Walking the Tree

by Kaaron Warren

  Ruth

  First female botanist

  Tamarica

  Teacher who replaces Thea

  Rubica

  Teacher who replaces Gingko

  Musa

  Teacher who replaces Erica

  Agara

  Teacher

  Ster

  Teacher who replaces Melia

  Aquifolia

  Woman who organises the teachers

  Araucari

  Aquifolia's husband

  Santala

  Guide inside the Tree

  Borag

  Student who loves to cook

  Rham

  Smart student

  Zygo

  Student

  Corma

  Pregnant girl

  Hippocast

  Corma's husband

  David

  Original male botanist

  Annan

  Tale-teller at Ombu

  Bursen

  Lillah's first lover

  Gutt

  Aquifolia's lover

  Pittos

  Morace's father, Ombu's birthman

  Simarou

  Lillah's Aunt, Olea's sister

  Ebena

  Magnolia's brother

  Capri

  Dickson's wife

  Ulma

  Melia's sister

  Legum

  Lillah's uncle, Myrist's brother

  Ruta

  Ombu's trader

  RECORD 18779/ddgrf/c(i)/9032

  The Formation of the Island of Botanica

  The rising tide swallowed many islands as the third millennium closed. By then, humankind had returned to basic survival. Hand to mouth subsistence farming. The Spikes epidemic, which took ninety percent of the population in the years between 2107 and 2212, had died with its last victim, but the rise of the animals and insects made human life precarious. Plant life was at risk through disease and the needs of the food chain. Plagues of locusts, intent on survival, roared through food crops. Domesticated cattle chewed grass to the ground and tore out the roots with their flat teeth.

  In some areas, volcanic mud spewed for centuries, and in others new land masses were thrown up by the shifting plates.

  In 2519 a group of scientists, the last existing perhaps, set sail for what they had identified as the highest point in the Pacific, an island perhaps five hundred years old and approximately 800,000 km², the size of Turkey, filled with a legendary, ancient Tree. They were botanists and plant biologists and they took with them a Noah's Ark of seeds. They did not bother with animals, wanting to avoid the virulent nature of breeding and the future temptation to farm animals for food. Spikes had come from abusive animal consumption and other manipulations.

  The island of Botanica was only sparsely inhabited; most of the area's people believing it to be filled with spirits.

  The cause of fear was the massive Tree which almost filled the island. Such a monstrous thing in nature must have grown on the spirits of man; most people would not step foot on the land, or even sail close to shore.

  Rainfall was adequate on the island and the Tree itself grew year by year.

  The inhabitants were an undeveloped, disparate group living at far extremes in small communities. With the Tree filling most of the island, there was no cross-country travel and very little circumnavigation.

  When the colonists arrived, life changed.

  About the Author

  Kaaron Warren's award-winning short fiction has appeared in Year's Best Horror & Fantasy, Fantasy magazine, Paper Cities, and many other places in Australia, Europe and the US. She has stories in Ellen Datlow's Poe and Haunted Legends anthologies.

  Her short story "A Positive" has been made into a short film called Patience, and her first published story, "White Bed" has been dramatised for the stage in Australia, where she lives. Her first novel, Slights, is also available from Angry Robot, who will also be publishing her modern-day fantasy about immortal magicians, Mistification.

  kaaronwarren.wordpress.com

  Extras…

  Author's Notes

  THREADS

  Keeping track of all of the different communities was one of the key challenges I faced in writing Walking the Tree. As a result, I have an exercise book where I kept notes about what they ate, how the spoke, whether or not they had a platform out over the sea, what their relationship with the Tree was. I added to, changed, referred back to this constantly.

  The other thing I had to keep straight was something I called Threads. These were my many, many thoughts on the things I wanted to say. Character traits, actions, plot developments, philosophical thoughts, language; everything. These appeared throughout the first couple of drafts in square brackets, but I realised I couldn't keep them all in my head that way, so I pulled them all out, categorised them, and labelled them Threads.

  The fourth draft was all about lacing these threads through the novel. Some of them didn't work; others became irrelevant. This lacing helped to determine some of the story line. Part of writing is to use your threads as part of the story, rather than as a download of info.

  So if my thread says "the bachelor house", I didn't want to write a paragraph about how the bachelors all lived together in one house, I wanted to have that bachelor house as part of the story. Either moving the story forward, or building the mood in a particular community, and/or developing character. I used the bachelor house in the community of Douglas (or Bad Men, as I nicknamed it). Douglas was an important community because it is where we realise just how filled with self-hatred Thea is. It also shows the women in control, as they leave early rather than "put up with" the men of Douglas.

  Part of my inspiration came from stories of habitual rape on Pitcairn Island. Abuse as an accepted part of a society is horrifying. I also had at the back of my mind a small story told to me years ago, about an innocent young girl and a group of men who teased her about wearing a "pearl necklace". They didn't do anything about it, but they mocked her and to me the intent was very strong. A "pearl necklace" is something you probably don't want to google. This was the sort of man I wanted to inhabit Douglas.

  We thought you might find it interesting to see this in action, so what follows here are just a few pages of my Threads. I had about forty of these pages – that fourth draft took a long time!

  House

  Back home; what is organiser doing? Does Lillah lie or tell the truth about what happened to the parcel organ. Sent? She could easily get away with the lie.

  Living arrangements; girls will live with an auntie between 13-18 years old.

  Need to talk about variety of living arrangements. Not just male/female.

  Need to think about the dwellings. This will be part of who the people are.

  Now here's a thought; when the children come back from school, they don't live with their parents. They are sent in groups to the homes. So the family unit could be two carers and three 11 year-old girls, or two carers and two 10 year-old boys etc. This way the children are not physically reliant on one set of adults; the kid groups are never broken up, but they move about to different homes together. So Lillah, Melia and Thea have been together like sisters.

  Or perhaps not in this community, but it other communities.

  The bachelor house.

  Details of the homes, the things they have – all wooden, or from the sea. Lots of shells large shells for bowls etc. Coral for scrubbing. Sea sponges, sea weed, etc. Add to existing descriptions.

  Do most houses have 360 degree veranda, all made of wood from the tree and driftwood? In words.

  Enough about houses? Distinguishing feature? More metal used here?

  Furniture. What sort of rooms do they have Some of this will depend on how/when the sun is there. They sleep more if there's less sun. Rooms will change depending on how their life is.

  I think the houses are simple. Four rooms. Perhaps they all like a little privacy. Covered?

  What is slightly different about their hous
es? The distinguishing feature.

  History

  Tall women. "So long ago that no one remembers, the people who lived here were as tall as ten women." (ALL THESE KINDS OF REFERENCES TO WOMEN.)

  Birth

  Are there more males born than females?

  Babies born with longer fingernails to catch onto the mothers insides so they don't slip out.

  Deformities left hanging off branches instead? This as an underlying tale; beauty/great ugliness.

  Discovery of malformed babies. Here, in community 6, so we see it afterwards on the journey?

  Have they heard the rumours before? Will need to add that in.

  From New Scientist: In societies where women are promiscuous, sperm competition is greater; bigger testes, higher sperm count, more viscous sperm to prevent later partners; sperm reaching egg. Higher rates of protein evolution. Sexual selection drives changes in the protein.

  So the people of the tree are highly developed. Examples of.

  Losing a child. The younger the child, the less actual life he lived, but more imaginary life. A child who dies a little older has more actual life, less possible life. And his possible life is more confined because of the character developed. So a newborn who dies had an entire possible life. An entire perfect life.

  Mention placenta in a couple of communities. Inside the tree as well.

  Pregnancy called "catching a child".

  Re: pregnancy. Realisation that a virgin is never pregnant.

  She stretched in the sunlight. Lillah saw her belly as her shirt lifted up; broad, white, stretched, it looked uncomfortable.

  Behind her an elder appeared. "It's well past time. It will take you too long to reach Ailanthus if you don't leave soon. You don't want to birth it in the sand, do you?"

  "She is testing her resolve," Melia said. "What is the point?" Lillah said. She learns why as she travels; thinking/realisation that superstition for superstition's sake can be dangerous. Where do the people with no new babies live?

  Death

  Death seen as failure.

  Is a baby who's mother dies thought less of? Does someone say, it only ever happens with the boy babies.

  Mourning; how is it approached: physically ie shave heads etc? or will great acceptance? Or with a sense of denial. They believe a body lives forever, will look to a bird, a baby, a turtle, as the vessel for the soul. Will not kill a turtle if they think it has a human soul.

  Names of different suicides.

  Death. Ongoing responses to deaths of Rham, Gingko (residual response: nightmares?), Thea, Rhizo

  Some will prop a corpse up, pretending it is still alive.

  When does kid die? Or does lilla keep them all safe?

  When does teacher die? Bad men, i think.

  When the tree sheds leaves, it can be natural disaster. Houses crushed sometimes. People killed under the weight. Standing right next to the trunk is the safest place.

  X 2 story told of insiders 'dead but walking' and slaughtered.

  • • •

  Plague

  One thing all the communities share: distrusts of deformity/illness.

  Any ill person is killed. Hung from a limb. They don't want disease to spread after the lesson of the plague. Each community has a special hanging limb. It is done with respect. It is like a sacrifice to the community.

  Does their fear of disease make them repel any sailors?

  From 11. Thread pushing forward here is Morace: news of his mother makes him nervous.

  He is weakening himself.

  Discuss her dilemma; does she risk civilisation to save one child? Does she disbelieve the plague myth? Does someone talk to her about this, convince her that fear of plague is misguided now?

  mention how carefully Lillah looks out for Morace never lets him get cold. Always has honey or something for his throat, so he never has to cough.

  Is it, though? I think that's too contrived. I think he lives, survives. Enough. Shows that all illness is not plague.

  Maybe the plague killed so many their evolution was set back 1000 years. So they don't travel over the ocean. They don't have the big boats to do it.

  One community; knows the names of those who died in the plague.

  Plague kills ¾ of the population a hundreds years of more in the past. This is when the school started, this killing of sick people and the swapping of women. Her grandma tells her this.

  The plague was a deforming one. First sign was lumps growing out of the shoulder blades. Spurs (Spikes) mark II.

  Bonsai

  Bonsai (or miniature tree? Need to decide what the language will be; her terminology from our place and time remaining in theirs?). Clear?

  Research. Complete in more detail once researched a little about bonsai:

  How they are grown?

  What soil works best?

  Community

  Are there other communities which have an adversarial relationship with the tree?

  Communities close by, the next door neighbours, have some effect on Lillah's birth community. Mention them.

  Life on the Amazon is a little like tree world. Maybe some research for details.

  Family. I'm wondering if there would be monogamy or not. With the transient life of some of them, maybe there would be more moving around, not the traditional family we think of??? Lillah discusses this with hubby.

  Organiser lives in the community next to the one which knows about the morning after bark. Therefore she knows about it and tells the girls.

  People. The people are not unhappy. It is utopian, really, with a system which is acceptable to make it work.

  Markets – amongst the roots of the tree.

  Fire

  Fire is cleansing.

  Need a scene earlier before 15, where Lillah burns herself, or is deliberately burnt by the organiser. We think its an act of malice, but realise she is laying scar tissue for her mother to read.

  Not so much a fear of fire. More a caution. Respect. They need fire, the need the burning of wood to survive.

  Check at end. Use this in description of house. In words.

  Respect of fire here: they listen, perhaps. They know the sound a fire makes at ever level. This would be similar around the tree.

  Like the Inuit have dozens of names for snow, these people have dozens of names for fire, all the variations;

  Warmth of fire (hot, warm, too hot)

  Cooking fire (bake, slow back, fast grill, variations in between)

  Fire going out, needs attending

  Fire too hot

  Dangerous fire

  Fire gone, too late

  Fire left to go out, done with

  Names for all these.

  Fire/respect a few more times throughout. Insert later if needed.

  Maybe the cookhouses are made of tin, so they can use fire.

  They would be fearful of fire because everything is made of wood. So how would they heat their houses? Heavily insulated. Perhaps hot coals in a pit below the house.

  Not so much a fear of fire. More a caution. Respect. They need fire, the need the burning of wood to survive

  Check at end. Use this in description of house. In words.

  Sun

  Ask: Who would know this stuff, be able to figure it out? An astromer, perhaps.

  When would it be dark?

  When would it be light?

  How often would the sun reach each place?

  Food

  Alcohol. Any or none? Alcohol produced from wood products. Methanol is wood alcohol, wood spirit. Drinking or inhaling it can cause blindness or death. This could be a feature.

  Research. It would be fairly barren ground. All

  sustenance would go to the tree. Or does the tree help the ground? Research this? And would the air be highly oxygenated?

  Disgust at the thought of eating spiders. Clear?

  Every part of tree edible if you work hard enough. Clear?