The Arboretum

**The Arboretum** was a commune started in 1921 in an abandoned farmstead near Malbrouck Castle in France by Nora Bostwick and Alice, two academics displaced by the Reckoning. Several founding members of the New Society Council had ties to the Arboretum, and many Arboretum members headed up local and regional councils in the 40s and 50s during the rebuilding of civilisation.

## History

Nora Bostwick and Alice, a botanist who worked at Oxford University until it was bombed, squatted in an abandoned farmstead for two years starting in 1919. When no one appeared to turn them out, they settled down more permanently. They began to work the land, and invite others to join them. First, Rory came, and rigged up a lighting system that would help their crops grow even when ash obscured the sky for months. Then Efia came, and arranged for safe and productive livestock. Nora implied that many of the early members of the commune were friends Alice already had. Most of the people who stayed were scientists or academics, and the group began giving lectures to each other, debating, and speculating on the future.

Sometime after 1925, Miriam Gregory arrived at the farmstead, and attempted to steal from the fields but was apprehended by a ten-year-old Rohaan Youssuf. She was brought inside, fed, and given a place to rest for the night, and the next morning Nora offered her the chance to stay. Miriam did stay, and at some point during the following years, the commune grew enough that it expanded into other farms, and they began calling it the Arboretum. Sometimes, people they took in would eventually leave to create their own branch of the Arboretum in places like Oslo, London, Tripoli, or even America.

#### Developing the Watercolor Quiet

While at the Arboretum, Miriam taught the other members how to meditate using what she called the 'Watercolor Quiet', an advanced meditative technique. The adults rarely engaged with it or connected with it fully, but Rohaan, a ten-year-old orphan, was extremely responsive to it as it helped him manage outbursts of anger that turned to violence if left unchecked. Miriam worked with Rohaan for two years and saw an enormous improvement, until one day she realised that the process had helped him to entirely suppress the memories of his father and the abuse he suffered at his hands.

Over the following years, Miriam continued to develop the Watercolor Quiet as primarily a tool to help the children cope with the chaos of life in and around the Reckoning. During her research, Miriam was very successful in easing the fears, anxieties, and other outbursts of the children, and recieved strong praise from the Arboretum's adults. However, Miriam observed that the children with parents were more prone to backsliding in the treatment, as their parents' mere presence reminded them of their trauma and unlocked the memories that had been carefully folded away in the Quiet.

#### Jacobs Family and Downfall

The Jacobs family consisted of Nathaniel, Lana, their two daughters Alicia and Ellen (aged six and nine), and three male adult cousins. Although Miriam initially viewed them as a unique case study for her work in the Watercolor Quiet, the Jacobs quickly made an uneasy presence of themselves as they raised numerous concerns about security and sowed paranoia about armies from Russia and Africa marching on the Arboretum, as well as general xenophobia and distrust of outsiders. The children engaged well with the Watercolor Quiet, and sessions went smoothly until Ellen confessed that Lana and Nathaniel were not her real parents, and had "taken" her. Alicia called her a liar and attacked her, but after Miriam separated them, she saw that they shared very few features, and were not sisters after all. She raised her concerns to Nora, but was told there was little that could be achieved by accusing the Jacobs of kidnapping a child, or even both their children.

By that time, Nora was already planning on leaving the Arboretum, feeling that she was more needed elsewhere, as the world's governments started to regain control and rebuild the world. Her partner, Ekaterina, was planning to leave with her, and take Rohaan as his mother had been her best friend. Over the following weeks, things became more strained in the Arboretum, as its originators and true believers were drowned out by the loud and hateful Jacobs family. Although Miriam recalled the morning of Nora, Ekaterina, Rohaan, Efia, and Willem's departure as winter, Nora apparently later recounted it as spring, 1931. Alice and Rory, who stepped up into a leadership position with seniority, suspected the Jacobs cousins of foul play, and were disbelieving when Miriam said she had heard them mention leaving, although she had expected a meeting to be called beforehand. Rory insisted they attempt to reach a diplomatic agreement with the Jacobs, but shortly after they left, Miriam heard gunshots and screams, and saw one of the Jacobs cousins attempting to sneak up on the house. She fled out the back door, and was attacked by one of the cousins as she made for the woods. She killed him and escaped with her life, but had to leave everything and everyone behind.

Based on the fact that no accounts of the events of the Arboretum after Nora's departure were found by the Yuriatin Press, it is possible that there were no other survivors of the Jacobs family's attack. After she retired from politics in 1963, Nora published a memoir, *A Farmhand's Throne*, about her time at the Arboretum and the impact it had on her political career.

### Known members

* Nora Bostwick (founder) - psychologist, taught psychology
* Alice (founder) - botanist
* Rory - electrical engineer
* Efia - zoologist
* Willem - sociologist
* Willem's daughter
* Max - banker
* Cassandra - millinery store owner
* Cassandra's son
* Ekaterina Yelchin, taught how to shoot a rifle, and how to hunt
* Ruth, taught hand-combat and self-defence
* Rohaan Youssuf - child
* Rohaan's father, husband of Brigitte
* Miriam Gregory - child, taught meditation
* Alexei
* Sofia
* Hugo - soldier
* Nathaniel Jacobs - entomologist
* Lana Jacobs - literature professor
* Alicia Jacobs - child
* Ellen Jacobs - child
* Three Jacobs Family cousins

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.74-75
2. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.72
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.77-79
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.84-85
5. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.87-88
6. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.90-94
7. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.99
8. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.103
9. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.107-08
10. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.86
11. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.109-10
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.119
13. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.111-12
14. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p,114
15. ↑ You Feel It Just Below the Ribs, p.117