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 that were 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 cactus's 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 place 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 to bewilderment, but it soon became clear that he 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 cross the boarder 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! Its because forest elves usually have gold colored eyes!"
Alima the 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 use to tease me a lot.") He quietly mused.
Firion carefully cleared his throat and asked, "If its 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 were 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 adolescence. " Jaheim's tone changed the more he explained.
Instantly Kaida could sense the deep sadness coming from both of them as it was clear that the death of his father 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 remembers that he will 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 declares as she glances 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 echoes.
Suddenly the four of them become 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 realizes 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 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 him and Alima blushed at her compliment as they bowed their head 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 existance, I understand you wish to speak with me?" She said with a playful smile.