Heartfruit

This article was created as an entry for a Summer Camp prompt! That means this article may be a rough draft, incomplete, or may not fully align with the world's lore.
If you want to see this developed in the future, let me know!

Partake in the fruit, know it grew from love and faith... and have faith that, one day, your love will be shared in kind.

A fruit grown from the body of Lessai myren elders who had undergone the ritual of the earth.

Elder's Love

As the elders of the Lessai tribes grow into their late years and begin to weaken, many undergo the ritual of earth, that they may pass into the next life on their own terms — that their bodies may continue to serve their people, rather than be served as they lose independence with age.

Returning to the Earth

With their connection to the elementals of the plane, the myren population within the Lessai culture are the only ones capable of successfully undergoing this ritual. Though others have tried, none are able to bear hearfruit as the myren are, and some face disastrous consequence for attempting.

When the myren take to these rites, they pledge their bodies to the Hearthwild. From the moment they take the pledge, transformation stirs within their bodies, a weaving of Genesis magic performed by the elementals. The changes come with creeping pain, numbness, and stiffness, as the body shifts from its natural-born flesh into the fibrous structure of wood.

The myren are known to have an aversion to arcane magic, hence their isolation and distance from the arcane cities of their neighbors.

Grove of Elders

As the elder undergoes the transformation, members of their family, as well as fellow Lessai elders, care for them and guide their journey back to the earth. In preparation for their impending fate, they are brought to the Grove of Elders and affixed to what would become their final resting place among the others who had undergone the ritual. Before their limbs stiffen permanently into place, they are positioned with grace to resemble the trees within the grove, their arms raised, hands and fingers fanned out as leaves. Eventually, the elder loses their ability to communicate, and all signs of human life disappear into the stillness of the trees.

At the transformation's end, the shell of bark that had formed over the elder's abdomen falls away, revealing a tree-hollow cavity within their petrified ribcage, bearing several pieces of deep red fruit. The first harvest from each elder introduced to the grove is shared among any remaining family, then with remaining elders of the Lessai. Each transformed elder will continue to produce heartfruit for as long as their bodies are tended to by the grovekeepers. It is seen as a grave dishonor to allow an elder to wither away in the Grove, so their care is managed carefully.

It has been said that the bodies of the elders, long after their believed deaths, still creak and moan with time. Plucking the fruit from their hollowed chests is almost always met with an odd, unexplainable sound emanating from from within.