It was as difficult to miss as it was miraculous in its entirety. Though little wider than the breadth of a hand, to see a patch of healthy earth with the shoots of young berry bushes by the side of the path was such a marvel that the entire company stopped in its tracks to wonder at it. Little more than a moon past, our group had traveled down the same stretch of trail on the way to the City of the Lost. Sima had developed quite a serious hacking cough along the way. Fortunately, we had brought the traditional remedy: a thick paste of nynasë mixed with the salty-sweet seeds of the Reýleni thistleberry meant to be eaten over the course of a day. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately considering what has resulted from that auspicious moment, a particularly powerful fit of coughing knocked the wooden bowl out of Sima's hands and sent the paste to the ground.
Perhaps it is good that we did not then decide to clean the mess from the earth, if only because now there is incontrovertible proof that the Desolation is not beyond redemption. A pool of water nearby, which we used to rinse out the rest of the paste from SIma's bowl, has grown a head of pond scum, of all things. That life could flourish from nothing in but a moon, in one of the harshest places in the world, was proof to me that there is always hope. Perhaps one day our descendants will be able to reclaim the Desolation and heal the scar left upon the brow of the heartland.— Nena a'Neridë,
Pilgrim
In 329.30 NL, a group returning from a pilgrimage to the
City of the Lost discovered what appeared to be a small patch of healthy earth in
the Desolation. Little more than the breadth of a hand in diameter, the patch was said home to almost a dozen shoots of Reýleni thistleberry at the time of its discovery. The pilgrims alleged that a spilled mixture of
nynasë mixed with Reýleni thistleberry seeds, a traditional cure for a bad cough, was the reason for the miracle.
An expedition sent at the behest of
the Grand Rookery, to investigate the claims made by the pilgrims, discovered three young Reýleni thistleberry plants growing in the patch, with evidence to suggest that the other shoots had been crowded to death by the three fastest growing plants. A small nearby pool of water covered in pond scum, matching the description provided by the pilgrims, was also found by the expeditionary group.
In addition to confirming the claims made by the pilgrims, the expedition was also tasked with testing whether the phenomenon could be repeated. A number of small patches of ground near the pool of water were purposefully inoculated with more nynasë paste mixed with Reýleni thistleberry seeds, though in some patches, the thistleberry seeds were replaced with other types of seeds. Within the span of a few days, the expedition was able to confirm the effectiveness of the nynasë mixture in making the soil healthier, and within the span of a length, the first of the seeds mixed in with the nynasë paste had begun to germinate.
When the expedition returned with its findings, the scientific and theological communities were were filled on their heads. The Prophet convened with
the Stranger and seemed perturbed as he informed the clergy that he didn't think the Desolation had ever been the work of the gods, but rather the scar of something that had transpired in the distant past of the world. Within a matter of days, news of the miracle in the Desolation had reached every household in the heartland, and within a moon, the rest of the Dominion.
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