A TALE OF CRESCENDO
At the base of the broadest redwood to the east, Dilian discovers a natural crack in the semi-hollowed wood which can only accommodate a few of his tribe, preferring instead to dwell under the nearest arbor. The other east-enders settle under the fruit-bearing trees between it and the big cypress towards the river, paying no mind to the rain-showers that feed the woods. Establishing appropriate home bases where they can retrieve fresh water and either fish, garden or hunt for food depending on choice, the segregated tribes begin to explore the previously uninhabited and undiscovered country.
In expeditions on both sides the Crescendants follow the Shendoa River north, as it is too wide and its current too strong to swim across. Out of respect for their elders lost at sea, both tribes have forbidden shipbuilding. Behind them lies the sea and the river mouth at Minuet Point, where the twin tree stumps are now accompanied by constructed rock totems to gratefully honor their dead and the vessel that brought them here.
With Aedan’s tribe facing cliffs and caverns beyond them, and the east side tribe wary of the canyons beyond their new tree-town neither group can safely explore much further inland. As new flowers bloom under the moon taking their name, both tribes strain for sounds of the distant river while unaware of each other’s progress over time.
After days of foot travel curving back towards the Shendoa upriver, the two bands of wayfarers reach peninsulas within sight of either side and their tribes just inland. For the first time, the two groups are able to visually communicate. While the raging river is too loud to hear across, they create a system of hand and arm motions to signal each other at the point on clear days. They come to call this discovered signaling span Lepe Point, then congregate there to mark the changing of seasons and compare their primitive calendars which are not quite in sync with the other.
Nearing summer both tribes mark their territory around their newfound shelters, roughly a kilometer inland from the signaling peninsulas. Staking his tribe’s claim to lands on the west end of the river, Arch Aedan declares their home within the rock cavern to be named Wescenda. In the neighboring village in the wood, the east-siders naturally begin to construct platforms in climbable trees. Agreeing by consensus not to disturb the live arbors whose leaves whisper in the wind, they mindfully build along the tree trunks using stilts and branches that have recently fallen to the ground.
On the solstice, the two chiefs Aedan and Dilian meet at the established point of contact for the first time since their tribes’ arrival here. By way of visual signals, they acknowledge each others’ claim as Arch with the river betwixt. They each agree to send three of their most skilled pathfinders further north along the great river in the hopes of reaching a connecting point between their lands of We’scend and E’scend. Wearing a glove over his injured hand, Dilian quickly retreats from the riverbed in fear of the waters which took his family.
Entering their second wintertime on Crescendo, the first newborns are joyfully welcomed to this new world. The twins – a boy and a girl – were born within the colossal redwood in the treetown now named Escenda to the tribe’s medicine woman Mila, who was without spouse.
40-year old Redwood tree by Dev Ahuja
Year Three
After a year of hiking up the banks of the Shendoa River, fishing and camping along the way, the pathfinders on either side have reached an impasse. There is no junction to cross the river, and north of them lie a formidable mountain range which they come to call the Nethermores. They ascend deliberately into the mountains on both sides, making new paths as they go. As the trios slowly climb in altitude, they encounter snow which none from either tribe have ever seen before.
While the eastern trio attempts to cross a treacherous pass between the mountains, one of the tribesmen loses his footing and starts sliding downward. Another in their group quickly reaches to grab his arm and also slips on the icy hill. Losing their grips, they both slide downward and tumble off into a large precipice. The sole survivor of the three Sho-lin rushes to their aid and he too soon slides on the slippery ice, gripping a pine which saves him from certain death. Devastated, alone and unable to retrieve his two companions nor venture further into the mountains, he begins the long trip south towards home.
On the other side of the Shendoa River which runs from the northern peaks, the westerners cautiously ascend the Nethermore Mountains while making a switch-back path, as the eldest leads their path. On the way up they hear distant howls and notice animal prints in the snow, far larger than their own and the caribou they hunted for food along the way.
Halfway through the mountain pass, the pathfinders come upon a waterfall and arctic lake which feed the Shendoa River as well as their water satchels. Above the waterfall they cross the stream by way of the mountain spring which is its source at Crescendo’s northernmost point. Just on the other side of the warm stream lies a snowy cavern in the mountainside, beyond which they can glimpse E’scend in the distance on the other side.
As the Wescendant trio lights their torches to illuminate the cave before entering it a towering, ferocious creature clambers from the cavernous crepuscule. Resembling a large polar bear, the beast swipes at one of the tribesmen amputating his leg. While his brother rushes to his aid, the tribeswoman lunges at it with the torch, burning its brawny paw.
Roaring, the baerre clamps and drags the fatally injured pathfinder into the cave. As his companions start into it to retrieve him, they hear a deafening roar not of one beast, but of several in unison.
As the surviving tribesman and tribeswoman grudgingly retreat, they find no alternative route into E’scend as the arctic lake is too deep and wide to swim across, with impassable slopes on all other sides. Defeated, they begin their long return journey to Wescenda.
Year Four
The two western pathfinders and solo eastern tracker trudge towards familiar ground. Along the way to Wescenda, the duo Q’isann and Lyla elope and consummate their relationship while huddling together for warmth under the wolf moon. On the other side, the surviving Sho-lin descends from the mountain pass and later encounters a recent rockslide blocking his return to Escenda. Alone and desperate without his fallen friends, Sho-lin makes his way down an untraveled animal path through the wood following a snow-covered hare and a butterfly, eventually locating his tribe after momentarily losing track of time.
Returning to their home villages after nearly two years, the pathfinders share with their tribes the results of their treks and their companions’ demises in the treacherous mountains. While the easterner Sho-lin cannot recall part of his trip, he delivers his account to Arch Dilian and the tribe’s healer Mila, along with a leafy herb he had found in a natural garden.
Within Wescenda village, Q’isann relays the news of his brother’s demise to Arch Aedan who has expanded his family’s designated area within the cavern. Though glad to see the pair of pathfinders returned safely, Ivera mostly blaxmes her mate for sending their tribesman to his grisly doom. At the same time there is cause for celebration as the eloped pathfinders have returned with their newborn infant Q’yn, born in the wilderness during their year-long journey home. On both sides of the river, Arches Aedan and Dilian decree that no one from their tribes shall enter the Nethermore Mountains again.
Around the same time, a separate duo of trackers ventured along the beach of the Sythirin Sea on a scenic enterprise east along the shoreline. The following season the pair were found lain in a jungle next to a stout, burly tribesman with olive skin, all deceased. Their search party assumed their two kin and the unidentified tribesman from the west had encountered and slain the other.
As the would-be rescuers’ returned to Escenda and reported the disturbing news, Dilian, Mila and wise Sho-lin dissuaded the tribe from attacking the Wescendants to avenge their assassinated kin. Inevitably there was no conclusive explanation or resolution to the issue, as the eastern tribe and its leaders could not come to consensus on how to proceed.
CHAPTER THREE ~ The West and The East
Musical accompaniment for context
Ambient Instrumental Score: “Tabula Rasa” ~ Parts 2 & 4 of 7
“Crescendo Chapter 2 Score ~ v1” (03:13)
Containing segments of ” Tabula Rasa”
Part II (b) : Cambrian (2nd movement)
Part IV (a) : Eden (1st movement)
“Tabula Rasa” ~ A musical representation of the past, present and future of life on planet Earth
Composed & Recorded 2010 © William Kurzenberger
Released on the album Solitary Road
Created and written by Bill Kurzenberger, December 2025 ~ All Rights Reserved