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Past the clouds of the Eternal Garden, where souls come to rest in the form of mycelium. Past the mushroom planter boxes scattered all around the uneven ground. Where the smell of death was enough to make this trip annoying enough. There, my destination stood. A ruined tower with no roof decorated with colourful fungi of various sizes; some of them were even taller than the tower itself. The entrance was a big overarching doorway. Cyd visited one time and suggested building a door but he protested. Said it blocked spores or something.
The first thing I’d always notice is the stench. God, is it awful. I can’t even tell what it is I’m smelling besides the fact that it’s probably rotting. I don’t think I even want to find out, actually. This visit had better be worth it.
“Ahrric?”
I peeked into the doorway. Various potted ‘plants’ are scattered around the room along with bags of ‘fertiliser’ in the corners of the room. Some of the things that he’d been growing were glowing, some had vibrant colours. Funny, he would usually be tending to them; he doesn’t leave the tower often.
Stepping in, I could see a figure slumped on a desk filled with papers in the far right corner of the room. A place I would have never seen from the entrance due to the amount of potted plants. It was Ahrric, in the flesh; his rhythmic breathing I could only hear from a few steps away from him.
Was he… sleeping?
“Ahrric?” I called out again.
He mumbled bits of sentences that sounded like poems before getting back to sleep. It looks like it would take more than that to wake him up, I guess. Although... the papers on his desk piqued my curiosity so I got closer look. Mostly jumbled up language—mushroom language?—but what stuck out were the sketches of some of the potted plants in the room. Some had notes about livability, preferred environment, and things related to fungi care. What a coincidence, huh?
Ok, that’s enough messing around.
“Ahrric.” I shook his shoulder.
His voice was faint but there was a “Mmh?” somewhere. Finally, Ahrric slowly got up— still scratching his head and rubbing his eerily glowing eyes. Slowly, he stood to face me with his towering height. Funny, he looked so small sleeping on that desk.
A nervous smile ran across his face. “Oh it’s just Rei. Um, where’s your robot friend?”
“Cyd is planning out structures for a potential settlement, you know.”
“Oh. So why are you here, then?”
“I’m here to ask you about mushrooms, actually.” I pulled out a few small vials and showed it to Ahrric. “Would you mind if I and Cyd try to cultivate some of them?”
His squeamish demeanour quickly faded, his enthusiasm suddenly oozing out. He was always into mushrooms. Even the weirdest ones he took care of with extra care. And that was probably why I was being lectured on the many types of mushrooms. Their species names, fun facts, patterns, their role in the ecosystem, and so on. But I only needed to know one thing, really.
“The one in this pot is called the Livid Pinkgill. These mushrooms rarely grow in singletons but choose to grow in groups! How interesting is that! The Pinkgill part of the name is literal where overtime as the spores mature, the gills turn more pinkish—”
Yeah, I feel like all of this isn’t all that important.
“Ahrric?”
“Mhm? Is there something you’d like to ask?” he said.
“I probably should have said this sooner but, is it edible?”
“E-edible?” Ahrric stuttered for a bit. “Why would you want to eat beauties like this?”
“I, uh, wanted to cultivate these as a potential food source. Is that wrong?” I said with a questioning tone.
I was met with an awkward silence, but not for long.
Ahrric looked devastated—his fingers were shaking, his face darkened. He set aside all of his potted plants and glared daggers at me. As if a predator had come into a prey’s den. “The very thing that connects the mycelium network. One I revor as holy. And you want to cultivate its strands to eat them? You understand your words?”
That was when I noticed things won’t be so easy. The goal of this meeting was to grow plants we could cultivate and eat. And now I remembered he literally worships beings that ARE mushrooms! Why are things never simple here?
Now I just feel like an insensitive prick.
It hurt when he told me to get out. It really did.
It hurt when I had to skate out of the Eternal Garden.
I wish I didn’t come here to begin with. There could have always been crops somewhere but I had to settle with this one, huh? I hurt a person’s feelings because I was insensitive and selfish. I don't even like the Eternal Gardens. Like with the Starseed, I’ve always been prioritising myself and myself only. Musing myself as some sort of ‘hero’. I wish I could apologize to them before I noticed it was too late.
…
Wait. No, no, no. To hell with this, you’re sulking again.
You CAN say sorry now. Ahrric isn’t dead! Own up to this. The only way is forward, how could you forget such a thing! Argh! Go there, apologise now.
I wasn’t really expecting much when I came back to the tower.
“Just leave, Rei.”
I’ve come so far, I couldn’t back down. “Ahrric, please.”
My feet stubbornly brought me into the inside of his room again, every step feeling heavier. His back was turned against me, arms on the desk and eyes on his notes. My mouth stammered trying to find the right opportunity to say the things I meant. But I swallowed my pride eventually and my voice spoke.
“I’m not going to beat it around the bush so here it is.”
“I’m sorry, Ahrric.”
“It was insensitive of me to come here and assume you would let me cultivate mushrooms without realising the glaring contradiction that you value these plants a lot.”
A deep breath. Relax. “I don’t expect forgiveness. This apology is an apology and apology only. I understand that my forgiveness is not expected but it is yours to decide and it is not my place to judge.”
“Again. I’m sorry. I hope we can still be friends despite this mistake on my part.”
…
…God this silence is suffocating.
His back was still turned against me. He doesn’t seem to be responding. It hurt, but I’ve done what I could. I wasn’t considerate of his feelings, I apologised, and it’s up to him now.
“Thanks Ahrric, I’ll be going now.”
Slowly, I inched closer to the doorway. My boots were about to boost when I could hear rummaging behind me, some pot smashing even.
“Rei.”
His raspy voice lent not an air of timidness like usual but surety. It was when I turned around that he presented me with a simple pot. One part of me was surprised by the change in attitude. Nonetheless, I gave him my full attention.
Pushing the pot towards my hands, he went back to clean the pots he had tumbled by accident. A little sweeping and organising— I watched him tidy the workspace slowly. Something didn’t sit right just watching though. I got a broom and a dustpan to help and soon it was clean enough, he said. Putting back all the brooms and dustpans, he sat down on his desk and sighed.
“I’m sorry for lashing out. This mycelium network is still new to you. Even if it is very important to me, it was my bad for lashing out for your ignorance. “
...I think I'm going to cry.
Thank god. I… am relieved. So, so, so, so relieved. A heavy burden had lifted itself from my shoulders. But even with all that in my mind, I was mostly grateful. Grateful that Ahrric apologized. Grateful that we would still be friends. Grateful that—
“Ah, I think I have this”—he rummaged through a drawer in the desk, pulling out an old box of some sort—“old thing still lying around.”
The box’s packaging had deteriorated much over time but there were still clear markings on the top right of the box; ‘Mushroom Cultivation Kit: For Dummies.’ is what’s written on it. My jaw dropped.
“I found this when I first started living here. The previous owner already had these mushrooms and I just cared for them.”
Putting the box on the table, he carefully read the packaging—or what was left of it anyway. Setting it aside and jotting a few notes, he finally handed it to me. It was slightly heavy but I could manage.
“It has Oyster Mushrooms. Edible. They have instructions so even someone with no experience can do it,” he spoke with a voice resembling that of a teacher.
Honestly, after all that, I can’t bring myself to just use this. It doesn’t feel right. “Are you sure you’re fine with this?” I said.
“I’m sure the Elders could overlook a few. Just don’t do anything suspicious near the mushrooms. You never know.” He dusted his hands, corners of his mouth rising.
It was a joke.
Oh my god, we’re back to being friends.
“Heh. But seriously, Ahrric. Thank you.”
Ahrric scratched the back of his head. “Yeah. No… problem.”
“Oh! And to answer your question.” He grabbed his notes and read a few lines. “The Livid Pinkgill is not edible. It’s actually poisonous.”
A groan. "You really had to, did you?"
I smirked. He smirked. We both chuckled.
“See you soon?”
“Yeah. Tell your robot friend I said ‘hi’.”
Passing the clouds of the Eternal Garden, where souls come to decay. Passing the flora of the place, vibrant and choc filled with variety. The place may have smelled of death, yet I skated through it all with a smile on my face.