Through his skin, Talbun initiated a deep telink prayer with the trees. He closed his eyes, sent his mind deep into the wood, into the roots, and out into the overall worldforest.

Summoning his last thoughts, the old man willingly died and surrendered his spirit so that as it lifted, it could be caught in the welcoming boughs of the golden semi-sentient trees.

The wind increased later on in the night, but the storm passed with only a brief, welcome rain shower. The next morning when Beneto emerged from Talbun’s dwelling—his dwelling now—he looked up into blue skies and nourishing sunlight. His green skin tingled, drinking up the photons. He consumed a liter of water, then walked into the worldforest grove to perform his last duty for the old green priest.

Beneto found the old man lying peacefully in the morning shade under the tallest worldtree. He smiled to see the smooth expression of utter contentment on the tattooed face.

Beneto used no shovel, so as not to damage the nervelike roots of the worldtrees. He required no tools other than his bare calloused hands to scoop soft soil from between two widely spaced trees. In less than an hour he managed to excavate a shallow grave. Then he picked up the old man’s body as if it weighed no more than kindling and placed it into the soil close to the roots. Beneto covered Talbun, enfolding him in the earth where he had longed to be for so many years.

The young man spoke silent prayers, and the trees themselves whispered. All green priests with access to the world-forest could witness this funeral of one of their own.

Satisfied, Beneto finished and returned to his dwelling to wash up. Later in the day he would go into Colony Town and deliver the news to the settlers. He knew there would be much mourning, for Talbun had been a dear friend to them, but Beneto would do his best to comfort them and follow in the old green priest’s footsteps.

By tradition, an hour after the burial, Beneto returned to the grove and carefully selected a worldtree that grew tall and straight. He removed a viable treeling, a thin flexible outgrowth that protruded from an intersection of the widest fronds. Its delicate, moist roots still glistened with a varnish of sap and tree juices. Cradling it gently, Beneto went back to the mound of fresh dirt that marked Talbun’s grave and, in the center, dug down so that he could plant this new treeling in honor of the old green priest.

He had covered the old man’s body here to let Talbun’s molecules rejoin the worldforest. As he dug down, Beneto found that the green priest’s physical form had vanished completely. Old Talbun had already been absorbed into the soil, incorporated into the network of the burgeoning worldforest.