Dead trees

There was once an old battlefield where nothing grew save for a single tree. Its roots reached deep into the earth, and it stood firm and unyielding even in the fiercest wind, though its branches bore no fruit.

At the foot of the tree lay a golden crown, long since tarnished and barely recognizable for what it was. A passing bird with black feathers caught a glimpse of the crown's faded shine and longed to possess it. Unable to carry it off, the bird grew frustrated and began to peck at the roots of the tree and at the crown itself. "It is the way of crows to take what they want by force," said the bird, even though it was not a crow, but a blackbird.

One day, another bird flew by and was also drawn to the glimmer of the old crown. She alit on the tree and picked her way carefully among the prickly branches, searching for a way to pull the crown free.

"Why," she said, "it isn't a tree at all. There's a boy underneath."

...Um, yeah. Anyway, in December 2008 I once again participated in the Princess Tutu Secret Santa Exchange. This was my gift for =Asatira. I was going for artsy and fairy-tale-symbolic. It looked cooler in my head, though.

You can download a widescreen wallpaper version here. Brushes taken from here and here.

Princess Tutu © ADV, HAL/GANSIS, Ikuko Itoh, et. al.