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The Hunting Grounds

written for @CommunityInteractive W21: The Hunting Grounds

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"We gather here today to mark a new chapter in our history. To break ground on the first joint project of our two communities, once at war, now growing together as one. This clearing, once a dangerous, though fertile, hunting ground, at times even a battleground, will soon feed our two peoples, our one people, with grain and fruit, no longer with blood. 

Great thanks are due to Ephraim and Emziah for leading the work that's been done so far in clearing out stumps, relocating nesting sites, and preparing this first small patch of earth for today's ceremony.

Great thanks are of course also due... excuse me a moment, I'm sorry... to Herrah, my own flesh and blood... and to Gerron, who I was proud to welcome into my family. As you all know, it was their love for each other, and their tireless efforts in the face of resistance from both sides, from even me, I'm now ashamed to say, that brought us together in the first place. We owe them more than I could ever hope to express in words. We owe them our lives. For I truly believe, had we continued as we were, our two great tribes would have destroyed each other. This clearing has seen enough bloodshed. May that blood serve to make the soil fertile, and may the bounty we grow here serve to give new life to those that died here in our misguided era of violence.

I ask you now to turn west to the graves of Gerron and my dear Herrah, by the flowering bushes on the treeline, and offer the sign of thanks.

...

I know there are still some among us who are unsure of this alliance, of this new phase of growth. To you I say... great punishment awaits those who would go against the will of the elders. We hear the whispers in the forest, we come upon your secret conclaves, and we know them for what they are: threats to our very future. The vandalism that has occurred in both camps, the attempted destruction of the One Well, these are symptoms of a cancer that will be rooted out like so many dead stumps in an otherwise healthy clearing. And I ask all of you here who have supported this new growth, this life-saving coming together, to remain vigilant and bring reports of any suspicious and anti-community activity directly to the Council, of which I have been so privileged to be leader.

Let us offer a sign of thanks to Elder Tauron as well, wherever they may be. We had hoped to govern our new joined tribe together as a kind of equal ruling partnership, one elder from each tribe, but their unfortunate disappearance left me with no other choice but to take sole control of the Council. Wherever they are, we pray they are safe, and that they may someday return to us.

Now I invite all of the children present to come forward with the seeds they have been given. Spread out along the ruts furrowed in the earth here, and follow Emziah's lead to begin the planting of our first crop.

May this day mark the true beginning of a new period of life for us all. May this now sacred clearing forget the days of hunting, and look forward to a new life for itself, as a farming ground.

And may we all eventually reap what we have sown here today. Thank you."