Shattered Leaves and Twisted Vines

“Peace? What about peace?” Thought Oake. It had no meaning to him. He grew up in a world without peace.
“Peace is very important Oake.” Eavy’s voice was echoing through his head.
“Peace, huh? I wouldn’t know anything about it. No one around here knows anything about peace.” Eavy was Oake’s older sister and she had died in the conflict between Oake’s clan, the Shattered Leaf, and their rivals, the Twisted Vine. Ever since Oake was born, they had been fighting. Now, Oake was left all alone. His older sister was left in charge of him when his parents died. His father had died in a battle with the Twisted Vine village and his mother died from an illness when he was about 5 solar rounds. He had no one now.
“Peace, I don’t care about no stinking peace. I hope those Twisted Vine scum die!” He began to cry. “I-I don’t care about anything!” Overwhelmed by his sorrow, he fell into a deep sleep. He awoke to the sight of a girl around his age, 13 solar rounds, and found himself startled. “AAGH!” She giggled at his surprise. “Don’t laugh at me!” He yelled back.
“I’m not laughing at you silly. I’m laughing with you.” She giggled some more.
“Well, I’m not laughing.” Oake wasn’t in the mood to laugh, smile, or giggle.
“That’s not good, laughing makes you healthy.” She smiled at him. Even though Oake wasn’t in the mood to laugh or even smile, being with her made him feel better. “My name’s Alaquiane, what’s yours?”
“Oake.” A simple reply.
“Well, Oake, it was nice to meet you. I have to go now. These apples are driving me crazy.” Just then, Oake noticed the basket of apples she had in her hand. His stomach started to growl. “Oh my. You sound hungry. Here you go.” She kindly handed him an apple and then she walked away. Oake was alone again.
“Well, I shouldn’t just sit around waiting for something to happen.” He took a large bite from his apple and went about his (not so) merry way. Along the way, he came across two squirrels fighting over an acorn. One bit here, the other scratched there. Oake decided to break it up. After the squirrels had calmed down, he handed each of them an acorn.
“You two shouldn’t fight over one acorn. There are plenty to go around. In the end, you both get hurt over something small and trivial. One guppy in a lake full of trout isn’t worth drowning over.” After helping those two squirrels, Oake went about his (a little bit more) merry way. He kept walking through the forest until he came upon two foxes competing to reach the last apple on an apple tree. Neither could reach it and whenever one of them tried, the other would push them out of the way. Oake pulled them apart and told them that the only way they way would get it would be to work together. Inspired by his words, one fox climbed on the back of the other and they managed to get the apple. Oake took the apple and cut it in two. He handed a piece to each of them.
“A fraction of the work for half of the reward is better than twice the hassle for none of the prize.” Then, yet again Oake was on his (increasingly) merry way. As he continued to wander through the forest, he came across two little boys fighting over a toy.
“I want to play with it!” yelled one child, as he tugged.
“No, it’s mine!” yelled the other, as he tugged even harder. Unable to endure the struggle, a piece of the toy broke off. Heartbroken, the two youths fell to the ground crying. Oake rushed over to the two children and repaired their broken toy.
“Share your things young ones. Fighting over something is pointless, especially when you destroy what you desire in the process.” After helping those two children, Oake went about his very merry way. He continued to wander through the woods till he reached his village. He could hear fighting. When he went to see what was happening, he saw a girl about his age caught in a mob of angry villagers. A basket and a bundle of apples lay on the ground.
“Alaquiane!” Oake rushed to the middle of the mob and shielded her from the villagers. “Why are you hurting her?” asked a frustrated Oake.
“She’s from the Twisted Vine village!!!” replied the angry mob. Indeed, she was. Her father and her mother had died in a battle between the two rivaling clans and she was sent to stay with her uncle in the Shattered Leaf village. Unfortunately, he died as well and she continued to stay in his house, despite constant threats from the villagers.
“You idiots!!!” Infuriated, Oake began to berate their actions. “I’ve realized something recently. Fighting leads to nowhere. Only through peace, can anything be achieved.” Inspired by his encounters with the squirrels, the foxes and the little boys, Oake preached to his fellow villagers. He realized that peace really was important. In turn, the villagers were inspired by his words and they decided to make peace with the villagers of the Twisted Vine. They got along well and everyone lived happily ever after, especially Oake and Alaquiane.