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What is vine wood good for?
Is it stronger than forest wood?
Can you make anything from it?
Can it hold weight?

I selected you from among the trees
Not because you were lesser — because you were chosen

But vine wood does not become a beam
It does not carry walls
It does not hold the roof up when the rain falls
At best — fuel. At most — fire

Half-burned is no improvement
The ends are gone
The middle charred
What remains is less than what was whole — and what was whole was already not enough

This is not punishment
This is wood that never chose to be anything else

I am not dead set against you because I hate you
I am set against what you have become by not becoming
The fire that could have refined you is the fire that remains
When you see it, you will know what I am

Not enemy
Witness