☆ | from stardust, for stardust (tryout)

[f1owercrown]

x

i. Acacia.
ii. She and the swamp monster
iii. She and her brother
iv. She and the stars

orig. post

[f1owercrown]

- - ─ ─────────────★───────────── ─ - -

“I'm planting a tree to teach me to gather
strength from my deepest roots.”

― Andrea Koehle Jones, The Wish Trees

- - ─ ─────────────────────────── ─ - -


When you say Acacia, you think of the tree: strong, sturdy, and a protector of sorts from the heat and rain. In a wide distance of grassland you may find the Acacia tree standing ground to where it was rooted. This was the inspiration her parent's had when they named their only daughter Acacia; they wanted her to be a girl of strength and endurance, as in a prideful family of olden times they didn't want to raise a damsel in distress.

Acacia grew up in an environment as such. She ate nails for breakfast, tacks for lunch, and gritted her teeth in arguments; she would not hesitate to punch anyone who would cross her or treat her any less than a man. Acacia was the older sister that defender her younger brother Azalea, as she understood he was a bit softer than her and she couldn't blame him because she loved him. Whereas Azalea was the happy-go-lucky child of the family, Acacia was the one who pulled everyone down to the harsh reality of life, to the misfortunes and oppression that came along with it. She was a realist, she held grudges, and she was tired of the system.

To challenge the gender ideology at that time was tough for her. She had always wanted to be a knight who protected her home, as she was deeply rooted to the town she grew up in. For years of practice as a servant to the king she was mocked and scorned for being a woman in the army, and she was demonized by many who deemed her "too strong for a female". Every waking moment she was compared to men, and at some point she was branded as more of a male than a female to compensate for society's imagery of the binary sexes at the time. Acacia went on to chase her dreams regardless of what the townsfolk were saying.

And alas, she became a knight! Loved by the king, she was given her own sword designed and inspired by her personality. From then on she moved from her old home in town to a small cottage built for her on the outskirts of town, where the swamp stretched far and wide. It was there she continued her training on her own, watching out for possible signs of intruders such as monsters and creatures that may attack the town, and thus became the guardian of the swamp.

[f1owercrown]

- - ─ ──────────★────────── ─ - -

“Do I not destroy my enemies
when I make them my friends?”

― Abraham Lincoln

- - ─ ───────────────────── ─ - -

Her very first task was to rid the swamp of the monster that terrorized many who have crossed the area. It was a story Acacia had heard as a child, when her classmates would run around and scream, "The swamp monster is out to get you! The swamp monster is out to get you!" It seemed like a creature so unreal, one would think it was made up by the adults to scare their children and prevent them from wandering outside the walls of the town. Acacia was bewildered when the king called for her and told her to rid of it once and for all, but it would've been rude to ask the king whether stories of the creature from "witnesses" were credible enough to call a knight to deal with the task. Nevertheless, she served the king, and she was under no circumstance to question her highness.

In an attempt to catch a rabbit in the swamp once for meat, the rodent had gone out of her sight to only fall in the algae-filled lake a few feet from where she was standing, the bubbles of the once-alive creature subsiding until silence. At first Acacia had thought it merely drowned in the lake, but a hand twice the size of Acacia emerged from the body of water and slammed the ground beneath her feet in order to scare her. Acacia, startled, stood strong nonetheless, unsheathed her sword and pierced it through the enlarged arm. The monster, who rose from the lake as a muck-like creature, did not flinch, prompting itself to raise higher above the water and scowled, “I am made of water, you fool!” as it waved its arm and grabbed Acacia in a clench. Acacia screamed that she was the guardian of the swamp, and an enemy of her people are her own enemies as well, and that triggered the creature to respond that it was the guardian of the swamp, and that any trespassers who dare disturb its habitat would be punished by it.

“Who told you that you were the guardian of the swamp? I know my highness did. I embody the spirit of the town as I do my job as a protector.”

“Mother Nature gave me this role, why do you think a supposedly inanimate lake is able to speak? I embody the spirit of nature, and I do as I’m told.”

There was silence after.

It had been from that moment where they started, as possible enemies, or possible friends. Two guardians with both the same goal clashed head-on and ended up in a truce to do the job they were assigned to do. The swamp monster swore on her not to kill her or any of her townsfolk, and she swore upon it that she wouldn’t tell the king the swamp monster was real. Of course, distrust was common between two living beings who just met and who were both equally strong-willed, and because of this they kept eye on each other in case one turned out to be sour. That day never came, and they both lived together in the swamp for the rest of their days.

[f1owercrown]

- - ─ ─────────────★───────────── ─ - -

“If giving my everything is what it takes,
I won't hesitate, not for even a second.
That's what it means to have something
you'd give your life to keep safe.”

― Kyuugou, ACID TOWN

- - ─ ─────────────────────────── ─ - -


Acacia and Azalea had a relationship people in the town rarely had with their siblings. Whereas as children they were surrounded by classmates who always taunted their siblings to get the upper hand in the family, Acacia and Azalea grew up to love each other. No twisted backstory, no fantasy war, no overly-complicated situation. They grew up equally loved by their parents and the townsfolk. It was a healthy relationship that saw no point in changing at all.

Born as the stronger-willed Kalon between the two, Acacia learned that she had to stand up not just for her but for her brother as well while he was still learning the ropes. It was common to make fun of the certain kids, probably for the pride and infamy, but Acacia was taking none of that. Unbeknownst to many, she fought a few males in her lower years of school for making fun of her brother's floral tail shine, who they said was a "girly" design to have on him. Perhaps her brother was thankful that she got away with only a scar and a black eye, but needless to say, if things got too far for her, she wouldn't hesitate to get in trouble to let them know how fair she stood against these men.

Due to her frequent arguments that led to physical violence, Azalea was the one to tend to her wounds and bruises at the end of the day. He would buy ice and all sorts of herbal medicine to patch up his sister, and he constantly felt bad for letting her always fight for him. "I love you, you know," Acacia would constantly remind him, making him tear up as the more emotional one between the two. It was the joy in comfort from his sister when he'd take care of her that led him to pursue his dream in apothecary. Whereas the strong-willed Acacia became the fighter, the caring Azalea became the medic.

To this day, despite their busy schedules and workload, the two found time to be with each other. Acacia had Azalea teach her how to make potions, and he gave her recipes to certain ones she might need in the battlefield. The art of apothecary was challenging for Acacia, but as time in the swamp passed she would practice with a pot and a wooden spoon at hand. Every other day or so, Acacia would go into town and show Azalea her work, and Azalea would always be excited to see his sister's works as he'd pride himself on the fact that he was helping the woman he admired the most since childhood. Sometimes something was off, sometimes the potion didn't work, but Azalea reassured that with time and experience Acacia would become better.

Just as they reassured each other that their relationship as siblings only grew stronger.

[f1owercrown]

- - ─ ─────────────★───────────── ─ - -

“We humans and the earth we
stand on are made of stardust.”

― unknown author

- - ─ ─────────────────────────── ─ - -


Being born into a certain religion meant not having the freedom to be able to choose. Such was the case for Acacia growing up, but as she detached herself from her home to live as the guardian of the swamp, she embraced her own beliefs and practiced it as such.

Acacia believed in a star god, a supreme being in control of the universe, the plants, the stars, Mother Nature herself. At first she had been doubtful that such one existed, but her heart felt it right for her to chase what she thought was right for her. She knew of the saying that everyone and everything was made of stardust, and that made her believe that her god would be someone who was in the favor of the stars. For without that god none would be made of stardust, and thus nothing in the universe would exist.

Acacia believed all the good things that happened in her life were because of the alignment of the stars, favoring her in situations. Her tail shine aligned perfectly was no coincidence to her beliefs that she owed everything to the star god. Her sword, she believed, was also the blessing from the star god, a reminder that the universe knew she was strong enough to fight evil and carry that strength in her. It made her feel good about herself in times of despair, and it made her remember her purpose on Earth.

When she would die, she told her friends and family, she wanted to be cremated, and her remains blown away by the wind. It was a very odd request indeed, but Acacia explained with all her heart how she believed she, like everyone else, was made of stardust and that it would be right for her dust to be flown higher to reach space. She'd be her own star then, she told them. While met with scoffs and laughs at first, Acacia became persistent with her request as the years flew by, and she was thankful that at least her brother understood her.

She loved looking at the stars at night, for when the trees swayed little did the earth come to a standstill for her, and she could watch the stars as they shone down upon her. Her mother told her when she was a child that people who die turn into stars watching down on those they love, and from then on her heart truly kept that belief. Somewhere out there, she thought, were her ancestors watching over her and giving her blessings. At night she when she would look up to the sky she would smile at the thought.

All that she had done, all that she had been through and all that she will be through, she had done it from the stardust she was made from, and for the stardust she would become once she's accomplished her job on Earth, whatever that was.