The young of the forest and the earth come from the Xia clan of the forest.
The two orc clans that followed from Half Moon Lake had only been gone from Xia's habitat for a short time when Xia's clan was suddenly greeted by a large number of orcs.
They carried unhatched eggs in their arms, walking behind Aliya. Shorter than adult rock squirrel beastmen, they calmly huddled together, reluctant to approach any other beastmen, not even the wolf beastmen who had rescued them.
Jiang Yunlan walked over and saw that all twenty-one earth beastmen were holding a black egg. She was stunned and stood there.
How could there be so many unhatched chicks? She found it incredible. The brooding period had just ended; these eggs couldn't possibly be newly hatched chicks. They could only be chicks that hadn't hatched before the snow season.
She couldn't help but frown. The beastmen had told her that after each flowering season, they would lay their young eggs just before the hot season ended. Most of the young would hatch during the fruit season, with only a small portion hatching during the snow season. If the young didn't hatch soon, they would die inside the egg.
“Lan,” Aliya concealed the weariness in her eyes, walked up to Jiang Yunlan and handed her the cub, “As a clan leader, I request that you take care of them for us.”
"If you are willing to accept, from this day forward you will be a friend of our people forever."
Jiang Yunlan reached out and hugged the black egg, instinctively looking down to listen to the sounds inside. They were faint, but the egg was still alive, like the first glimmer of dawn she had ever encountered.
She breathed a sigh of relief, straightened her head to look at Aliya, her expression worried, "I will help you take care of them. But just how bad is your condition? You can't even keep the unhatched babies with you."
Aliya refused to speak, looking at her with eyes that seemed to be in a rain-soaked forest.
After a while, he finally spoke: "We have no way to keep them with us right now."
After several snow seasons, those birds that could not hatch in their nests probably would never want to be born into this world, even until the end of their lives.
“Lan, you are the most trustworthy orc I have ever met. I believe you will take good care of them,” Aliya said, a smile appearing on her pale face.
His tone was calm, as if he were used to it, as he said, "There's no need to find someone to incubate them. They don't want to be born, so put them in a quiet place. Please let them be unharmed before the end of their lives."
"Does it just need to be placed in a quiet place?" Jiang Yunlan asked hesitantly.
She didn't understand, but seeing Aliya nod affirmatively, she said nothing more and personally led the earth beastmen to her dwelling. The only place she could think of that was quiet enough to keep an eye on the eggs was her own.
Jiang Yunlan's residence.
Aliya, who was walking at the front of the tribe, stepped over the threshold and entered the house, where she immediately saw the gift of gratitude that her tribe had once given to Lan.
Fragrant branches were placed on a square shelf near the bed by Lan. At the top of the shelf was a wooden disc containing clean down feathers. When she went to sleep, she would put the ice crystals from her pocket into the disc, placing them next to the branches.
The elf really liked the seemingly ordinary dark brown branches.
"Let's put the baby eggs on the bed first. The bed in this room is big enough to fit them." Jiang Yunlan said, walking over first to unfold and flatten the neatly folded animal hides on the bed, gesturing for the beastmen to place the baby eggs on them.
On her way over, Aliya took the cub that Lan had heard the voice from and carefully placed the unwilling cub egg on the animal skin.
His kinsmen, who were following behind him, did not utter a word. They carefully placed the cubs down and returned to his side.
Jiang Yunlan had already decided that she would have her people build an egg nest to house the hatchlings. The hatchlings would then live next to the ice crystal stone, near the wall.
"Lan".
Hearing Aliya's call, Jiang Yunlan stopped counting the eggs and turned to look.
Aliya produced a clod of black soil from somewhere and handed it to her. The clod was solid and as hard as a rock; it didn't crumble into pieces as she took it.
"What is this?" she asked, touching the clod of soil that didn't shed mud.
The clod of soil was small, smaller than half the size of her palm, neither square nor round, with several broken ends, resembling a fragment. She suddenly remembered that the branches the earth beastmen had given her also had broken ends.
“It’s a thank-you gift. Put it with…wood, and perhaps something unexpected will happen.” Aliya left these words behind, then turned and left with his clansmen. He left decisively, without the hesitation he had shown when he left the cubs with the Xia clan the first time.
Jiang Yunlan saw them out of the room, and stood at the door watching them leave as they talked to each other.
A light and bright unfamiliar language lingered in her ears, never fading away. It was a song belonging to Zelan, the only one that had survived. She couldn't understand it, and mistakenly thought they were talking, her eyes softening instantly.
They could still make such light sounds, probably because they were in a much better mood after settling the baby eggs.
Jiang Yunlan, standing outside, didn't notice that the cubs inside the house swayed silently a few times upon hearing the song.
Ze Lan, Ze Lan, you are the cub of the forest, you are the cub of the earth.
You were born of a blessing.
You are the life force in the forest.
The birds will protect you, the forests will welcome you, and the earth will bring you messages from your kind.
...
You are a child of nature, a creature that protects the forest and the earth.
As Jiang Yunlan slept, many images flashed before her eyes, and she heard unknown voices ringing in her ears. They were singing ancient, familiar songs amidst the ruins of a forest.
As the sun rose, she saw many, many orcs like Aliya heading towards the place where the song had originated, as if on a pilgrimage.
New green shoots sprout from the lifeless earth, and a forest rises from the ground.
The continent, devastated by disaster, finally recovered, but one after another, the Zelan orcs turned into specks of light and disappeared under the shade of the newly grown T trees.
The last remaining little chicks accompanied the flock of birds into the newly born forest.
Ze Lan, Ze Lan...
Jiang Yunlan heard the call.
The Zelan cubs hummed softly a lullaby, a lullaby used to call them, a lullaby that no one else would ever sing.
A light, bright, and vibrant song.
"Lan, Lan, Lan."
Jiang Yunlan was awakened by 022's voice. She opened her eyes blankly and heard 022 calling her in a panic.
"Lan, why are you crying?" the transparent slime asked worriedly.
"Am I crying?" She raised her hand to touch her cheek, her fingertips feeling wet. She belatedly realized she was crying.
After quickly wiping away her tears, Jiang Yunlan took a deep breath and said, trying to remain calm, "I dreamt of Zelan and the Earth Beastmen's home. Their home is in the forest."
She turned her head to look at the Zelan cubs inside the house, trying to raise her voice so as not to worry 022, but she still couldn't hide the sadness in her words, "Aliya and the others miss home and their people very much."
Only now did she realize how precious the gift of gratitude Aliya and the others had given her was.
The branches and soil are fragments left behind after the forest spirits and earth spirits disappeared, treasures containing the power of the forest and the earth.
“Lan probably empathized with the Zelan cubs and dreamed about the dream they were having,” 022 stretched out her round hand and gently patted Jiang Yunlan’s forehead. “When Lan has more power in the future, she will help them find their home and their kin.”
"Um."
After she finished speaking, she carefully described the details of what she saw in her dream to 022. 022 had a good memory and understood many things; perhaps she could find Aliya's home in the future through these details.
022 listened to the story of the disaster and the rebirth of the forest, his expression turned serious, and his body, which was usually as fluid as water, became motionless as if it had been paused.
"Lan, the disaster you saw is not just a simple case of the forest being destroyed."
It was too similar, too similar to the sudden disaster that had befallen its planet. After a long silence, it slowly said, "Before our race was even born, our planet also suffered a similar fate."
"It seems that my planet, like this one, has experienced a catastrophe in which the planet suddenly lost its life. No living being knows why such a catastrophe occurred, just as the lifespan of the planet suddenly came to an end. The oceans gradually dried up, the continents lost their life, and the sky was no longer cloudless."
"Our race, the Tree of Life, was born from this. The Tree of Life became the only remaining life on the planet, embracing the souls of all living beings on the planet. In order for the planet to survive, the mother tree paid the price to become half of the planet, forever unable to leave it."
022 stopped reminiscing and looked at the weak Zelan cub: "In order for the mainland to recover, they must have paid a price other than their lives."
Therefore, they lost the ability to protect themselves and became a weak clan at the mercy of the bear-beastmen.
Inside the square-shaped disc, the awakened ice crystal emitted a faint glow. It listened to 022's story without uttering a word.
Jiang Yunlan blinked again, her voice muffled: "Those bear beastmen are so mean. I won't covet the abilities of the Zelan beastmen like they do."
"I swear, as long as I live, I will protect Xia's orcs and prevent them from bullying you because of your abilities," she promised the Zelan cubs.
She wasn't quite sure what the Zelan beastmen's abilities were, but she could guess that they were related to life force and were likely healing abilities.
No wonder the bear-beastmen went after Aliya and the others; who wouldn't want a talisman that could save their life?
Overwhelmed by intense emotions, Jiang Yunlan couldn't sleep. So she got up in the dark, took 022 and the ice crystal stone to make an egg nest, hoping to provide the Zelan cubs with a new home as soon as possible.
Aliya said that her race could sense the outside world and hear its sounds even when they were still in their eggs. It's time to build a proper administrative building so that the beastmen won't disturb the Zeran cubs when they talk to her.
Jiang Yunlan, with a lamp lit, selected the materials needed for the twenty-one egg nests in the early morning before dawn.
The faint sunlight gradually brightened and became dazzling, illuminating her surroundings.
"Da da, da da".
Jiang Yunlan, engrossed in her handicrafts, was pulled from her thoughts by a sound that came from not far away.
"quack--"
There were chirping sounds, the flapping of wings, and the sound of something falling to the ground.
Jiang Yunlan put down her things with concern, turned around and clearly saw Chaoxia lying on the ground, crying so hard she could barely breathe.
Startled, she perked up her ears and rushed to Chaoxia's side. She helped Chaoxia up and checked for any injuries, asking, "How did you suddenly fall? Does it hurt?"
The much smaller Zelan cub, with tears streaming down its face, looked in a certain direction, then at her, and opened its mouth, trying hard to make a sound.
Even the weeping dawn cried out in the orc language, "No, don't, go!"
"I don't want to... be... abandoned—"
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