#mind u my exposition in previous excerpts has already told a lot of the info being implied here

[memento-morianon]

working on the chapters about Morianon's archaeology work in the centaur territory, where the centaurs have set up some specific dig sites in locations they know were once urukai settlements (the urukai being the ancestors of orcs and gnomes). anyway, this one little snippet came to me in the shower, so i had to write it down quick!

and I've decided to share it before I finish the rest of these chapters lol. tiny context explanation: the grid mentioned here is made of thin rope wrapped around metal stakes, it's there for dig site organization and recording purposes.

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Morianon stepped carefully over the grid and kicked the underbrush out of his way. He looked around the space and tried to piece the urukai village or camp together just from the surface view, squinting at the trees and the open spaces between them. To his left, an elf seemed to be doing the same routine, but they had stopped to stare deeper into the forest beyond the perimeter the centaurs had arranged. Their ear twitched and they turned, catching his gaze with a smile.

"Hey, come here." they waved him over and he eagerly hurried over to see what they'd found. They pointed out into the forest, towards a massive tree several orc-sized paces away. "Do you see it? There's a curse-bind on that tree. And I can't quite tell with the moss, but I think there are dents further up the trunk-"

"Like it grew around older curse-binds?" Morianon finished the thought, leaning forward to get a better look. The tree stood tall and wide, easily big enough for a multi-generational elvish home. Just on top of the thick layers of moss and lichens, one of the curse-binding ropes the centaurs had told them about was tied twice around the enormous trunk. Morianon's elvish coworker gave a low whistle at the sight of it.

"What do you think they put a curse-bind on a tree for?" they asked, tilting their head. Morianon blinked and his stomach went cold even as the answer fell from his lips.

"It's a blood tree, isn't it?" He stepped back and grimaced. The elf furrowed their brow.

"Blood tree?"

"Yeah." Morianon hummed and faced his coworker more directly. "You ever been hunting?"

"No." They looked between him and the tree, and Morianon could see the glimmer of realization coming into their eyes. He sighed, thinking back to the deer hunt he and K'arik had done before the new year.

"Blood tree's where a hunter strings up their kill and-" he ran a hand up his own belly, swallowing dryly. The elf's ears went back flat and they cast a nervous glance to the centaur guard at the corner of the dig site.

"Right," they muttered, "well, uh, we have work we should be doing." They nodded curtly and Morianon joined them as they turned away from the perimeter, stepping lightly through the grid as they returned to the entrance of the site.