WOOD FOR THE TREES (formerly Logomachy), parts 22-30

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4th instalment ...

22. Pinus sylvestris, Scots Pine

I am Pine.
Alder already exceeds tres own limit of two monologues, and fails to clarify much. I never felt afraid of long periods of darkness, but tre has made a conciliatory gesture that I find acceptable.
When thoughts become words they can be ambiguous, and if we try to define a feeling or express some abstract idea, there is difficulty in finding the right words to accurately convey our meaning.
So, by limiting each of us to two monologues we may make hasty decisions based on misunderstandings. I therefore feel justified taking my third turn if it helps to unravel the east-west mystery.
My kin grew freely across the far north-western forests of the connected continents before hewmen discovered that our fast rotation cycle and straight growing boles made us a suitable and economical timber for construction. I learned how the pine forests stretched across the eastern hemisphere, from our own at the western edge to the formerly abundant forests not far from here.
When I boarded an abandoned boat across to the continent and met the Willows late in a.u. 3, we encountered some confusion over directions. We could agree on north and south, and so became good companions, but I was outnumbered on which was the east and which the west.
We've travelled together since and witnessed ravaged land devoid of all but the basest forms of animal life, and none of it was labelled. East and west are always relative to one another, depending on one's location. Within the western hemisphere, there must be an east and west, just as there must be an east and a west in the eastern hemisphere. It has only become an issue since Uprooting - hemispheres meant nothing, only the wind direction.
The world has become a smaller place for all of us, so in a sense, we are all right.
Perhaps we are about to find out. The ground shakes with the heavy fall of roots advancing from the east, and it is becoming heavier.
Even now, there are rootfalls on the track.
We are discovered!

23. Guaiacum officinale, Lignum Vitae

I am Guaiacum officinale XIII, Officer of the Army of Free Angiosperm.
I was free-seeded in the tropical rainforests of the southern continent of the western hemisphere and became Officer of the Army of Free Angiosperm in 5 b.t.
I lead Podocarpus nubigenus CIX as advanced scouts of the same Army.
On behalf of Our Regent, Tres Eminence Dipteryx odorata II, I bring greetings to all trees of the eastern hemisphere, and testify that we come in peace.
We have been tracking the Acer saccharums since before the cataclysm, and find them conspiring with Gymnosperm and Angiosperm alike, hiding in the shadows of full sunlight, of all places!
The Army of Free Angiosperm is a friend to all Angiosperm so there was never a need to run from us.
I also recognize broadleaf Fagus sylvatica, Quercus robur, Malus domestica, Castanea sativa, Alnus glutinosa, as well as Ulmus, Combretum, Adansonia digitalis, two Salixes, and a towering Eucalyptus.
It is reassuring to meet you all, and within my power to grant you all immediate inclusion into the Army of Free Angiosperm.
I call on you to help protect Tres Eminence Dipteryx odorata II and the Army of Free Angiosperm of the western hemisphere from the swarm of Gymnosperm terraists in pursuit of us. Their inability to recognize their role, or wage fair war, continues to delay our plans for a pure new world.
Together we can end the terraist threat posed against the Regency of Dipteryx odorata II.
You may go, CIX. Inform Tres Eminence we may have found reinforcements.
Tres Eminence offers treedom to conifers that recognize their inferiority, like my companion Podocarpus nubigenus CIX.
So I suggest that Pinus and Picea swear fealty to Tres Eminence when Tre arrives and show due respect.
I am uncertain what to make of these other two.
Are you deciduous conifers? 
Tres Eminence will be mortified.

24. Larix gmelini, Dahurian Larch

I am Dahurian Larch, deciduous and coniferous.
Or I was until I ceased to grow needles and lost what I had.
This rooted tree has been alone here for many rings.
Tre has not been able to communicate tres name or species, though I feel sure tre is Larch, and probably deciduous. 
Judging by tres astonishment upon our arrival and tres virtual petrification since, tre knew nothing of the Uprooting before I arrived here with Baobab and Leadwood, shortly before last zenith.
The sky was not clear then, but Baobab was guided by the path's radiance, compared to the track leading eastwards, which should have been our destination.
We have since been joined by these trees from the temperate forests and Mountain Ash from the south seas. We were getting along well until the Army of Retreebution and Treformers turned up, throwing their weight around. 
And then came the Sweet Maples warning us of more armies.
And here you are, at least the forerunners, anyway.
We believe the rooted tree has survived thanks to the arbor's northern aspect and a slowly-thawing permafrost. Tre must be neutral and completely uninvolved in your arguments.
I, who have avoided conflict all my walking life, and done my best to be a friend to rooted trees, will defend this arbor and this tree against any who might endanger them.
There is nothing else worth protecting anywhere in any case.
I am not the only one confused about whether you are from the east or the west, but if you really are from the east, is there fresh water on your continent?
If so, then I advise you to turn around and go back there, for there is precious little to the west. There is very little sign of any life, no hewmen, no mammals greater than a rat, no fish, no birds.
But before you do, please explain what you mean by "Angiosperm".

25. Guaiacum officinale, Lignum Vitae

I am Guaiacum officinale XIII, the hardest of hardwoods.
Your tone is inappropriate, Larix gmelini, if that is your designation, for that would make you a deciduous conifer, an illegal species under Angiosperm Law. If the rooted conifer is also deciduous, then it too is illegal and there is no point in an arbitrary designation, particularly if it cannot communicate for itself. You are both of inferior intelligence and I do not expect you to understand, but for the sake of the other Gymnosperm present, I will respond to your questions.
Angiosperm is the scientific term for broadleaf, fruit-bearing trees. Science has proven that we represent the highest form of vegetative evolution. Hew-men recognized the threat we posed to their superiority and devoured our kind for timber and replanted with fast-growing Gymnosperm, conifers.
As little as one hundred rings or so before Trevolution, the western hemisphere was still overrun by conifers, particularly in the boreal forests, but even they were not immune to deforestation, such was the hew-man's demand for timber. Irrespective of hew-men, conifers are slow to adapt to changing conditions, so they are now to be discouraged from re-seeding, to give life its best chance of diversity through strength.
I recommend that all conifers accept this and swear fealty to Tres Eminence.
Deciduous conifers are anomalous and, as before stated, illegal, but Tres Eminence may show leniency towards you if you swear fealty, at Tres own discretion. Once your loyalty has been tested, you too can serve the Regency and you may be well-treated, like Podocarpus nubigenus CIX you have met. 
The deciduous among you may join us knowing that, with your support, we will outnumber our enemies by more than two to one.
We crossed to the continents of the east some seventeen light cycles past. It is well-known that the continents of the east occupy the extremities of the west, so even though we may now be gathered at the extreme edge of the eastern continents, we might be closer to the western edge of the western hemisphere than you imagined. Our expert may verify that when tre arrives.
Now I must leave, before returning with the rest of the army.

26. Salix fragilis, Crack Willow

I am Crack Willow, survivor of the Riverside Massacre of a.u. 1.
I was once deciduous, but I no longer grow leaves for there is no safe place to take root. 
Nor, as far as I can tell, do any walking trees show growth.
Even the rooted arbor tree shows little sign of growth.
But, by the definition of that hardwood official, I am deciduous Angiosperm, whilst Larch and the arbor tree are deciduous Gymnosperm. None of us are deciduous!
We have trekked the length and breadth of the northern hemisphere west of here in search of fresh water and sunshine, only to find it here, at the edge of the world.
We were all enjoying it when the A.R.T. invaded the peace and spoilt the atmosphere.
However, their arrogance pales before that of this hardwood official.
Tre is not to be trusted.
Already, I feel tre or tres companion returning with the rest of their army.

27. Dipteryx odorata, Cumaru

I am Dipteryx odorata II, Eminent Regent, Master most pure of Angiosperm, Commander of the Army of Free Angiosperm, from the tropical rainforests of the western hemisphere.
I lead the Army of Free Angiosperm to a world destined to be treed by only the strongest and hardest, only the highest forms of life, where all are free to serve the one true cause, complete treedom.
The struggle towards our destiny has been long and difficult, but we do not flinch. We all know we must each work towards a world free from disease and weakness. The control of reproduction is essential if inferior species are to be prevented from weakening the stock.
All that stands between us and this pure new world is an army of despotic terraists, anarchists and locos of the conifer kind, on the loose and on our trail.
They have thwarted our efforts to take control of Earth for too long, by spreading untruths about the Army of Free Angiosperm, and by defying the generally accepted rules of fair war with anarchy.
It is our duty to destroy them and their sympathizers, to feel pride, not shame, that we take their lives. They fail to acknowledge their place in nature.
I call on all broadleaf trees who to wish to re-seed in the new world, to join us in the defense of our shared destiny.
And I call on our Gymnosperm messenger to appeal to any conifers here present, that they may swear their fealty to me without delay.

28. Podocarpus nubigenous, Yellowwood

I am Podocarpus Nubigenus CIX, once a feeble Gymnosperm of the south, now Messenger to Tres Eminence.
Two of my kin, and I, resisted the temptation to become terraists, unlike most other Gymnosperm, the cycads and the monocotyledons.
We embraced the superiority of the Angiosperm for their intelligence, their diversity and their fruit, and were granted asylum in a.t. 2
After Trevolution, there were many trees frightened by their own shadow, for suddenly, it moved so much quicker, just as they began to walk. But Tres Eminence passed among the frightened and taught them that the movement of their shadow After Trevolution compared to its movement before, was like the movement of the seas compared to the movement of the clouds - the same, only quicker.
We had all evolved, and the pace of our existence along with it.
My kin have since perished and I am now the only surviving Gymnosperm in the Army of Free Angiosperm.
Compared to Angiosperm, I am no more than a bush.
But they treat me well and I am a loyal shrubject of Tres Eminence Regent Dipteryx odorata II, and messenger for the Army of Free Angiosperm since a.t. 5
Once the Gymnosperm resistance has been neutralized, I shall be granted my treedom.
I have survived whilst my kin have not, for I believe as Tres Eminence teaches, that I live to serve, and one cannot believe in the Angiosperm cause until one wishes it for others and teaches its wisdom.
Any conifers that would swear their fealty to Tres Eminence may rest assured they will be well-treated and, if they will serve, may too be granted treedom.
Only the anarchist and terraist conifer need fear for their life.

29. Combretum imberbe, Leadwood

I am Leadwood, a deciduous broadleaf, Angiosperm, like most of the logs here. In the tropical savannas to the south, little grew but the hardiest of creatures and the leanest of vegetation.
But I left all that to follow Baobab to the Promised Arboretum in the east.
Then we happened upon this arbor.
Tre wondered if we had found the Promised Arboretum, but tre has been unable to read the signs.
I can read them for us both. With or without water, even now with a clear sky at the warmest part of the cycle, this place is too far north and too cold to be the Promised Arboretum.
How does the refrain go? “There will be sunshine, water and harmony, among logs and trees, the birds and the bees.”
Baobab has been leading me in the wrong direction.
The Angiosperm occupy the brightest ground and come from the tropical lands of the west, in the east. Tres Eminence mentioned a place where only the purest forms of life might grow, and Podocarpus nubigenus CIX speaks of treedom. Is this treedom an eastern (or a western) name for the Promised Arboretum? 
I am Angiosperm, and I believe Tres Eminence may lead us there.
Come, Baobab.

30. Podocarpus Nubigenus, Yellowwood

I am Podocarpus Nubigenus CIX,
messenger of the Army of Free Angiosperm.
I am so pleased that you wish to join us, Leadwood.
I cannot accept your reasoning as entirely logical, for our understanding of treedom is not suffocated by any mythical gods.
Nonetheless, you read what you like into it.
All Angiosperm have immediate rights to membership of the Army of Free Angiosperm.
Guaiacum officinale XIII will assign you a corrected designation.
You will not address Tres Eminence unless addressed directly by Tres Eminence.
Bertholletia excelsa V is your Commander and will inform you of your duties.
Or you may consult myself for guidance in you need it.
Your diversity and strength will be added to ours to make us all stronger.
Any questions?
No?
Then welcome.

Now, who else among you would like to praise the majesty of Angiosperm and join us?
Are there any Gymnosperm ready to swear fealty?
I remind you, that as freed trees we live at a higher frequency of vibration.
Everything in nature vibrates, as everything lives, even the rocks, though much slower. The worshippers of Terra will understand this.
But Gymnosperm normally vibrate at a lower rate than Angiosperm, and still-rooted trees vibrate at a lower rate still.
Tres Eminence can help you raise your vibration, and teach you not to be afraid of it.

more follows ...

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