The Arc Of A Branch (Part 1)

DIY EMOTIONAL DETACHMENT

10 simple steps to build a Wall around your Emotions and Feelings

Euphoria was the first thing that came to his mind when he thought of Feyn. Unfortunately, grief soon followed.

1.Discover the root cause of your emotional distress.

Arc had hoped to find the change refreshing. Despite the suddenness, it had been a deliberate change to move down from the mountains where he had grown up. He had chosen the flatlands near the forest to begin anew. Arc had also considered the deserts of the East, but had instead chosen the less drastic change.

But the change had been anything but refreshing. In fact, it was disorienting. For one, he discovered that people lived much closer down at the ground level than they did up in the mountains. Arc had difficulty adjusting to the sudden new company. And so, he had retreated deeper into the forest, in search of a little more solitude. He could easily go into the town if he needed anything.

Despite his decision to start anew, Arc had retained some older bits of himself, purely out of nostalgia. He had kept a fireplace and a set of warm clothes, even though he knew they would not come to use down here. But on the overall, Arc was clearly someone very different from his old self.

One day, a leaf blew in through an open window and fell at his feet. Picking it up, he immediately recognized it as the leaf of the kanab plant, sometimes found on the mountaintops. Arc was surprised to find them here. Then, he remembered that he had once been shown how to make ropes from the stem of the kanab plant. And since he had not found any work as of yet, he wondered if he could find enough of the plant to make hemp and sell it at the market. He decided to trek into the forest to find out. A little into his trek, Arc found a large patch of what he was looking for. He immediately felt the mellow satisfaction that was associated with the kanab. While dragging bundles of it back to his house, he chewed some of the leaves to maintain that feeling of happiness. Arc was careful to keep a limit on them.

Yet, when he tripped and landed flat on the forest floor, he wondered if he had chewed too many of those leaves. However, he saw quickly that he had simply tripped on a short bush. It was not the most exotic looking plant that he had seen in the woods so far. He had come across more colorful and fragrant ones. And yet, Arc felt an indescribable liking towards this one. Looking around, he discovered that it was only one of its kind in the nearby area. He left his bundle of kanab and instead dug the flower up. He took it home and found a good spot for it outside his window. And then, he resumed work.

Arc was surprised to discover that the plant answered to the name Feyn. In time, he also realized that Feyn could react to conversation and could even reflect his moods. A plant thus became Arc’s first friend. Arc interacted with townsfolk with the intention of finding out more about Feyn. But he was disappointed. The townsfolk had seen the plant here and there, but did not really know much about it. However, they had much to offer about other more exotic plants.

Despite its initial size, Feyn grew quickly and steadily. Soon, it had grownup to the window and was beginning to advance into the house. Arc welcomed this, as Feyn had also begun to grow flowers of deep shades of his favorite colors. Though its fragrance was no more than ordinary, it spread a calm over the whole house. Arc found that he often felt lonely during his trips into town to sell the hemp.

Throughout the process of making hemp, he had collected the kanab leaves, as they played no part in the production. He discovered that they intensified over time and when he experimentally burnt a few, they induced euphoria. He continued collecting them, hoping to sell when he had enough. Once, after a particularly successful day, arc decided to celebrate with some kanab leaves. Intoxicated on its fumes, he offered some to Feyn. Without waiting for a reply, he began to feed a steady stream of fumes into the plant. He did not even consider any possible consequences.

Arc did not know when he passed out. But when he woke the next day, he found that Feyn had changed.