[Quest] And We Get Older

Childhood 

Bramble’s childhood started with his arrival into a small village in the mountains as a small kittle. He was found by one of the monks of the local monastery dedicated to a mountain goddess who was said to hold power over stone. All of the Painted Satyrs and Browbirds that lived at the monastery had a Stone Aspect. There were several other kitbulls, two of which also had managed to develop a Stone Aspect, but the others had no Aspect at all like Bramble. Bramble’s earliest memories were cleaning the shrine for the goddess, sitting in on lectures about her power over stone and kindness to the local villages, as well as watching the handful of fighting monks practice their specialized skills. Bramble learned quickly that the Unnamed Goddess, who according to her followers had both many names and no name at all had once formed a dome of stone over the valley to protect her subjects during the eruption of a nearby volcano. Afterwards she had then vanished into the mountains only opening part of the stone dome; the temple Bramble called home had been built where the goddess had last been seen. When Bramble had grown up enough to stand on his back legs without tottering he began trying to mimic the fighting monks. At first he didn’t manage much and kept falling over but every day after finishing his chores he would scramble across the courtyard to reach the practice grounds. Without fail, he would sit at the edge of the training grounds and watch before trying to mimic the steps. Eventually one of the fighting monks walked over and began correcting Bramble’s mistakes. Bramble’s fighting stances improved bit by bit over the next several months. After a while he started joining in at the edges of the practice field instead of the edge of the grounds. He was by far the youngest of the group, even some of those in training were older, but he held his own even as he tottered a bit on still childhood legs. While Bramble still had his other duties he was quickly making himself known as a new trainee. 

Youth 

As Bramble grew into his youth his fighting skills continued to improve, his duties in the monastery such as cleaning and attending lectures varied, but his training as a fighter was encouraged; even demanded by the lead fighting monk after Bramble’s skills showed promise. Over time, Bramble began to advance in skills as a fighter, he stopped attending the more religious lectures dedicated to the goddess but rather dedicating his time to learning about the history of the monastery, the stories of the fighting monks in the past, and making an effort to show his thanks by keeping the inner sanctum of the goddess’s temple spotless. The statue of the goddess was a vague representation of something not quite Painted Satyr nor quite Browbird but instead something of a blending. Most stories said this was because the goddess seemed to change every time she was seen. Other stories claimed it was because she changed forms depending on who she appeared to; but no one knew for certain and did not dare risk her likeness being incorrect. Thus the mixed form statue. Bramble might not have been dedicated to the religious side of the monastery but he was deeply grateful for the place he called home, the education he had been given, and the chance to learn a skill set that would give him many opportunities. Bramble showed this by dedicating his life to the protection of the temple and formally joining the ranks of the fighting monks. Bramble was quickly noted as being exceptionally skilled for his size, in fact he was encouraged to learn moves as well as fighting stances that aided his shorter stature. Bramble was also taught less common forms by some older members of the temple; those that involved a great deal of balance and practice. Eventually Bramble was taken aside and trained to be a specialized guard for The One Who Watched; the eldest and most pious of the monks. Often referred to as Watcher by their peers. The title stemmed from the tradition of the leader of the temple sitting in meditation over the gateway that divided the two sides of the temple. The gateway was a bridge over the path below it where the goddess was said to have walked into the mountains. Bramble’s training eventually led to him perching along with three others who were small, lithe, and yet strong enough along the ramparts of this gateway bridge while The One Who Watched did their daily vigil in the center of the structure. 

Young Adult 

As Bramble reached young adulthood there was a shift in the temple; an ideological one that began to cause strife between various factions. There was a younger monk, who was quickly gaining support, who declared that the temple had failed in all of its duties. That the followers of the Unnamed Goddess cared more for the goddess than for the stone she used to save them. Confusion, strain, and debate broke out especially as traditional roles such as the caretakers for the sick or downtrodden in the surrounding villages, the fighting monks who protected the valley and surrounding mountain villages from raiders, and the artists who worked stone in dedication to the goddess were considered “a waste” by this younger monk. The foundation of the temple had always been about caring for those in the valley, reverence of the goddess who used stone to protect them all, and using their skills with the stone aspect to also protect. There had never been a reverence for stone itself. But this did not stop the younger monk’s arguments and slowly some others were swayed by his arguments. Eventually, and sadly, the temple crumbled under the weight of its own internal conflict; many monks left after the supposed accidental death of the Watcher, leaving to find ways to help their communities in the ways they still held as truth. The fighting monks took everything they could of their own training and teachings before retreating to another, older, temple further up the mountains. Bramble continued to try and sit vigil on the gateway until the younger monk, now the new Watcher, shattered the gateway with his stone aspect and had Bramble chased from the temple grounds. Suddenly homeless, Bramble tried to find his way to the second temple where others of his order had fled but became quickly lost. Bramble for the first time in his life was alone. He wandered around the cliff side roads, looking for villages or larger towns that needed help; physical labor was something he could offer at the very least while he tried to find a new path to follow. Eventually Bramble did find a small town at the edge of a valley he did not recognize. They did not need guards or fighters; not in such a way that he would be hired only for that. But they did need fieldworkers, city cleaners, and even just general laborers (specifically for working the quarry stones). Bramble ended one part of his life as a warrior and stepped into another part as a fieldworker and quarry laborer. Bramble was small, small enough he could squeeze into tight spaces that needed specialized tools to be placed or to squirm into tight pockets with an Everlit Candle to check the quality of the stone to be mined. It was backbreaking work but it allowed Bramble to find some purpose after wandering for so long on his own. He did not stop worrying about his former home. He did not stop worrying about the temple and the people of the valley he had once sworn to protect but Bramble dug into himself and continued working in the place he now thought of as something close to home. It was not truly home but it was a close as he felt it could be for now. He had a purpose, he still got to feel sacred stone beneath his digits, and he still got to see it shaped into amazing things before being shipped down river towards an unknown destination. All of the hard work he did helped keep Bramble in shape and he did not fail to continue practicing the fighting forms he had learned growing up. So it was late one summer day that Bramble was surprised to realize he had outgrown the clothing he had worn into the small town several years ago. Memories flooded him and Bramble spent most of that day quietly sitting in the lower branches of a tree near where he had come into town. Two days later Bramble set out to try and find his way back to the temple in hopes of finding out what had become of the ancient place and those he had grown up training beside. 

Adult 

Bramble took months to travel the slow, confusing path back towards what had been home years ago, it took him another year to actually return to the broken gateway. The temple was empty save for one person. The young man who had become the new Watcher. He was standing atop the gate, sneering down at Bramble, and was laughing in a way that could only be described as hysterical. “After all this time, you are the one who returns from beyond the path?” He laughed, head thrown back while in complete hysterics, “You?” Bramble simply looked up at the young man who had torn his peaceful home to shreds and now stood on the ruins. Bramble shrugged his pack off of his shoulders and sat it down gently before tilting his head back up to watch the cackling Browbird. The Browbird who had wished to lead the monastery toppled over onto his side while crumpling into a mixture of still hysterical laughter and a low frantic wailing scream. Bramble waited until the young man went silent. He waited until he was sure that the Browbird wasn’t going to attack him and then finally Bramble made his way up the broken gateway and knelt down to touch the shoulder of the trembling figure. “Get away from me!” The young man spat, then hissed out viciously, “you are unworthy. I speak for the stones.” “Madness” thought Bramble while stepping back only a step, “Madness and pain.” It did not take long for Bramble to realize that the temple was as empty as he originally thought. No one else was there. The gardens, training grounds, sculpture studios, medical wing, even the kitchens and other quarters were simply empty. He wept bitter tears when he found the statue of the goddess shattered on the floor of the inner sanctum and spent the next several hours gently cleaning up every piece before wrapping them into a blanket and burying it in the garden overlooking the valley. After that he began to clean. He cleaned like he had as a child, weeding the gardens (and watering the struggling plants there), scrubbing every surface he could reach, and washing as much of the laundry as he could physically handle. By the time he stopped to look around three days later he realized the Browbird had not moved from the broken gateway. Bramble approached, put his hands on hips, and glared down at the listless figure in dirty robes. Bramble finally rolled his eyes upward, wiggled his mustache, and then began hoisting the Browbird onto his shoulders before dragging them back towards the temple grounds. Several buckets of water later and a sputtering Browbird cursing him as soap was added into the last few buckets Bramble presented the would-be leader of a broken temple with fresh clothing. It turned out that the Browbird was dying and did not really care anymore about the fate of the temple. Bramble did however and all but forced the ailing Browbird to tell what had happened to the others. Plague. Plague had struck the valley and with all of the healers from the temple chased away by his own rhetoric there had been no one to slow the spread let alone attempt to cure it. Many in the valley and in the temple had been lost; of those that had survived only a handful stayed close by. Not long afterwards, raiders had come through, taking advantage of the weakened people and lack of fighting monks from the temple. Nearly everyone else had left after that; abandoned everything they had ever known. Bramble continued to clean the temple and care for the man who had brought disaster upon his home. When that Browbird finally passed away one night, sitting in the shade of the gateway he had shattered years before, Bramble buried him beneath the gateway. The last One Who Watched would be able to continue his watch long after Bramble gave up. Bramble watched atop that gate for a time but eventually left like everyone else. He left the temple in good repair and freed up the streams running into the gardens so that the flowers would thrive and any travelers would find food among the gardens. Bramble did not return there ever again nor to the town he had lived in briefly but instead headed out the opposite way towards the valley below. Then deep into woodlands he would later learn were called the Mirewood where years later he would meet the Lady of Mirewood and would swear to defend her Estate with his life. 

Current 

Bramble sat on the front step of the entrance to the Mirewood Estate watching the skies overhead for signs of his lady. He did not like it when she left without him on those trips of hers to wherever she seemed to think was best. He did not like it one bit but he tolerated it. She was after all fully capable of defending herself and he wasn’t hired as a bodyguard. He had in fact been hired as a house guard of sorts. Bramble was employed as lead security for the Mirewood Estate. Security for the Estate not for the Lady of the Estate. That did not stop him from being concerned when she was out of his sight; despite the repeated proof of her knife and short sword skills when he spared with her on occasion. He was allowed to fuss. She did not seem to mind in fact she seemed to find it endearing. So he waited and watched the skies. Bramble stood as he noticed the blue-grey feathers of Storm, the Lady’s Sol Roc, cutting through the nightly clouds and moving towards the grounds of the Estate. Celina stepped down from the Sol Roc’s harness seat, gently put the Lunon, that was her adoptive son’s, and her own Bippin onto the ground before smiling at Bramble in a warm way that always put the Kitbull at ease. As Celina adjusted her Demonic Wing Cloak, she leaned down and pressed a grateful kiss to the mustached Kitbull’s cheek. “Thank you Bramble, for always looking out for me.” Bramble simply nodded and took the Sol Roc’s lead before watching his Lady walk inside with a step of confident delight. Home. He truly felt like he had finally found home.