Fruit
Legacy Name: Fru

To the east of Shengui Guo a small village bustles with life, a merchant hub known as Gon Guo. People here are kind, happy to talk to strangers and offer hospitality to any who pass through. The streets are lined with merchant stands built into the sides of homes, with colorful hand-woven tarps illuminating the roads and alleys. Passerby's wave to their friends and family waving back from open windows as the smell of tantalizing food pours from the vendors along the road. Trees hang above jetting from between the buildings built around the landscape of the area.

As the center of the town becomes visible you find several villagers bringing plates and baskets near the fountain that rests in the heart of the village. You begin to see that the vessels are overflowing with fresh fruits, and the people are taking out some of the fruit and placing it around the fountain adorned with lanterns and scrolls. As you try to understand what you're looking at a tap at your shoulder draws your attention as you turn to see an elderly woman dressed in a beautiful kimono-like garb.

"Hello there traveler, I've not seen you here before." She does a short bow and slowly comes back up with the help of her gnarled cane. "You can call me Mama Komi, don't worry everyone does, I'm the village elder, welcome to Gon Guo!" Her wrinkled face shines with a bright smile. "You look curious about what our people are doing leaving fruit here." When you nod she ushers you to sit at the nearby bench facing the fountain.

Mama Komi settles into her seat with a quiet grunt. "The gathering of fruits has not been a long tradition, only a few years in fact, but one that will likely be with us for a long time to come." She rests her cane in her lap before continuing. "It is to honor a hero, an unexpected hero, as most are. Just 10 years ago, before this cane and this darn knee, this town was just as lovely as it is today, but we were beset by a thief." She chuckles slightly and looks up to the trees above. "As you can see we do our best to live in unison with the spirit of the land we live with, however, this lead to an unforeseen problem, a young Manchu who would be known by us as 'Fru the Thief.'"

"One of our town's greatest boons is the wide variety of fruit that grows near here, it's our town's chief export and you could say it's the lifeblood that keeps our town thriving. It makes up most of our meals here. Fru, however, paid no mind to the lively-hood of the people of our town. We tried crates, chests, barrels, even locking our precious resource in our homes, but nothing stopped this sharp Manchu and he still managed to take fruit from under the noses of the people."

A distinct change in tone and posture shows Mama Komi's sadness. "This, however, was a small concern compared to our other problems." She winces and tightens her grip on the cane in her lap. "Our children were growing ill at an alarming rate, and our doctors and healers tried as they could but couldn't figure out what was causing it. Before long nearly every child in the village was afflicted by fever, some had horrible rashes covering their bodies and the worst stricken wouldn't wake from sleep. We were at a loss and the pain in our hearts grew terribly."

One night as the village slept the rustle of familiar paws clawed into homes food stores, however, the families had more to worry about with their children riddled with this unknown sickness. Fru would run from home to home, clawing into even the thickest doors." She chuckles at the thought.

"The next morning we woke and began our usual routines, however, it was clear that today Fru had taken more than usual, much more than even that chubby critter could stuff himself with. As we began to leave our homes we couldn't help but gather at the fountain, Fru had piled an unbelievable amount of our fruit in front of it. We went to recover our things but when we tried Fru would hiss, claw and whine at anyone who tried to touch the mountain of fruit he had hoarded, denying anyone from reaching the food." Mama Komi fixes her gaze on the fountain. "This went on for three infuriating days as Fru stood guard, only leaving to steal more fruit to grow his pile."

"We elders were beside ourselves with what to do, our village was sick and our food was being stolen by some crazy Manchu! But then the most amazing sound struck us while we met. It was the sound of laughter, children's laughter. We all left our seats as fast as our brittle bones would let us and looking out it was true, children playing in the streets again!" Mama Komi wipes a drop from her eye. "We left our gathering and people gathered in the streets crying and cheering as their children seemingly came back from the brink of what we were sure was death. We slowly found our way to the fountain where we saw Fru, strewn on the pile from exhaustion. As we approached the food to take back what was still good at the top of the pile the village quickly noticed that there was something wrong with the fruit at the bottom of the pile, the fruit he'd first stolen had turned black it turned to Ash at a touch and their pits were wrapped in a disturbing red ooze. Fru had stolen tainted fruit, Fru knew what was hurting our children, and he took it to himself to keep us from feeding it to them. Fru had saved our children."

"Even 10 years later we honor him for what he did for us all by bringing him his favorite food. We can never truly repay him for what he's done for us, but he seems more than happy not to have to claw into chests for a snack." She pulls a juicy peach from her sleeve and whistles a tune. A rustle in the trees above is followed quickly by a green manchu jumping from the leaves and landing on the bench next to Mama Komi. He grabs the peach and chomps into it, juice smearing the fur around his mouth. She pats him gently on the head and says "Thank you little one, for all you've done."

credit

Profile coding by: FallenSamurai

Gif from Gifer

Background by: wallpapertag

Story by Fruitling (me)