Long ago, after all of the students of his court had been accounted for, King Protea realized that it was Dendron who had orchestrated the massacre as a means to leave Ntinyeti. He wondered if she wanted to cause the death of the members of the court who had been smashed to the point that they were completely drained of the Divine Essence that animated them and uprooted from the star that had birthed them. Protea decided that Dendron was only concerned with leaving Ntinyeti, she was unconcerned with anyone else. It was disheartening that his student could be so callous, especially considering that he would have never thought her capable of such selfish callousness. Many Star Flowers had managed to leave Ntinyeti without causing such a calamity, but the vessel she had chosen was sure to take her to many locations around the Disc that few Fonlanders see. The whales of the Disc of Jo travel in pods that follow the currents of winds that move things around the space, but they are also able to swim space without the current they are prolific explorers. Whales are very adept at maneuvering the pattern and they are extremely difficult to manipulate with pattern magic, so it was very impressive that she was able to seize the misfortune of the whale known as Cachalot. Protea knew that she was out there, no doubt still attached to Cachalot, and he hoped that she wasn’t using her skill with the pattern in the thoughtless way that she had.
Dendron traveled with Cachalot for a long time as she continued to develop. She had been plucked from Ntinyeti’s surface by the fold in Cachalot’s back when he impacted the surface and she rooted in the debris that had collected there over time. Dendron had been a long wisp of green stem with couplings of leaves at each of the turns in the stem. Eventually, when she sprouted white buds, the other whales of Cahalot’s pod began to notice, the green stems with leaves and dotted with white that became a distinguishing feature of their leader. When the blood red flowers bloomed large in a bunch, Cachalot seemed to have a large red corsage on his back and it was intimidating, as though the large whale was wounded but strong enough to endure a large wound. All of this was Dendron’s influence, her manipulation of the pattern to cause good things for Cachalot while she was attached to him so that he would never want to be parted from Dendron who found Cachalot to be the perfect environment for her to spread and grow larger.
Over time, Cachalot’s entire back was covered in Dendron’s blood red flowers and she had rooted so deeply into Cachalot that the two had become one. By that point, Dendron and Cachalot were reluctant friends. She had made herself known to him and even though he viewed her as a parasite slowly taking over his body, he couldn’t deny that her presence in his life had improved it exponentially. Crashing onto Ntinyeti was the best thing that ever happened to him, in one respect at least, but he worried that she might be capable, and actively trying to, take over his mind completely.
Dendron wasn’t interested in taking over Cachalot completely, she had no desire for a body other than the glorious plant one that she’d been born with. Dendron liked having Cachalot as a sort of bodyguard, a sentient home that would keep her safe just by existing and protecting itself from harm. She also liked that she could go anywhere she desired and the whale was the best suited to travel the Space of Jo’s Disc, and even other Discs of Fonlands, though she rarely coaxed Cachalot into leaving their home Disc because it was harder to communicate with others who were not fluent in the language of the trees. Cachalot was familiar with the language that most Fonlander’s spoke, but he didn’t know it well enough to feel comfortable on other Discs for too long; Dendron hadn’t had the opportunity to learn it because she rarely encountered beings of the Disc of Jo who didn’t speak with language of the trees.
Cachalot has lived for longer than any other whale in the existence of the Fonlands. Whales experience the long lives of Fonlanders, but their life spans are noticeably shorter than other Fonlanders. Cachalot seems to be younger now than at any point of his history, he is spry, strong enough to swim the entirety of the Fonlands and handsome to boot, and the large collection of red flowers on his head has rounded into a glorious afro. Dendron is responsible for Cachalot’s long existence and she is determined that he will live as long as she exists, which she intends to be a very long time.
Dendron is the dweller of the Disc of Jo who is the most knowledgeable of Pattern Magic, and aside from the Death Witches, she has caused the most trouble on the Disc. Dendron finds it difficult to care about the casualties that result from her manipulation of the pattern, King Protea’s hope never reached his former pupil as her power increased and her anticipation of the pattern grew more sophisticated. The dwellers of the Disc of Jo have learned to leave Cachalot with the bleeding afro alone, lest Dendron trap you in her elaborate machinations that always end well for her, but never for anyone else but Cachalot.
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