The Seed Content . The hamlet village of Lorikh was a quiet , peaceful Dwemer community nestled in the monochrome grey and tan dunes and boulders of the Dejasyte . No vegetation of any kind grew in Lorikh , though there were blackened vestiges of long dead trees scattered throughout the town . Kamdida arriving by caravan looked at her new home with despair . She was used to the forestland of the north where her father ' s family had haled . Here there was no shade , little water , and a great open sky . It looked like a dead land . Her mother ' s family took Kamdida and her younger brother Nevith in , and was very kind to the orphans , but she felt lonely in the alien village . It was not until she met an old Argonian woman who worked at the water factory that Kamdida found a friend . Her name was Sigerthe , and she said that her family had lived in Lorikh centuries before the Dwemer arrived , when it was a great and beauteous forest . " Why did the trees die ? " asked Kamdida . " When there were Argonians only in this land , we never cut trees for we had no need for fuel or wooden structures such as you use . When the Dwemer came , we allowed them to use the plants as they needed them , provided they never touched the Hist , which are sacred to us and to the land . For many years , we lived peaceably . No one wanted for anything . " " What happened ? " " Some of your scientists discovered that distilling a certain tree sap , molding it and drying it , they could create a resilient kind of armor called resin , " said Sigerthe . " Most of the trees that grew here had very thin ichor in their branches , but not the Hist . Many of them fairly glistened with sap , which made the Dwemer merchants greedy . They hired a woodsman named Juhnin to start clearing the sacred arbors for profit . " The old Argonian woman looked to the dusty ground and sighed , " Of course , we Argonians cried out against it . It was our home , and the Hist , once gone , would never return . The merchants reconsidered , but Juhnin took it on his own to break our spirit . He proved one terrible , bloody day that his prodigious skill with the axe could be used against people as well as trees . Any Argonian who stood in his way was hewn asunder , children as well . The Dwemer people of Lorikh closed their doors and their ears to the cries of murder . " " Horrible , " gasped Kamdida . " It is difficult to explain , " said Sigerthe . " But the deaths of our living ones was not nearly as horrible to us as the death of our trees . You must understand that to my people , the Hist are where we come from and where we are going . To destroy our bodies is nothing ; to destroy our trees is to annihilate us utterly . When Juhnin then turned his axe on the Hist , he killed the land . The water disappeared , the animals died , and all the other life that the trees nourished crumbled and dried to dust . " " But you are still here ? " asked Kamdida . " Why didn ' t you leave ? " " For us , we are trapped . I am one of the last of a dying people . Few of us are strong enough to live away from our ancestral groves , and sometimes , even now , there is a perfume in the air of Lorikh that gives us life . It will not be long until we are all gone . " Kamdida felt tears welling up in her eyes . " Then I will be alone in this horrible place with no trees and no friends . " " We Argonians have an expression , " said Sigerthe with a sad smile , taking Kamdida ' s hand . " That the best soil for a seed is found in your heart . " Kamdida looked into the palm of her hand and saw that Sigerthe had given her a small black pellet . It was a seed . " It looks dead . " " It can only grow in one place in all Lorikh , " said the old Argonian . " Outside an old cottage in the hills outside town . I cannot go there , for the owner would kill me on sight and like all my people , I am too frail to defend myself now . But you can go there and plant the seed . " " What will happen ? " asked Kamdida . " Will the Hist return ? " " No . But some part of their power will . " That night , Kamdida stole from her house and into the hills . She knew the cottage Sigerthe had spoken of . Her aunt and uncle had told her never to go there . As she approached it , the door opened and an old but powerfully built man appeared , a mighty axe slung over his shoulder . " What are you doing here , child ? " he demanded . " In the dark , I almost took you to be a lizard man . " " I ' ve lost my way in the dark , " she said quickly . " I ' m trying to get back to my home in Lorikh . " " Be on your way then . " " Do you have a candle I might have ? " she asked piteously . " I ' ve been walking in circles and I ' m afraid I ' ll only return back here without any light . " The old man grumbled and walked into his house . Quickly , Kamdida dug a hole in the dry dirt and buried the seed as deeply as she could . He returned with a lit candle . " See to it you don ' t come back here , " he growled . " Or I ' ll chop you in half . " He returned to his house and fire . The next morning when he awoke and opened the door , he found that his cottage was entirely sealed within an enormous tree . He picked up his axe and delivered blow and after blow to the wood , but he could never break through . He tried side chops , but the wood healed itself . He tried an upper chop followed by an under chop to form a wedge , but the wood sealed . Much time went by before someone discovered old Juhnin ' s emaciated body lying in front of his open door , still holding his blunted , broken axe . It was a mystery to all what he had been chopping with it , but the legend began circulating through Lorikh that Hist sap was found on the blade . Shortly thereafter , small desert flowers began pushing through the dry dirt in the town . Trees and plants newly sown began to live tolerably well , if not luxuriantly . The Hist did not return , but Kamdida and the people of Lorikh noticed that at a certain time around twilight , long , wide shadows of great , bygone trees would fill the streets and hills . Publisher ' s Note " " The Seed " is one of Marobar Sul ' s tales whose origins are well known . This tale originated from the Argonian slaves of southern Morrowind . " Marobar Sul " merely replaced the Dunmer with Dwemer and claimed he found it in a Dwemer ruin . Furthermore , he later claimed that the Argonian version of the tale was merely a retelling of his " original ! " " Lorikh , while clearly not a Dwemer name , simply does not exist , and in fact " Lorikh " was a name commonly used , incorrectly , for Dunmer men in Gor Felim ' s plays . The Argonian versions of the story usually take place on Vvardenfell , usually in the Telvanni city of Sadrith Mora . Of course the so - called " scholars " of Temple Zero will probably claim this story has something to do with " Lorkhan " simply because the town starts with the letter L .