The Tale
ShoeDove Tapper was born into the long line of the Tappers, a family rooted as deeply in tradition as the ancient groves they once tended. His father, Dita Tapper, carried a wildness in his youth that never quite saw the forest for the trees. ShoeDove’s mother, Ima Hogg, brought a gentle heart to their household and a peculiar habit of naming her children after her favorite animals.
ShoeDove grew up alongside his brothers: WooDove, who could coax sap from trees like a calm, balanced negotiation; and CooDove, who claimed to hear secrets in every whispering wind and spoke them aloud whether they were meant to be shared or not. ShoeDove himself found his calling as a Keg Tapper, tending to maintenance, repair, and the quiet responsibility of keeping things flowing as they should, though he often arrived at that duty a touch later than he ought. In his younger years, ShoeDove had wandered far beyond the family groves, chasing whispers of the realm with a restless, impatient heart. He climbed high branches, drifted through wilderness, and believed the sky itself might answer if he asked it nicely enough.
The groves taught him patience, loss, and the strange comfort of starting again, though not before he learned a fair share of lessons from quick reactions and cut corners. Eventually, he took time to listen to a babbling brook and followed it all the way to the Flaming Barrel. He felt he was not drawn by fate so much as by the promise of steady work and a chance to clean up after the occasional dramatic misunderstanding. There he set down new roots among laughter, clinking mugs, and songs, tending a different kind of forest, one grown from many kinds of people and stories rather than a single path.
How to spot him
Look for the tall, kind-looking, slightly weathered fellow who seems like he just arrived and has been there forever.