Nature's Blessing Faire

[Jareth]

Rebekah Led her Goats Prim' and Clover deeper and deeper into the Annual Faire. Allthough she had been here before with her family, they had never delved deeper than the craftsmen and farmer's stalls at the edge. Now, as an apprentice druid she could travel deeper to the Faire's original purpose. Here, rare herbs, plants and spell components were the products for trade. The closer she got to the center, the rarer the items.

Suddenly she saw it. A house, small by most standards, but still impresive for other reasons. For one thing, this was the center of the Faire' Belladonna's Cottage. This was the home of the most powerfull druid of the region and also where the rarest, most valuable items would be found. And if that was not enough. She knew that druids like Belladonna and her Tutor only took from nature what was offered. How Nature must value Belladonna if it offered a mighty tree like this to her!

First she passed a Man trading for Magically straightened and strengthened wood. Cheerfully she passed a bundle of willow-wort over and received a fine staff in exchange. "Great for Shilleighlieghs." The Man mentioned while packing his herbs away. Next she passed an unknown creature in front of a table of fruits. Rebekah didn't know what the fruits were for but she gave the creature some willow-wort anyway. After all, since this creature had a head, it must get headaches.

The next stall had a man selling basswood saplings. But the one after that was the one that impressed Rebekah the most. It had rare mushrooms, not just rare, but potentially life saving yellow cones.

Eagerly, Rebekah approached the black and white awning with a bundle in her hand. The crowd of familiar and strange faded into the background. If she had one of these mushrooms she could prevent disaster if something went wrong with an expectant mother in the village, whether it was a Prize sheep or a sister or wife. This was worth the trip alone. The stall owner looked disdainfully at the herbs in her hand and shook his head. "Pshaw! willow-wort? What do I want with willow-wort?"

"Well,...it's good for headaches and..."

"That's not what I meant! I meant it's not exactly hard to get, is it? Not like these yellow cones. I expect one of my 'shrooms is worth, oh....25 of your bundles there."

"Twenty five! I don't have that many!"

"Tell you what then, throw in the goats and I'll let you have one."

Rebekah was crushed. She wanted to help her village so much, but weren't Prim' and Clover part of her village as well.

She was still thinking this when a troll druid walked around the edge of the stall. "Leifsen! What kind of trade is that?"

"Ah, Belladonna," The man replied "I was just...

"Treating Nature's Blessings like copper pieces? You know the ways here."

"But surely some herbs are more valuable that others!"

"No, none of us know the future. You may need a cure for a headache, she may need a cure for Birth sickness. Both needs are bossible, so both nature's blessings have equal value here."

"Hah! If a man has a headache and a sick wife, but can only cure one of them, I know which he will choose."

Belladonna let one eye roll over and stare at the man.

"Perhaps you will need a cure for headaches sooner than you think."

Leifsen took a step back but said nothing.

Belladonna cleared her throat. "Perhaps the old ways are old. Would you accept two for one? Do you both find that acceptable?"

With a smug look on his face Leifsen nodded. Rebekah also nodded, doing everything she could not to gush thanks, which might ruin the delicate negotiation in front of her.

Belladonna took the bindle from her hands and quickly swept two of the yellow cones from the table and gave them to her.

"Hey! That's not what I...."

Belladonna swung to face him. The blessing's are not yours. They are nature's"

[soccerkid6]

Glad to see a Nocturnus entry! The build itself is excellent and the story is well-written The tree trunk house is my favorite part and the background is very nice

[turtleman2020]

The story is great and that tree looks really cool

[Jareth]

Thanks guys!

The tree cottage is still a work in progress. Here are some pictures to show what I'm doing. As you can see, I've built it to come appart in sections. I plan on Furnishing it (!!??!!) with some simple furniture. Fortunately as a druid Belladonna spends a lot of time outdoors and only needs the cottage to sleep, keep herbs dry and cook when it's rainy/snowy.

Yeah, it would probably look a little more realistic with brown/tan instead of brown/yellow, but I have a much better variety of yellow than tan pieces. Especially arches.

[soccerkid6]

Sweet house I like the way it splits apart, the complete house reminds me of an old submarine

[de Gothia]

A nice scene with much activity going on! And that tree house is really funny!

[Mike S]

Great idea with that log house! Nice entry!

[Ecclesiastes]

Nice entry! The goat cart is well done and I also like the brickbuild creature. Keep it up!

Edited August 2, 2012 by Ecclesiastes

[Jareth]

Sweet house I like the way it splits apart, the complete house reminds me of an old submarine

Hmm, I see your point. The basic shape does look like a submarine. It would look good for steampunk or deiselpunk creation.

[Gabe]

Great work jareth, very inventive. I love that fallen loghouse, especially with the tower for the archers! The way it comes apart is really neat too. Your faireground is nicely populated as well, and as usual your story is top notch. One thing i might suggest is to break up the flat area of ground that the faire is on with some platework, also those breaks between the baseplates are rather distracting.

[Jareth]

@Gabe: Thanks for your complements and suggestions. I agree, the base needed work. I didn't really have time to break apart other creations to build this one, and as it was I ran out of time for the elemental challenge. I am planiing on continuing work on the house portion, to make it look more like a secluded druid's house and less like a ren-fair.

@ soccerkid6: Hey, a couple days after reading your comment, I came accros this: http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/1377

The resemblence is uncanny!