The Black & White Saga: Chapter 4 - The Village

Lunette placed the fruits and vegetables in her space bracelet with a wave of her hand. She didn't put the rest of the bamboo in her space because they were going to pass by the village on the way back to their house. Most of the villagers were good and kind people. However, there were a few troublemakers, as was the case in all places.

When Lunette first arrived in the countryside, she stayed at her family's estate in Terra Town. This was a small town near the border of Miloa, the country they are residing in. Most of her family stayed in the capital, so this residence only has a few contracted workers to maintain the villa. Unfortunately, there were a couple of retainers who had dubious loyalties. After staying for a week, Lunette discovered that two of the retainers were reporting her actions to certain elders in her clan. Those elders just happen to be diametrically opposed to her parents' and grandparents' stance on many contentious issues during clan meetings. To avoid alerting the enemy, and winning a small battle before losing the war, Lunette decided to move out.

Lunette first looked in Terra Town for a new house. The only places available in town were a couple of small houses and one run down villa. They did not appeal to Lunette or Nebula, who was the only one traveling with her at the time. There was also no land available outside the town, because most of it was being cultivated as farmland. Lunette decided to look further out in the surrounding villages close to Terra. There were three villages within an hour's walking distance from the town: Knocker Village, North Village, and Greene Village. After surveying the available land in all three villages, Lunette decided on the land near Greene Village.

The first reason for this decision was because the layout of the territory was suitable for the projects Lunette wanted to experiment with. The second reason was that the terrain was extremely versatile and there was a small river that branched off the Taigon River running through the land she wanted to purchase. The third reason was that the land was extremely inexpensive. Greene Village was located even closer to the border than Terra. In fact, Greene Village was about two hours away from the border city of Double Towers. Terra was three hours away from Double Towers City. In the war that devastated the entire planet of Arcadia 25 years ago, the areas near the border were the ones that were hit hard the most. The surrounding land around Greene Village was completely barren and inhospitable for miles. The village was also in very poor conditions. Even the Taigon River was murky and inhabitable. The name Greene Village became an oxymoron after the war. No vegetation was able to survive there due to the effects of the war. Five years ago, the village had almost recovered to the conditions of its heyday. The surrounding land, however was still barren. There were attempts to cultivate the land, but most of the endeavors ended in failure. In the plots where they tried to grow produce, 80% of the items planted would die. The low production rate drove people to abandon the land and turn to other lifestyles for survival. As a result, the village head was willing to sell the land to Lunette for very cheap. He even cautioned Lunette against buying so much unusable land multiple times. Lunette had to reassure the village head that she could handle the land no matter how bad its condition was, before he finally relented and sold her the land. The village head and his family helped Lunette and Nebula finalize all the paperwork and settle in.

Two months after moving in, Lunette brought over some bamboo furniture to the village head's house to thank them for their help with moving into the outskirts of Greene Village. The last time they were here, she saw that the village head's house only had a wobbly table that looked like it was on its last leg, and a few newer bamboo stools in the living room. With a baby on the way, the village head, Ron, and his wife, Shirley, decided to invest their savings on items for their child, rather than replace their old furniture. Many villagers saw Lunette and Nebula drive their horse carriage over, as the village head's house was in the middle of the village. They followed them to join in the fun, as village life tended to become dull and repetitive after a while.

"Greetings, Village Head," Lunette said, as Ron opened the door.

"Hi Ron! Hi Shirley!" Nebula greeted cheerfully.

"Hello, Lunette and Nebula. Have you settled into your new home?" responded Ron with a kind smile. Shirley also joined them at the door.

"Yes, everything is going very well," Nebula added.

They took the bamboo table and chairs they made for the village head off the horse carriage.

"This is a small token of our appreciation for all of your help when we moved into the village," Lunette told Ron and Shirley.

"Oh my goodness!" Shirley gasped as she looked at the brand new furniture. "This is too much. We can't accept this."

"Of course we have to help our new neighbors. It's my duty as village head," Ron also added after he recovered from his surprise.

"You helped make our transition to our new home so much easier," said Lunette.

"Exactly. We are neighbors from now on," Nebula chimed in.

"But this is worth too much…" said Ron.

"Accept it. We will be troubling you with more things from now on," smiled Lunette.

"Hold it right there!" shouted a loud coquettish voice. Two people with similar faces walked out from the crowd. The lady in a simple cotton dress with blond hair was the one who spoke. She would have looked quite pretty if there was not a calculating look on her face. The man next to her was a head taller than her, in simple cotton clothing as well. He also had a sly look on his face, and looked at everyone with his nose held high.

"What's going on Mary and Joe?" asked the village head cautiously.

"They stole the bamboo chairs and table from us!" Mary exclaimed as she pointed at Lunette and Nebula. The villagers around them all gathered to see what was going on.

"Ridiculous!" Nebula instantly replied back, while Lunette raised her eyebrows at the siblings.

"Hmph. The only place in this province that has bamboo is Knocker Village. Our relatives in Knocker Village made these and sent these to us. They disappeared two months ago which also happens to be when you moved in. We have been looking for these pieces of furniture ever since," Joe accused.

"Is your family the only one that's allowed to have bamboo furniture? We haven't even seen you before! How would we know where you live to steal from you?" Nebula argued back.

Lunette put her hand on Nebula's shoulder to keep her from getting too agitated, and was about to say something when the village head stepped in.

"You Knocker siblings are always making trouble. Does your father know what you are doing right now?" Ron said sternly.

The crowd murmured and looked at each other, searching for the man in question. Finally someone said they saw John Knocker head to town this morning.

"Are you causing trouble now because you know your father is not here to keep you in line?" Shirley asked furiously.

Mary and Joe scoffed at Shirley and Ron. Their father was the only one they were afraid of in this village.

"How are you going to compensate us for the theft?" demanded Mary.

"Does anyone have bamboo furniture from Knocker Village?" Lunette asked the crowd.

"We have some here. Shirley dear, grab the stool for us please," said Ron. Shirley went back inside the house and returned with a bamboo stool. Ron immediately knew what Lunette was going to do after she asked her question. He gave her a look that said, "allow me," and stepped in front of the Knocker siblings with the stool.

"First, look at this stool," Ron said as he showed the siblings and the surrounding villagers his bamboo stool. "Shirley and I purchased this from Knocker Village's craftsman about 6 months ago. As you can see, the stool is made from black bamboo. Anyone who has been to Knocker Village knows that the bamboo growing in their region has black stalks and green leaves."

Some villagers who also own bamboo furniture from Knocker Village verified what the village head said, and there were murmurs of agreement. Ron then pointed to Lunette and Nebula's furniture.

"Lunette's bamboo furniture is light green, and has yellowish green streaks," explained Ron. "These are bamboo from completely different species. Also, the whole village knows that no one has contacted you two from Knocker Village since you've been banned from there a year ago. Anyone from Knocker Village will only greet your father before leaving. Everyone in our village has seen this. In the last six months, no one from Knocker Village has brought any furniture with them for your family."

"Then where did they get the bamboo from?" asked Joe. "Everyone knows that the land they bought cannot grow anything."

"We were also visiting the village head today to share our discoveries with the village," Lunette said in the calm voice. "The land surrounding the village cannot grow anything, because it was tainted by the bloodshed and negative elements left over from the major battles that took place here during the war. We discovered that if the land is treated with the powers of darkness and light, the negative elements and bloody aura will dissipate. You will need to invite someone from the Temple of Darkness and the Temple of Light to bless the land together, to be able to use the land again. We called a priest of darkness and a priest of light over to bless our land, and now we are able to grow this bamboo."

"This is wonderful news!" Ron exclaimed. The villagers also shared their excitement about being able to reclaim more land.

Mary and Joe looked at each other. They knew their scheme had failed today. They turned around to leave, but before they could escape, the village head reprimanded them for their false accusations.

Remembering that incident, Lunette thought to herself, "it was better to be careful, or our peaceful home will be overrun by opportunists and troublemakers." To avoid future trouble, it was better to make a show of bringing bamboo back to their house for everyone to see.

Lunette put on her basket backpack filled with bamboo shoots, while Nebula and Sam did the same with their bamboo stalk bundles. Lunette released the barrier around the panda cubs by using her spirit power to dispel the light element formation. She walked over and picked up Skye and Gaia wrapped in the blanket. The two shifted slightly to find a comfortable place in her arms. She conveniently put away the pillow when her bracelet passed over the table.

The pandas and their human companion walked out of the garden, and headed forward on the main road. They passed through a fruit orchard filled with many varieties of fruit trees. It was the season for the fruit trees to flower. As they travelled, their eyes were delighted by the scene of flowers swaying on tree branches on both sides of the road. When a strong gust of wind blew by, flower petals could be seen dancing in the air before fluttering to the ground to decorate the lush grass with a shower of color.

After passing the orchard, they could see their house on top of the hill beyond the intersection. The road they were on led directly to their front door. At the intersection was a path that extended to the left of the main road. This path led to a simple wooden bridge to Greene Village. The bridge crossed the massive Taigon River. The river by the clearing of the bamboo forest they passed by was merely a branch of this Taigon River. Directly facing the bridge was their backyard. The bridge had a gate on their side of the river, and a boathouse that also served as a guard house. The grey wooden boathouse with a white roof was located to the right side of the bridge, on a small dock.

Nebula, Sam, and Lunette greeted the villagers fishing on the bridge and those on the riverbank across the river. They could see the wooden and stone houses of the village across the river from where they were standing. Though small compared to the capital, Green Village was bustling with its own vibe.