Song: Oak & Ash & Thorn by The Longest Johns.
(With some slight adjustments to the lyrics to avoid as much repeating and make it more accurate to characters in certain places)
Characters: Vernon, Wilfred, Silas, other unnamed Loxodonxi, Anansi, Nous, and Nihar. Domino/Savior is mentioned.
Context: Can you tell I’m having a fun time with the lore of the antagonists? Anyways, uhhh. Have some more Silas-centric lore. This is definitely, like, a folk song for Qedrilin/Loxodonxi. It works so well as one. Fun fact, on Qedrilin, the sun sets in the north and rises in the south.
*~*~*~*
*We start far before the end of Qedrilin, when Silas was still a child and both of his fathers were alive. We even start this before the time when smoke and smog and soot didn’t coat everything around. So… Before the end of Qedrilin and before the start of the industrial revolution on Qedrilin.*
Vernon, beginning the folk song in front of a crowd, as one does; “Of all the trees that grow so fair, old Qedrilin to adorn, greater are none beneath the sun than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn. Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs, all on a midsummer's morn– Surely, we’ll sing of no little thing in Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”
Vernon, still continuing the song in front of a crowd, man the Loxodonxi just be enjoying their folk song; “Yew that is old, in churchyard mould, he breedeth a mighty bow. Alder for shoes, do wise men choose, and Beech for cups, also. But when you have killed, and your bowl, it is filled, and your shoes are clean outworn– Back you must speed for all that you need to Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”
Vernon, Wilfred, and other Loxodonxi; “Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs! All on a midsummer's morn! Surely, we’ll sing of no little thing in Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”
Silas, away from the crowd, just dealing with the earworm of a song this is while working to deliver messages/papers; “Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs! All on a midsummer's morn! Surely, we’ll sing of no little thing in Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”
*Now we switch it up to during the height of the industrial revolution on Qedrilin, Wilfred’s dead, uh. Yeah. Vernon is sad. Silas is pretty sad too, and is still technically a child by Loxodonx standards. Anyway, uh, yeah. Industrial revolution. Lots of pollution, very low wages. You know. Typical industrial revolution stuff. In fact, a small rebellion is brewing too. Vernon is at the height of it, as well. This is also when Vernon ends up joining the antagonists, and eventually drags Silas into it as well.*
Vernon, still singing the folk song of course, but now also using it as warnings for what is to come; “Elm, he hates loxkind and waits, ‘til every gust be laid, to drop a limb on the head of him that anyway trusts his shade. But whether a lad be sober or sad, or mellow with ale from the horn– He’ll take no wrong when he lyeth along ‘neath Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”
Vernon and other Loxodonxi, planning rebellion and loving their folk song, yep; “Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs! All on a midsummer's morn! Surely, we’ll sing of no little thing in Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”
Silas, away from the others, having been kept out of the exacts of the rebellion for the most part, you know, just working, getting in that experience with engineering; “Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs! All on a midsummer's morn! Surely, we’ll sing of no little thing in Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”
*Now we skip all the way to after Qedrilin has been destroyed and Vernon has died, leaving Silas as the last Loxodonx. Whom, of course, knows better than to let folk songs die. So… He ends up singing the whole thing quite a bit. He also switches some of it up so it’s less likely to get him in trouble though, as technically, he’s supposed to just let such things fade and die. Yeah. Anyway, have him slowly getting the others to sing it too. Or, most of them, at least.*
Silas, switching some lyrics from the original Qedrilin folk song, singing it to the antagonists, you know, as one does, probably also fucking dancing too, bro is such a dork, priest refers to Domino/Savior; “Oh, do not tell the priest our plight, for he would call it a sin. But we’ve been out in the woods all night, a-conjuring summer in– We bring you good news by word of mouth, good news for battle and scorn! Sure as the sun comes up from the south, by Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”
Silas and Anansi, who joins in solely because they love music; “Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs! All on a midsummer's morn! Surely, we’ll sing of no little thing in Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”
Silas, Anansi, and Nous, who sings much quieter than the other two, and really only mumbles it because it’s an earworm; “Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs! All on a midsummer's morn! Surely, we’ll sing of no little thing in Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”
Silas, Anansi, Nous, and Nihar, who actually quite likes the song; “Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs! All on a midsummer's morn! Surely, we’ll sing of no little thing in Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”
Silas, just missing Qedrilin, his dads, his friends, you know, basically everything, as one does; “Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs! All on a midsummer's morn! Surely, we’ll sing of no little thing in Oak, and Ash, and Thorn!”