After a night of passion that left their bodies tangled and their hearts full, Firion and Kaida greeted the new day by walking alongside the beach once more. The morning sun cast golden ribbons across the water's surface, and a gentle breeze carried the salt-sweet scent of the sea. This time, they were searching for shells to keep as memories of their time here—though neither knew how much longer they would have. The elf sensed it would be soon.
"Hmmmm... Oh! Here is... no, this one is also broken... It's hard to look for shells that are not damaged. I've only found five so far..." Kaida bemoaned, her brow furrowing with frustration.
They managed to find a few scallop and snail shells intact, but they had hoped to find more.
Suddenly, she spotted a beautiful shell shard with prismatic colors gleaming in the sand and eagerly reached for it—but her fingers lightly brushed those of a young yumbo girl with pigtails, who shyly retracted her hand.
The little girl quietly apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't know you also wanted it..."
The child's adorable etiquette quickly warmed Kaida's heart.
"It's okay, you go ahead and take it. I can look for something else." She smiled at the child.
She enthusiastically replied, "Really?! Thank you so much! Here, you can have this blue one I found—I already have many like it!"
She pulled something from her basket and handed Kaida a lovely spiral-shaped shell with various shades of cobalt that glimmered with a light sparkle. It was perfect—no holes, no fractures.
"Oh my! How beautiful!" She proclaimed.
Firion approached beside them as she handed him the shell, which he held up to the sun. It faintly glittered with different angles of the light.
"Bahari! Don't go wandering off without your sister Camari!" A familiar voice echoed.
The three looked up and saw Emani and his wife Lulu approaching them, with the girl's twin and their infant son resting in a sling.
She eagerly got up and walked over to her parents and sister to show them. "Look at this pretty shell, baba! That girl with the blue horns said I can keep it!"
Lulu crouched down and gazed at it. "How pretty. And did you remember your manners?"
"Hmm-hmm." She nodded her head. "I gave my pretty blue shell as thank you!"
"Can I see it too?" Her twin asked.
"You two are up early. We were going to go by the villa and ask if you would like to eat breakfast with us!" Emani offered. "Jaheim will be by later today—he wants to show you something—but Alima is still having trouble keeping food down."
Considering they had not yet eaten, the two agreed and followed the family back to their home.
---
This breakfast consisted of battered eggs cooked into a thin, circular shape with different vegetables folded into the mixture. It was similar to an omelet, but Lulu called it a crepe. The concept was similar to most basic egg recipes, except it had a crisper texture and a less greasy taste—not to mention the flavor of the different vegetables came through much cleaner.
"It's really yummy, isn't it?" Bahari asked.
Her sister then followed up, "Baba, are you gonna tell them about bibi?"
Their expressions lit up! To hear more about this enigmatic, influential figure sounded exciting after seeing how many locals fawned over her. All they had seen so far was a huge woman who towered over everyone.
From there, they would learn more about the oracle they were to speak with that evening—Nkiri—and how she had lived a tumultuous and fulfilled life, along with the wisdom that reflected it.
Kaida and Firion talked a bit with Emani and his family as he explained his clan's involvement in the village. Apparently, they were composed mostly of Nkiri's children and extended family through marriage. Firion almost spit his drink out after hearing she had borne seventeen children in total, sixty-four grandchildren, and forty-eight great-grandchildren. Also, the short, fragile yumbo that stood beside her at the gathering last night was her husband.
The explanation into his family grew deeper as he explained the many tragedies that befell them—including the death of two of her beloved children: one of her eldest daughters, killed in a raid, and one of her sons, lost to illness. But even in her younger days, she experienced the cruelty of the world when her older sister was murdered by humans and her niece went missing. Even with these tragedies, she pushed on and gained true enlightenment of life itself, coming to understand the true nature shared between elves and devas and where they stand in the great world.
The true nature between elves and devas... Does she know about our shared ancestry, just like how Kaida's old tome stated? Firion pondered to himself. He had many things he wanted to ask Nkiri.
During the conversation, Lulu was cradling their son as he occasionally opened his purple eyes to glance around the room. Kaida could not believe how adorable he was as she began to daydream of a child of her own with Firion.
"Would you like to hold our son Nuru for a bit?" Lulu offered.
Nervously, Kaida replied, "Are you sure?"
Carefully, Lulu handed her the little boy wrapped so tenderly in blankets. He didn't show much reaction—he just glanced at Firion and back to Kaida. The large elf carefully pet his nose as the infant grabbed his finger lightly.
"Such a beautiful child." He stated.
When he glanced back at Emani, he began to fuss and reach out to him, which Kaida calmly answered by handing him back as his father cradled him while humming a tune and rocking him with his knee.
Firion was surprised that someone as stoic as Emani could demonstrate such a warm expression so easily when it came to his children—compared to how angry he got with his underlings and how most of the time he appeared indifferent. But perhaps that is how life shaped him to be.
Suddenly they heard a knock at the door. It was Jaheim and Alima—the latter finally feeling better.
"Sorry, I meant to come by earlier, but I didn't want to force Alima to move around too much." He stated as he rubbed his head.
"Wipe your feet." Emani growled. He always seemed to be annoyed with them.
Alima interjected, "I feel much better now! And me and Jaheim want to show you our village's cemetery!"
"A cemetery? What is a cemetery, Firion?" Kaida asked.
Firion quickly answered, "It's generally where families bury the dead, Kaida."
The sound of that did not sound exciting at all. It felt morbid to talk about. But Jaheim quickly explained further.
"It's not for a depressing reason! It's beautifully decorated, and there was something I wanted to share about it with you before you two leave—especially with Firion! Please! It will not take long, I promise!" He begged.
Kaida and Firion looked at each other and nodded in agreement to observe what he wanted to show them.
They thanked Lulu and Emani for the breakfast as they departed the home and waved goodbye. Jaheim tried to offer a hug to his superior but was met with a door slam. Emani was still clearly upset over his leg injury and nearly being killed by their pet.
As they began to walk to their next destination, Firion and Kaida would learn how small the world was and how some things connect in ways they did not anticipate.
---
As morning slowly matured into midday, the group of four made their passage to the town cemetery. Along the way, they browsed through the markets as Jaheim and Alima wanted to purchase some exotic flowers.
Kaida gazed at all the lovely blooms—she had never seen such species compared to the more humble beauty of the calm peonies or violets that populated their former home.
Eventually, they approached a large clearing protected by a stone fence. The interior was massive, with numerous smooth boulders neatly arranged everywhere. Some of the graves had slabs or smooth stones bordered around them, and all of the stones were decorated with many flowers—with even some cacti planted for unique floral arrangements.
"This is a cemetery, Kaida. The large stones you see are a type of marker to let people know where someone is eternally resting—just like how you showed me the tree where your mother was buried." Firion explained.
Jaheim approached a particular stone as he and Alima tenderly placed the flowers in front of it.
Carefully, he revealed the grave's identity and why he wanted to show them so badly. "This grave is where my father now rests... and he was like you, Firion. He was a foreigner from the Jade Forest of Auriel after it was burned down. I know because he told me about it before he died."
The tall elf's face went pale with bewilderment—but it soon became clear that he had carelessly overlooked something about Jaheim. His eyes were gold, much like his own, which contrasted sharply with locals who had mostly purple to pink colored eyes. Not to mention his skin was slightly lighter than Alima's or the yumboes and devas in the town.
"My father, after his home was burned, told me he did not like living in Aldenburg. He said that many forest elves were treated poorly for their lifestyles. It became so bad for him that he fled and crossed the border like how you and Kaida did. He wanted to go to Eurelca as well, but then he met my mother, Amandine, and chose to stay here with her." Jaheim explained further.
Kaida eventually took notice of his eyes and then looked back at her husband's eyes—and finally saw the connection. "So that is why your eyes are gold like Firion's! It's because forest elves usually have gold-colored eyes!"
Alima then described a piece of their childhood. "Yeah, a lot of us knew his father was born outside Junai, as the rest of us had calm undertones citizens of Junai are often born with."
I think I will leave out the part where Alima was my childhood bully... she used to tease me a lot. He quietly mused.
Firion carefully cleared his throat and asked, "If it's not too personal, how did your father pass away, Jaheim?"
A calm wind carefully rustled the flowers. But the young man found the courage to explain.
"My father... even before he moved here, always suffered from a harsh condition of the lungs that was caused by the flames that burned down his home. Even when I was a boy, he always coughed violently. Over time, his lungs just got worse, and he passed away almost a hundred years ago when I was still an adolescent." Jaheim's tone changed the more he explained.
Instantly, Kaida could sense the deep sadness coming from both of them. It was clear that the death of his father had forever left a wound on the young man's heart.
Firion offered his shared pain with Jaheim. "I know that pain of losing those you hold close to your heart. I lost my mother, father, an older sister, and so many others that I constantly think about. My wife as well has lost her parents and lived in isolation. However, these grievances push us more into starting our own family, so that we may build something new together and leave something behind in this world."
The young yumbo's eyes glowed as he instantly realized what the older elf's words truly meant—starting a family. Then he looked to Alima and lightly placed his hand on her abdomen as he remembered that he would be starting his own family soon, both with old and new traditions.
We're all the same, is what you always told me growing up. But from this day, I see that we are also all connected in some way, mother. Kaida declared as she glanced up at the sky above.
"I always tell children to accept the winds of change, and to not fight against them. Even as seeds of a forest scatter in the wind, they will settle into new fertile soil and start anew. Nothing stays forever—is what I preach now." A woman's voice echoed.
Suddenly, the four of them became more alarmed as they looked around to see who was speaking with them.
The voice clarified, "I'm sitting up here."
Firion looked up and realized the enigmatic Nkiri was sitting on the stone archway above them. Just her presence alone caused a change in the atmosphere.
"Your maturity is reflecting more as you grow older and accept the world for what it is, Jaheim. What I see you as today is a huge improvement from the irrational cub you were. Now your mane is coming out as you establish your own pride; continue to nurture that growth for your wife and child." The oracle said, praising him.
Both he and Alima blushed at her compliment as they bowed their heads in respect to the lioness.
Then the oracle focused on Firion and Kaida.
"To the son born of a lost land, and to the sole daughter of a fading existence—I understand you wish to speak with me?" She said with a playful smile.