Barent

Children of the Revolution


Two wandering dragons met by chance and discovered they shared a similar philosophy: that love is the strongest force in the universe. Their children go out into the world to remind you to practice radical acts of love for yourself and everyone you meet. Love is a revolution; love will save the day.

What is love?

The question bothered the young Undertide for quite some time. Love seemed to have so many meanings, so many forms, so many interlaced feelings and thoughts and ideas.

How could love be captured? In a moment? A word? A careless action? Barent really wasn’t sure, but he took it upon himself to find out.

There was love in his nest, growing up. His parents loved himself and his siblings dearly, and they expressed their love through words of kindness and affirmation, and through actions such as bringing the hatchlings their favourite fruits and toys to amuse themselves? Was love found in family? The bond between blood?

The familial bond didn’t seem to encompass all of the love in the world. Barent grew older and left his birth clan, finding himself through one means or another in the Spiral Scale clan; a place of barter and carefully orchestrated chaos. Whilst exploring the recesses of the clan territory, he came across a metalworker by the name of Daylor. The spiral spent hours, days, weeks poring over the same sheet of metal. He polished and smoothed, worked and reshaped, until he was completely satisfied with the final result. Daylor poured his soul into his work, and the results were something incredible to behold. Each of his pieces was expertly worked to be given to another member of the clan, or sold on to buyers from far and wide. Was this love? Ingrained in the creation of things to be proud of? Things to give to others, for them to enjoy?

No, this still didn’t encompass everything Barent could see. Further exploration of the Spiral Scale clan brought Barent to the caverns inhabited by the Gazers. They were an interesting group, each affected in some way by spirits or magic or something otherworldly. In his exploration, he met Wish and Deneb. Deneb would sit quietly while Wish searched the spirit realms, looking for the answers to life’s great questions, looking for answers only she could see. He waited for her to return each time, never leaving her side as he knew the comfort he brought to her. ‘What is love?’ Barent asked the Fae. He received a smile in response ‘You’ll just need to wait and see.’ Was this love? Staying by those important to you, even if you can’t share in their thoughts?.

Barent continued his search. He found himself in a bamboo garden, watching two Wildclaws basking in the sunlight. They sat together, chatting contentedly with the soft breeze ruffling their feathers. Barent moved down the hill to introduce himself, and smacked a clump of bamboo with one wing, sending it crashing down the hillside. The female, Wildclaw - Pine - leapt up as if bitten, every feather upright, her claws curved and ready to tear him apart. He could see the wild look in her eyes even from his distance away. The male Wildclaw beside her - Mantiswing - pressed one talon to her outstretched wing and lowered her feathers slowly and carefully. The fury cleared from her gaze, and Pine turned back to the sunlight. His ability to bring her back from the past that wracked her was admirable; no other understood her so well. Was this love? Vulnerability in understanding? The power of a single touch?

There was love in every corner of the clan, and for a while, Barent thought he had found every part of its meaning, and he considered abandoning his search. But then he came across a fifth type, illustrated by one of the clan’s unlikeliest relationships - AizSurayea and Treasure; the contract killer and the pirate captain. Without prompting, Barent watched as Treasure handed silks to Surayea, as Surayea passed food and provisions to Treasure. They assisted each other in tough parts of their respective careers, and they cared for each other when either wasn’t feeling great. Surayea would gift sanddollars to Treasure, and Treasure delivered bouquets of dark red roses to Surayea. Was this love? Doing favours for others without guarantee of a return? Selflessly providing for this you care about?

Barent concluded that love was everywhere. Love was everything. It was in every corner of the world, in every word and every action and every moment. It’s nature did change, and it’s delivery was never quite the same. But love was everywhere in the world, and now Barent just had to find his own place within it…