erinm_4600
in
12to32
Fic: Apples and Berries
Title: Apples and Berries
Author: Erin (erinm_4600@yahoo.com)
Characters, Pairing: Trees, Papay and some random Zonians
Rating: PG-PG-13ish
Summary: They say you shouldn't mix apples and oranges. But the Zone doesn't have oranges... *written for Round Three of the Grand Prix at tm_challenge.
Warning: pre-series *The original entry ended at the line, which is where it needed to. But the rest needed to be written...
Disclaimer: The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The OCs are mine.
“I heard tell of it in a story...”
There was a time when the Outer Zone was at peace. Every thing had its place and every place had its thing. For instance: the Eastern Guild. Everyone knew that the lands of the Eastern Guild produced the best crops. Cotton was milled and refined, creating clothing; grains were processed into food for the people and the animals. But, the crop that put the Eastern Guild on the map was apples.
The orchards of the Eastern Guild were renowned. People would come to the Outer Zone simply to visit the orchards and buy the apples. As with any crop, there were good seasons and bad. One, in particular, forced the shipments through the mines of Moratania due to the heavy snowfall in the mountains. Unfortunately, one of the crates was tainted during transport and, while the young girl did survive and marry her Prince Charming, the consumption of apples did drop slightly. Of course, for every bad season, there were seven good ones.
And then the Papay arrived. The Trees had no claim to the land and, as they grew up, they had all the land they needed. The Papay simply needed a bit of land to grow their food source and even offered to help harvest the apples when their own gathering was done. The Trees decided that it would be nice to have some company in their own off season, so they suggested the Papay set up right alongside their tree line.
The first season didn't yield much for the Papay in terms of sustenance, so the trees offered the smaller apples that didn't quite meet their exacting standards for the people. The next season, the small shrubs the Papay had planted sprouted the smallest white flowers. Another season passed and the small white flowers had doubled in size, as well as the shrubs. Now, there were also little pinkish-green berries.
The berries were poisonous to the Papay, so as they harvested the flowers, the berries were set off to the side at the edge of the field. One season, a man who was a regular visitor to the orchards - he came at the same time each season, down to the hour - happened to see the growing pile of berries. When he asked the Papay about the fruit, they warned him about the toxic nature, but he wanted to try one.
After sampling a handful of the small fruit, the man asked if he could take some more home. He was more than willing to trade, but as the Papay only needed the white flowers and considered the berries refuse - and the Trees had air and sunlight - his request was allowed and the Papay went back to harvesting their food.
The next season, the man returned. He bought the same number of apples, but also requested to take the entire stock of berries. The Papay didn't understand why someone would want their discards, but were happy to be rid of the ever-growing pile, as the shrubs and flowers had doubled in size, yet again, which also doubled the number of berries.
What the Papay didn't know was that the man had taken the berries south, to his home, and had begun creating a drink, using the juice of the berries. He crushed the berries then allowed the liquid to distill and turn. At first, he simply enjoyed the beverage himself, or shared it with his friends. The recipe wasn't quite right yet, and he didn't have enough berries to produce large quantities.
The man returned over the next two seasons, taking the berries but not the apples. This bothered the Trees, as he was one of their longest customers. The Papay, however, thought the man was strange and continued to harvest their own food, as well as assist the Tress in collecting the apples. A few cycles later, the man returned.
He wanted to know if he could take all the berries from the harvest to come, and offered to take any more that were produced, if the Papay were willing to plant more of their own trees. It seemed that the drink, once ready, was a hit in the south, and was currently being served in Central City. There was even a rumor that the berry wine was being served within the royal palace.
If the berry wine was becoming more popular, the Trees realized, more people would come to the fields and, with that, the orchards, so they urged the Papay to expand their field. The new growth wouldn't be ready for two seasons, but the man didn't seem to mind. The Papay planted more of their trees and continued to assist the Trees with the apple harvest.
The man returned each season, requesting another row of trees. The berry wine had not only swept the Outer Zone, but was now being sent outside the Zone, as the apples had once been. People were still coming to the area for the apples and, now, the berries. Some of the people had expressed interest in the flowers, as well. The Papay had more food than they needed, so they allowed the people to take some of the white buds.
At one point, the Trees realized that the Papay fields now completely surrounded the orchard. Anyone visiting the orchard had to go through the fields to get to the apples. They also noticed that people weren't making it all the way to the orchards any more, but stopping in the fields. The man returned, suggesting the construction of a factory on the other side of the fields, as it would take less time to produce the berry wine if he didn't have to transport the berries all the way to the south.
Soon, there was a factory built and the people came to see how the berry wine was made. The Papay still didn't understand how so much fuss could be made over something that would kill them. They also didn't understand why the Trees no longer wanted their help with the harvest. Soon, the tensions between the Trees and the Papay were strained to a breaking point.
"Your berries are sour!" the Trees threw out, frustrated because they had been there longer than the O.Z. had been ruled over.
"Your apples have worms!" the Papay snapped back, not knowing that such a thought was the most offensive thing one could say to a Tree.
And the first apple was thrown.
---
After the witch took over the Zone, the magic of the Zone crept toward her tower. It started at the far edges of the Zone and inched inward - slowly, at first. After the death of the youngest princess, most people stopped traveling for enjoyment. Now, the only people who came through the fields were those escaping the grasp of her power.
As the magic reached the Papay fields, the while flowers started to wilt. The Papay were so used to having a surplus of the flowers that they didn’t eat in moderation. By the time they realized that the land had stopped providing for them, their food supply was half what it had been. They wondered if the people who had taken the flowers in the past were able to cultivate them in other lands; perhaps they could move on.
The flowers had made it to other parts of the Zone and were growing in labs. People knew that the flowers not only produced the berries used for the wine, but had a rather pleasing aroma. When the first stems left the fields, the flowers were put into vases and displayed simply for their beauty. At some point, a resident of Central City wondered if it was possible to extract the aroma, wanting to present his wife with a unique gift.
So he began working on the flowers in his lab. If he could get the conditions right, he could grow all the flowers he needed and sell the berries to the wine makers. The first few batches of perfume didn’t quite smell right, but he had plenty of the buds to work with. After a few more tests, he had the concentration right and the color was perfect and his wife loved it.
Soon, her friends were asking for a bottle of their own and he was able to open a shop of his own. He sold the berries to the new winery on the south side of Central City and was soon shipping bottles of the scent outside the Zone.
The magic had long-since left the orchards and fields on the Eastern Guild and the Papay were starving. They didn’t leave the fields because they had nowhere to go. As the food source dwindled, their hunger grew. One of the Papay decided to test a theory and he yelled out to the Trees. They had thrown apples before, when the feud had started, and it would be food for the Papay to survive a bit longer.
No apples came. A while later, the Papay tried again. Still, no apples were thrown. Frustrated and hungry, the Papay decided that, if the Trees wouldn’t give them apples, the Papay would take them. The fight hadn’t been their fault, after all. What they didn’t know, was that the Trees were also starving.
The same magic that fed the Papay fields produced the apples. No magic meant no apples. But the Trees were stubborn; they refused to ask the Papay for help when their neighbors still had food. When the Papay arrived in the orchards, they found nothing. The Trees were long since gone, and the apples that littered the ground were rotten.
The Papay tried to find sustenance in other forms - leaves, bark and twigs - but found that their hunger was only temporarily fed. Some wanted to be rid of the hunger so badly that they ate the berries, well aware of what lie ahead. Others finally left the fields, hoping to find a food source outside the Zone. And some refused to stand down. They would stay and defend their land. The magic would return and their flowers would grow again.
After the humans evacuated Milltown, the Papay didn’t see another person for nearly three annuals. The Brick Road fell into disrepair and the Papay had only the silence for company. One afternoon, a young man happened across the fields. He wanted to see the land that ruined his life before he joined the Longcoats. He didn’t want to be a soldier, but he had no choice. He wanted to escape his family and their legacy.
What had begun long ago, as a simple gift for his father’s mother, had become a disease within Central City. People began reacting oddly to the perfume; their minds wandered and they would ramble about nothing. The people were so addicted to the effect of the vapors that no one noticed the dark taking over. As he looked over the dead fields, the young man wondered what it must have looked like, all those annuals ago, when his mother’s father had stopped here for apples and found those cursed berries.
The Papay could smell him before they saw him. He smelled like their flowers.
Their food had returned.
Author: Erin (erinm_4600@yahoo.com)
Characters, Pairing: Trees, Papay and some random Zonians
Rating: PG-PG-13ish
Summary: They say you shouldn't mix apples and oranges. But the Zone doesn't have oranges... *written for Round Three of the Grand Prix at tm_challenge.
Warning: pre-series *The original entry ended at the line, which is where it needed to. But the rest needed to be written...
Disclaimer: The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The OCs are mine.
“I heard tell of it in a story...”
There was a time when the Outer Zone was at peace. Every thing had its place and every place had its thing. For instance: the Eastern Guild. Everyone knew that the lands of the Eastern Guild produced the best crops. Cotton was milled and refined, creating clothing; grains were processed into food for the people and the animals. But, the crop that put the Eastern Guild on the map was apples.
The orchards of the Eastern Guild were renowned. People would come to the Outer Zone simply to visit the orchards and buy the apples. As with any crop, there were good seasons and bad. One, in particular, forced the shipments through the mines of Moratania due to the heavy snowfall in the mountains. Unfortunately, one of the crates was tainted during transport and, while the young girl did survive and marry her Prince Charming, the consumption of apples did drop slightly. Of course, for every bad season, there were seven good ones.
And then the Papay arrived. The Trees had no claim to the land and, as they grew up, they had all the land they needed. The Papay simply needed a bit of land to grow their food source and even offered to help harvest the apples when their own gathering was done. The Trees decided that it would be nice to have some company in their own off season, so they suggested the Papay set up right alongside their tree line.
The first season didn't yield much for the Papay in terms of sustenance, so the trees offered the smaller apples that didn't quite meet their exacting standards for the people. The next season, the small shrubs the Papay had planted sprouted the smallest white flowers. Another season passed and the small white flowers had doubled in size, as well as the shrubs. Now, there were also little pinkish-green berries.
The berries were poisonous to the Papay, so as they harvested the flowers, the berries were set off to the side at the edge of the field. One season, a man who was a regular visitor to the orchards - he came at the same time each season, down to the hour - happened to see the growing pile of berries. When he asked the Papay about the fruit, they warned him about the toxic nature, but he wanted to try one.
After sampling a handful of the small fruit, the man asked if he could take some more home. He was more than willing to trade, but as the Papay only needed the white flowers and considered the berries refuse - and the Trees had air and sunlight - his request was allowed and the Papay went back to harvesting their food.
The next season, the man returned. He bought the same number of apples, but also requested to take the entire stock of berries. The Papay didn't understand why someone would want their discards, but were happy to be rid of the ever-growing pile, as the shrubs and flowers had doubled in size, yet again, which also doubled the number of berries.
What the Papay didn't know was that the man had taken the berries south, to his home, and had begun creating a drink, using the juice of the berries. He crushed the berries then allowed the liquid to distill and turn. At first, he simply enjoyed the beverage himself, or shared it with his friends. The recipe wasn't quite right yet, and he didn't have enough berries to produce large quantities.
The man returned over the next two seasons, taking the berries but not the apples. This bothered the Trees, as he was one of their longest customers. The Papay, however, thought the man was strange and continued to harvest their own food, as well as assist the Tress in collecting the apples. A few cycles later, the man returned.
He wanted to know if he could take all the berries from the harvest to come, and offered to take any more that were produced, if the Papay were willing to plant more of their own trees. It seemed that the drink, once ready, was a hit in the south, and was currently being served in Central City. There was even a rumor that the berry wine was being served within the royal palace.
If the berry wine was becoming more popular, the Trees realized, more people would come to the fields and, with that, the orchards, so they urged the Papay to expand their field. The new growth wouldn't be ready for two seasons, but the man didn't seem to mind. The Papay planted more of their trees and continued to assist the Trees with the apple harvest.
The man returned each season, requesting another row of trees. The berry wine had not only swept the Outer Zone, but was now being sent outside the Zone, as the apples had once been. People were still coming to the area for the apples and, now, the berries. Some of the people had expressed interest in the flowers, as well. The Papay had more food than they needed, so they allowed the people to take some of the white buds.
At one point, the Trees realized that the Papay fields now completely surrounded the orchard. Anyone visiting the orchard had to go through the fields to get to the apples. They also noticed that people weren't making it all the way to the orchards any more, but stopping in the fields. The man returned, suggesting the construction of a factory on the other side of the fields, as it would take less time to produce the berry wine if he didn't have to transport the berries all the way to the south.
Soon, there was a factory built and the people came to see how the berry wine was made. The Papay still didn't understand how so much fuss could be made over something that would kill them. They also didn't understand why the Trees no longer wanted their help with the harvest. Soon, the tensions between the Trees and the Papay were strained to a breaking point.
"Your berries are sour!" the Trees threw out, frustrated because they had been there longer than the O.Z. had been ruled over.
"Your apples have worms!" the Papay snapped back, not knowing that such a thought was the most offensive thing one could say to a Tree.
And the first apple was thrown.
---
After the witch took over the Zone, the magic of the Zone crept toward her tower. It started at the far edges of the Zone and inched inward - slowly, at first. After the death of the youngest princess, most people stopped traveling for enjoyment. Now, the only people who came through the fields were those escaping the grasp of her power.
As the magic reached the Papay fields, the while flowers started to wilt. The Papay were so used to having a surplus of the flowers that they didn’t eat in moderation. By the time they realized that the land had stopped providing for them, their food supply was half what it had been. They wondered if the people who had taken the flowers in the past were able to cultivate them in other lands; perhaps they could move on.
The flowers had made it to other parts of the Zone and were growing in labs. People knew that the flowers not only produced the berries used for the wine, but had a rather pleasing aroma. When the first stems left the fields, the flowers were put into vases and displayed simply for their beauty. At some point, a resident of Central City wondered if it was possible to extract the aroma, wanting to present his wife with a unique gift.
So he began working on the flowers in his lab. If he could get the conditions right, he could grow all the flowers he needed and sell the berries to the wine makers. The first few batches of perfume didn’t quite smell right, but he had plenty of the buds to work with. After a few more tests, he had the concentration right and the color was perfect and his wife loved it.
Soon, her friends were asking for a bottle of their own and he was able to open a shop of his own. He sold the berries to the new winery on the south side of Central City and was soon shipping bottles of the scent outside the Zone.
The magic had long-since left the orchards and fields on the Eastern Guild and the Papay were starving. They didn’t leave the fields because they had nowhere to go. As the food source dwindled, their hunger grew. One of the Papay decided to test a theory and he yelled out to the Trees. They had thrown apples before, when the feud had started, and it would be food for the Papay to survive a bit longer.
No apples came. A while later, the Papay tried again. Still, no apples were thrown. Frustrated and hungry, the Papay decided that, if the Trees wouldn’t give them apples, the Papay would take them. The fight hadn’t been their fault, after all. What they didn’t know, was that the Trees were also starving.
The same magic that fed the Papay fields produced the apples. No magic meant no apples. But the Trees were stubborn; they refused to ask the Papay for help when their neighbors still had food. When the Papay arrived in the orchards, they found nothing. The Trees were long since gone, and the apples that littered the ground were rotten.
The Papay tried to find sustenance in other forms - leaves, bark and twigs - but found that their hunger was only temporarily fed. Some wanted to be rid of the hunger so badly that they ate the berries, well aware of what lie ahead. Others finally left the fields, hoping to find a food source outside the Zone. And some refused to stand down. They would stay and defend their land. The magic would return and their flowers would grow again.
After the humans evacuated Milltown, the Papay didn’t see another person for nearly three annuals. The Brick Road fell into disrepair and the Papay had only the silence for company. One afternoon, a young man happened across the fields. He wanted to see the land that ruined his life before he joined the Longcoats. He didn’t want to be a soldier, but he had no choice. He wanted to escape his family and their legacy.
What had begun long ago, as a simple gift for his father’s mother, had become a disease within Central City. People began reacting oddly to the perfume; their minds wandered and they would ramble about nothing. The people were so addicted to the effect of the vapors that no one noticed the dark taking over. As he looked over the dead fields, the young man wondered what it must have looked like, all those annuals ago, when his mother’s father had stopped here for apples and found those cursed berries.
The Papay could smell him before they saw him. He smelled like their flowers.
Their food had returned.