish to visit, please do so any time, we will have you as our guest any time.”

“Thank you for your generous hospitality, elder,” Rui respectfully thanked her.

“Thank you for all the fun!” Amare smiled with delight.

It wasn’t long before they bade goodbye to the Aerrirgieff Tribe, returning back to their assigned quarters as they traveled the darkness of the Genoran forest at night.

“Aren’t they wonderful?” Amare asked with an ecstatic tone. “If all dark elves are like this, then I wish to live here forever.”

Rui huffed mirthfully. “You would make for a good dark elf. They are certainly very hospitable people, there is no doubt about that.”

He turned, eying the expansive forestscape with a knowing expression. “Each of those large, giant trees that you see in the distance must be a dark elf clan. Which means that they have a remarkable population density despite the size of the continent. “It’s just that because they arrange their domestic infrastructure vertically up giant hollow trees, there ends up being a lot of space. This way, they prevent overcrowding in the forest and they prevent the need for deforestation.”

Rui had wondered how elves could possibly occupy the Genora Continent without deforesting nature, but the solution that he saw was admittedly ingenious. Each tribe expanded upwards more than they did outward, making sure that they didn’t have to crowd out the trees and inevitably deforest them.

“Truly clever,” Rui admitted. “It makes their society extremely unique and divergent from anything I have seen in human civilization. To think that all elven kind is divided into tribes that occupy giant hollow trees and expand their population upwards is quite stunning to learn about.”

“I love their dedication to nature.” Amare heaved a sigh. “I can understand why these people hate war. It’s no wonder. I would hate war if I grew up in such a place as well.”

Rui raised an eyebrow. “You kind of did, did you not? The Gen Temple is very different from elven culture, but it does share some commonalities.”

“That’s true.” Amare nodded. “And I do hate war.”

“Perhaps we should have let the Gen Temple handle this delegation more than anybody else. Bodhisattva Maitreyi would probably be able to connect with the elves to a deeper extent than I am able to.”

“That is true, but grandma isn’t a diplomat,” Amare replied. “She wouldn’t be able to effectively forge an agreement that is best for human civilization. In that regard, you are still the best that we have.”

Rui nodded absentmindedly. “I’m still quite hung up on what she said about the Nature Path. About how it is a collective path rather than an individualistic path. That makes sense now that I think about it. I assumed that all Paths would require individuality to tread, but perhaps that was simply a biased assumption. Just because the Martial Path is individualistic does not mean that all Paths have to be that way. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it certainly does seem true.”

After all, the Martial Path made one diverge further and further away from each other, while the Nature Path appeared to make one more and more connected to others of the same species.

Mothers of Nature were the existing pinnacle of the Nature Path, and, from what he had seen, they were more tied and connected to everything than they had been when they were individuals in flesh and blood.

“If that’s the case, harnessing the Nature Path might be even more difficult than I ever suspected,” Rui muttered with a dissatisfied expression. “I have no idea how I’m going to harness its power if it’s collective in nature.”

This was especially the case since his nature as a male made him less compatible with the Path. His only hope was to hope that he could use his Authority of Alpha to bypass that condition somehow.

“I’m sure you will figure it out.” She smiled at him. “It won’t be easy, of course.”

Rui nodded silently as they returned to their little quarters before quickly heading to rest for the day. Despite the fact that not a lot of time has passed since they originally arrived at the Genoran Continent, they immediately fell asleep.